Satyamev Jayate

Satyamev Jayate is an Indian reality TV talk show hosted by one of the stalwarts of Bollywood in present times, Aamir Khan. He has also produced the show and forms a part of the core creative team that ideates each episode on the show. This show is something that the Indian audience direly needed for building a social collective consciousness; albeit in baby steps. Social media and news media clearly show that it has also made the right impact. What is also a matter of great commendation is that, Aamir Khan is capitalizing on his celebrity status to do something that is productive for the society instead of limiting this influence to endorsing hair products or fairness creams or whatever comes an actor's way which his contemporaries are busy with.

On the 9th of November, the last episode to season three was aired and it discussed masculinity. "When Masculinity Harms Men" as a show achieved a lot more feats than other episodes. The show's structural flow departed a little from the usual format and justifiably so. The production has aired episodes on the condition and treatment of women in this country, social problems like road rage and even child sexual abuse, etc. It seemed problematic, though, to bring people to discuss core reasons for these problems. Who in this comfortably patriarchal society would like to listen to people trying to talk about problems of MANHOOD in this time? So beginning by really asking men to list what they think is the definition of a "real man" and getting in shock stories in juxtaposition with the most coveted ladies of the Bollywood industries talking about the kind of men they'd like to be with, had to be the best way to make people sit down and listen.

Did-you-know interlude: For the episode titled "Fighting Rape" on the second season, a group girls (including me) from Lady Shri Ram College went to be a part of the video-chat with Aamir Khan. A girl from the group rightly asked him about what he thought of the portrayal of women in the Films that Bollywood is producing and since that promotes such misogynistic attitude, what is he doing about it. He, today has duly acknowledged that point out loud. Not only has he done a show that covers this as a sub-topic, but he also pointed out his own mistakes in his acting career in the video clip that was shown to address the problem with Bollywod movie ideation.

Discussing the pressure that Manhood imposes on men, too, sexuality and sex were no more taboo. The number of times the word 'sex' was used  out loud on the show was a first for the typical Indian audience. Of course, the word 'typical' loses all sense and references if one were to go through the Browsing History of the same audience through the internet connection provider (thank you, incognito mode)but well, living room/drawing dynamics function a little differently with a family setting for a given. For the first time though, it was not a confrontational stance, and not a sensational news. It was a fact. It is a reality in the relationship between a husband and wife and the instrument of violence to render the victim a weaker person. When did violence and relationship find the same means of display? Indeed, masculinity has been damaged the same way that womanhood has been. Somewhere down the line, patriarchy learnt to be so sneaky that nobody can see the mastermind behind it. Maybe, it's you, maybe it's me, or just all of us.

Satyamev Jayate has done some things so right that I wish they'd just stop and play it again. With so many seasons, and so many issues, the audience has enough to reflect upon.  Perhaps, it is time to talk about the success stories, and slap the worse situations on the society's face. It doesn't seem like a bad idea to pick those issues right back up. This show put a lot of petitions out there. Let's bring them back into focus. Female foeticide, child sexual abuse, criminalization in politics, water, alcoholism, tuberculosis, mental health, road accidents, etc. We've only just begun to see the fault lines but have we all really seen it? All of us? I think we just have to keep looking and someday we shall be ashamed enough to stop.

To know more about the show, visit: http://www.satyamevjayate.in/

Jai Hind.

Satyamev Jayate.