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It was the very first episode of Kutti Chutties on Aditya TV in 2013, and the host Imman, a comedian, proclaimed that the show would make history. It did, except, not a pleasant one. Over the next few years, viewers would witness what can only be termed as exploitation of children too young to make decisions for themselves.
The show's participants are between the ages of three and six. It aims to extract laughs from its audience through ignorant statements made by these children. The first episode started off with a child telling the audience that his father regularly beats his mother, even as the watching adults chuckled uncontrollably.
The host then asked this boy who his girlfriend is and he pointed at a young woman in the crowd, who looks visibly embarrassed. The show has since become a huge hit and enjoys enormous following. But isn’t there a line to be drawn when it comes to reality television featuring children?
Tamil Nadu has a multitude of competitions for minors, be it comedy shows, dancing, singing or acting. Sun Network, Star Vijay and Zee TV bank on them to garner ratings through the week. These shows claim to be a platform for new talent to be discovered, but are often questioned over the age-appropriateness of the content.
The Guidelines to Regulate Child Participation in TV Serials, Reality Shows and Advertisements, put out by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), has already laid great emphasis on age appropriate content. It clearly states that 'No child should be made to perform or enact scenes or mouth dialogues that are inappropriate for his/her age, or those that may cause him/her distress.'
Television star and judge of Zee TV's Junior Super Stars, Archana, claims that there is always a filter in place as far as content is concerned. The show features children above the age of five and involves them acting in short plays of various genres.
Archana adds:
But Dr Jayanthini doesn’t buy this line of argument. She explains:
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights says, "The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 32) explicitly indicates that there is a need to recognise the right of the child to be protected from performing or participating in any programme that is harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”
“These shows allow children to show their talent and also teach them to deal with failure and rejection,” she adds.
"Why should personal matters be discussed for the world to see? Children may not understand the consequences immediately and it is not right to put them through that distress on stage," says Dr Jayanthini. "This is an invasion of their privacy and I would say it amounts to abuse," asserts the psychiatrist.
(This piece was first published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission)
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