The last night’s episode of Bigg Boss 15 was unsettling, to say the least. More than half of it was dedicated to Afsana Khan having a breakdown on national television and then being evicted from the show. Multiple promos were cut from the scene and circulated on social media before it was finally aired last night. Screaming, bullying, allegations, threats–we saw it all. However, the question is if we were actually supposed to see it. More importantly, why did Bigg Boss makers think that someone’s mental health crisis can be served as entertaining content? Last night’s BB 15 episode should never have aired. here are four moments from the episode that should not have qualified as prime time content:
Afsana Khan’s Breakdown
How hard is it to understand that someone’s mental health crisis is not content ‘coz Bigg Boss makers are certainly having a hard time grasping it. Or maybe, they fully understand what they are doing and sensationalising someone’s breakdown is just another one of those cheap tricks to boost TRPs. Either way, Bigg Boss needs an intervention. There is just so much that happens inside the house in a day and there is just so much footage to take for the episode. Yet the makers decided to dedicate the majority of their episode last night to Afsana’s breakdown. In fact, they literally made promos out of her crisis, lots of them.
Shamita Shetty’s Problematic Comments
Yes, it was quite evident that Afsana needs help in last night’s episode. Rajiv Adatia and Umar Riaz could understand what was happening and tried handling the situation wth patience and compassion. Shamita Shetty (the one who acts like the most dignified and understanding person in the house) was on an entirely different trip though. She could be clearly seen trying to rile up Afsana when she was already agitated.
Shamita was heard saying that Afsana Khan has “a problem” and “a mental health” issue right in front of the singer when she was having a breakdown. Sadly, she did not stop even when Afsana got flustered at the use of the word “mental” and mocked her English during the exchange. Later on, Neha Bhasin was also seen butting in and asking Afsana Khan to “get out” in a very demeaning tone.
Afsana Khan’s Interaction With The BB Team
In last night’s episode, not only did they make a spectacle out of Afsana’s crisis but went ahead to show clips of her begging the BB team to let her stay. If the makers had already made their minds about throwing her out, what was the point of showing us that footage of Afsana at her lowest?
Afsana Khan Making False Assault Allegations On Fellow Housemates
Everything said and done, we are kinda glad that Afsana is out of the show. This is because she very clearly needed help and constantly being watched by the camera and people around wasn’t helping her situation. That said, none of it excuses the sexual assault allegations that she tried making at the other housemates. During the task when Shamita and her team were planning to block the singer, she tried stopping them by creating a scene. Things went too far when she tried blaming Shamita of asking her brothers (Vishal Kotian and Rajiv Adatia) to rape her. These are all very serious conversations and casually adding them in a Bigg Boss edit is as problematic as it gets on the makers’ part.
Here’s hoping that the Bigg Boss makers become more cognisant of the kind of content that they are pushing on national television and the impact that it can have on their impressionable audience.
Featured Image: Voot
