Yesterday TV news reportage was full of the murder of Mumbai based artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani after the mutilated bodies of the two were discovered in a drain. Apparently a ragpicker discovered cartons that contained the two bodies wrapped in plastic. It is a heinous crime and a macabre story; one that completely hogged headlines as so many other murder stories have in the near past: Sheena Bora, Sunanda Pushkar, Jiah Khan, Aarushi Talwar and so many others.
Why this emphasis on crime reportage?
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One of the ostensible reasons for reporting on crime in such detail is to make the public aware of would be predators and criminals out to prey on the innocent. Certainly, forewarned is forearmed. If the people know about the modus operandi employed by criminals they would take steps to avoid being in unsafe situations; protect themselves, their families and their property. But such public service is far from the real motive.
Crime fascinates people; violent murders even more so
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The fact is that it is TRPs that largely dictate what news we watch; the fact is that people want to know about crimes; find out all the horrible, grizzly, especially violent details. Real crime stories may horrify us, cause us to shiver in dread but ultimately they fascinate us. We are riveted by the possible motives, the planning that went into the murder or the possibility of a crime of passion. And if the crime involves the beautiful and/or rich and/or the famous, it is all the more fascinating!
It is also a fact that crime novels and murder mysteries are the most popular forms of fiction; movies about murderers and serial killers do extremely well. And though the fascination for fictional crime is similar to the interest in real-life crime, the fascination for the latter is somehow more prurient and distasteful. Witness how any famous crime quickly gets made into a movie or a book. It is disturbing that a real life misfortune translates so quickly into reel life entertainment.
The intense scrutiny that every aspect of the Sheena Bora murder case attracted is a case in point. The fact that it is most likely her own mother, who engineered the girl’s death horrifies us; but is also makes us feel better about ourselves. It makes us view our safe, normal lives with greater appreciation; thankful that we are surrounded by people who care for us and that our lives are not like those of the sick, evil minds that resulted in these high profile crimes.
It may be a little sad that it takes the misfortunes of other people to make us feel better about ourselves; but that is just a human kink. Why else would bizarre reality TV shows be so very popular!
Author: Reena Daruwalla
