Sharad Kelkar on Whether Crime Shows Inspire Criminal Activity

Sharad Kelkar pens down his opinion on whether crime based TV shows encourage heinous crimes.

Most crime-based reality shows portray real facts and incidents in terms of how criminals operate and their modus operandi, in order to make people aware about it. I personally don’t think these shows inspire criminals. We show what happens after a criminal commits a crime. It’s not like we are showing something on TV and people are doing it. It’s the reverse process.

Through these shows, we show to what extent criminals can go, so as to create awareness among people, making them aware and alert. That’s the message we give out. The criminals know their operations and the nitty-gritty of how it has to be done. They will keep on doing that but you should be aware about the process and tricks they implement to commit crimes.

Regarding the issue of self-censorship, I don’t remember watching any episode featuring a lot of bloodshed or anything disturbing of that sort. Of course, the Information and Broadcast Ministry has set some rules and regulations regarding these kinds of shows. I have hosted such shows, so I know how far we can go in terms of showing the crime. It’s simple, if you don’t show the way criminals operate, people won’t come to know.

Crime was always there, prevention came later. I feel people are more alert now after watching these shows. Through these shows, we also inform people to not put a picture of your children going to school with their school’s name or school’s batch in some episodes, so now people have become more aware and not uploading such pictures on social networking sites. All the security staff in your building premises is verified by the local police. The ratio of crime in such a way has decreased a lot because people are aware of it and now, because of this, the criminals have also got alert of their limitations and wary about the repercussions.

I don’t remember an episode which said that a criminal is walking free after committing a crime. My only advice to the creative and production teams of these shows is ‘don’t fictionalise it much’. They should showcase only facts and how the crime has been committed and not create stories. When you start fictionalising them, you involve your thought process and sensationalise them in a way, which is wrong.

In most of the episodes, they mention the real cases from which the particular episode is based. So the reference is always there. Most of them are real cases. You can shoot it in such a way that it should look convincing to the audience. Sometimes to get TRPs and high ratings, you fictionalise and in a way give new ideas to the criminals, which shouldn’t happen.

(Sharad Kelkar is a popular television actor who has been a part of shows like Saat Phere and Agent Raghav - Crime Branch and films Ram Leela and Hero.)