When Om Swami did a Justin Bieber. Not cool

Let’s think about the the implications of the show Big Boss, modeled after the the Dutch show Big Brother developed by John de Mol, which features a bunch of contestants locked up in an isolated residence where they attempt to co-exist under the watchful eye of everyone’s bhai, Salman Khan.

The self-proclaimed ‘Godman’ apparently crossed all limits when he urinated in a jar in front of all the visibly disgusted contestants and the camera. He, however, did not cross all limits when he made sexist comments about almost every single individual who identifies as female and crosses his path.

A man who has the audacity to say “jo ek aadmi ki nahi ho payi woh kisi aur ki kya hogi” (“she who cannot belong to one man, cannot belong to anyone”) does not deserve any screen time at all by virtue of normalising sexism in a country which is already regressive for women.

Nor did he cross any lines when he failed to appear in front of a Delhi Court with regard to an FIR filed by his younger brother on November 8 and November 21 for allegedly stealing private property.

Being a partial-celeb has a lot of perks, and crossing the line often seems to be one of them. Most importantly, he obviously did not cross any lines when he tried harder than an artsy engineer to fit into the stereotype of the quintessential godman.

For someone who comes up with such original self-image projection,  Swami Om is nothing short of predictable. The maroon and gold kurta, long unkempt hair, stylised gold- rimmed glasses and cheap beaded necklaces are straight out of a low-budget stage production of Chhota Bheem. Swami Om is also a name which no self-respecting pseudo-godman should be ok with. It’s almost as if he was named by Danny Boyle for a remake of Slumdog Millionaire. As for the on-camera urinating? Here’s some bad news: Justin Beiber was doing it way before Swami Om thought it was cool.

How long will it take for us to collectively realise as a country that this version of reality is eating away at our cognitive ability? It is almost as if he is pandering to a western archetype of what a godman should be like.

What is it that makes us want to watch a half-relevant godman air his irrelevant opinions on someone’s love affair on air, or squabble with another in a manner which would make any discerning adult cringe? We seem to be caught in a paradox whereby we seem to live vicariously through shenanigans of television personalities who do things which our conservative upbringing would never allow.

Their every movement, whether peeing in buckets or carefully staged ‘candid’ sexual encounters with fellow house mates, seems to bring in the TRPs. This contrived, carefully constructed idea of a reality is devoid of conscience, morality and any conscequence should not be one that any media propogates on such a large scale. It is almost dystopian in the way in which it deviates from the larger, more human entertainment shows, which actually deserve airtime and which stimulate and educate. A brave new world perhaps?