I must confess, I rather enjoy watching Sach Ka Saamna – the same show that has now been issued with a show cause notice from the government — whenever I happen to catch it. I’m surprised that I’m drawn to it given the circumstances; for television shows have rarely held my interest (Not including reruns of you-know-what…and more recently, The Moment of Truth, the American show on which Sach Ka Saamna is based). I was quite keen to see how the Indian version would be received by the audience. I had assumed, before the show was launched in India, that it would tread the middle path, being carefullly much less explicit in its pattern of questioning than The Moment of Truth. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s gone full-throttle. And judging from TRPs and general buzz around it, the show is a winner — and why not? As viewers, it titillates the voyeristic streak in all of us. And as participants, there perhaps lies hidden relief in not having to put up with pretenses, more so to dare yourself to speak what you will. 

It’s a show of many firsts. For the first time, we are letting to rest our hypocritical ways, declaring Indian society no less promiscuous than any other. For the first time, we admit we are prone to feelings of jealousy, hatred, and resentment towards people we love. For the first time, we announce that there is, after all, a very thin line between what could be known and accepted, and what must be buried and forgotten. For the first time, for many participants, it’s a chance to reveal to their families that this is who they really are – take it or leave it. For the first time, we, the audience is (hopefully), if gradually, are warming up to the fact that perhaps not judging somebody for the way they choose to lead their lives is the best way forward. Live and let live. After all, you can’t be hawing and haaoing at every participant’s past every single show. You get past it. Everybody has their set of truths. Some say it, some don’t. You watch them faced with a troublesome question and sometimes, you can’t help but ask yourself, “What would I reply to that one?” You’re relieved you don’t have to. Then again, would you really mind?

As for the ones who choose to take the hotseat, I refuse to believe they would have plucked up the courage to let “skeletons” tumble out of the closet only for money. For one, there isn’t a 100% guarantee that the polygraph test they conduct before the show will match your answers on the show. So there is always a good chance that you would return home empty-handed, having revealed significant details of your life. It’s safe to assume then, I suppose, that if you didn’t really want to be there for the sake of coming clean, apart from the money – you wouldn’t risk very many relationships and reputation. Either way, it’s refreshing to see those who have appeared on the show till date saying it like it probably is. That’s a far cry from what we do quite by habit, brushing everything under the carpet. (Even if the show is rigged, the participants paid to “reveal shocking truths” to grab eyeballs, well, then, they seem to have readily agreed to accept those truths as their own).

Our MPs, however, taking the high moral ground as always (with zero basis, of course), have much to say in this matter. While it’s not in the least surprising, it is, nevertheless, exasperating, that they should find it necessary waste their time raising a hue and cry in Parliament about the “dirty” content presented on the show. An MP has supposedly called questions such as “Would you have physical contact with another person?”, asked to a married woman, “obscene”. It’s worth putting him on Sach Ka Saamna. In fact, it’s certainly worth putting the entire lot on the show. If only to shut them up.