Paper Title
Child Abuse: The Grim Reality About Reality Shows
Abstract
There is no business like show business. Everything about it is appealing. Children are also mesmerised by its
charm. Earlier, preteens would participate only in quiz competitions. Now they want to appear on TV or celluloid and aspire
to get “too much, too soon”. Perhaps they have been conditioned in this manner by their parents. Kids are ruling the TV
industry. We have been an audience to lot of kids reality shows like Boogie Woogie, Li’l champs, Sabse Bada Kalakar,
Indian Idol Junior, DID little masters, Voice of India, India' s Best Dramebaaz, soap operas like Balika Vadhu and the
controversial one that went off the air viz Pehredaar Piya ki. Undoubtedly these tiny bundles of talent amaze us and their
perfect performances give us goose bumps. There is an increasing demand for shows and serials having kids and the
broadcasters too have obliged. But there are unpleasant realities about this reality shows and soap operas which we cannot
afford to overlook. The glamour world has turned the children to workaholics or slaves where they need to rehearse for
longer hours out of fear of rejection or out of pressure to perform better and better. It robs them of normal childhood. Their
body language and mannerisms change and they have an air of superiority. Eventually when they are deprived of stardom it
impacts their tender minds and they may even get into drugs to cope up with the situation. Who can forget Jugal Hansraj of
‘Masoom’ fame who won the hearts of millions but didn't make it big in Bollywood? Children have to push their limits as
parents keep on harping that the sky is the limit for them. The unpleasant truth is that the industry is aware of the issue of
child artists being exploited. What remains to be seen is how seriously the provisions under ‘The Child Labour (Prohibition
and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016’ are executed and how seriously punishments on defaulters are implemented.
Keywords- Kids, Reality shows, Child labour