A well-known Mumbai-based psychologist who had once served as counsellor on a reality show, told me when I met her during a family function: “I was asked to uncover a child’s hidden negative personality traits so that they could be played up. You don’t want to see a good child on stage; you want to see his wickedness, because it’s the drama that raises TRPs.Fifty per cent of what you see on the show is scripted reality.” Reality TV is a monster that is running without controls. It conforms to no set of known morality.
Unprincipled success can have psychological consequences, as it has proved in Shinjini’s case. The doctors treating her say that when an ambitious child is humiliated in front of millions, s/he can suffer trauma. The subconscious distress experienced by the child, can manifest as a physical ailment in a few weeks or even a few years after the incident.