Reality shows animated by the principles of democracy fall into at least two categories. Of the explicit kind is Indian Idol, a show that champions democracy by underscoring meritocracy and adopting modern technology to transform passive audiences into active participants. Of the implicit kind is Sony’s latest offering, Bigg Boss, which like the international show, Big Brother, is always “watching” its participants through an all-encompassing surveillance system so that by estranging participants and viewers from democracy it can demonstrate why democracy is “a terrible form of governance, except when compared to all other forms”.

The general idea of Bigg Boss is to intrude upon the privacy of 13 participants, who in the course of 100 days are made to coop so close for comfort that their veneer of sociability cracks. Selecting publicity-starved TV actors and other wannabes for no real talent except their ability to manipulate, Bigg Boss from the very beginning undermines meritocracy.

Formatted to emphasise the Tragedy of the Commons as well as the prisoner’s dilemma, Bigg Boss brings out the most predatory competitiveness in its housemates, for the aim of the game is to win others’ trust through cooperation and then betray them in the “confession room”. Oversimplified so as to undermine the Nash equilibrium as well as tenets of game theory, Bigg Boss requires each participant to play only for his/her own self. Only users and connivers must survive; the compassionate must pay for their soft hearts. No surprise, then, that ‘Bigg Boss’ has no human face. It is only a patriarchal voice that commands. It entertains no debates, seeks no consensus. Not empowering audiences to elect from the wide range of candidates but only permitting them to cast negative votes for those nominated by housemates for reasons ranging from hate, spite, envy, Bigg Boss encourages discriminations of all kinds, including those based on gender as witnessed in the stereotypical exchanges between male and female housemates, and sexual orientation as witnessed in the eviction of the transgender Bobby Darling, and class, as witnessed in the nominations for Rakhi Sawant. The question to be asked, then, is why is such an undemocratic show so successful in India, the world’s biggest democracy? Is it out of gratitude, or complacence even, for what our lives are not, or out of identification based on lived experience of a democracy not fully delivering on its promise?

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