‘Bigg Boss’ scrapes bottom of  the barrel

Not even a week old, and the new season of Bigg Boss  is showing signs  of  anxiety fatigue. The  effort to get eyeballs at any cost hit an all-time low in the first week of telecast itself when four female contestants Pavitra Punia, Nikki Tamboli, Rubina Dilaik and Jasmin Bhasin were asked to “seduce”  the resident-Cansanova of reality television Siddharth Shukla.

The “task”  assigned  for the ladies to earn themselves immunity from eviction not only smacks of misogyny it also has  suspiciously pornographic connotations: want to be spared from punishment, come please Daddy!

While being assigned this  despicable task the ladies couldn’t have been unaware  of what the term “seduction” means. So if they are pleading innocence, the ladies  cannot be given the benefit of the doubt.

It is highly disturbing to see an endorsement of such pseudo-coquettish behavior at a time when men are constantly being pulled up for inappropriate behavior, or that a responsible influencer like Siddharth Shukla could ever be a part of such a deplorable and sleazy game of sham seduction.

During a conversation with this writer some time ago Shukla had expressed the  highest respect for the other gender.  “I would never do anything disrespectful  toward women. It’s just not in  my DNA. I’ve been  brought up to respect  men and women alike.”

And to now see  Mr Shukla being happily “seduced” by a quartet of ladies. Quite a shock.