Nivedith Alva, director of season 1 of MTV reality show Roadies took to Twitter to criticise the show which he says has deviated from its original purpose, which, as envisioned by his brother Nikhil Alva, was to inspire Indian youth. Nivideth’s brothers Nikhil and Niret are co-founders of TV production house Miditech, which produced a few seasons of Roadies as well as shows such as Living on the Edge and Survivor India.
“It sickens me to see what has been done to the ‘Roadies’ format over time. Backstabbing, bad language, abusive anchors, violence and in-your-face sexuality were never a part of the format,” he tweeted.
Nivedith lamented that while the first couple of seasons of the reality show produced icons such as Rannvijay Singha and Ayushmann Khurrana, the show has now “degenerated over time to the point where it is an embarrassment to brand MTV and any advertiser associated with it”. He alleged that in the pursuit of ratings, the show in its current format stands to do long-term damage to its young participants.
Recently, Roadies judge Neha Dhupia put out a statement on social media saying that she and her family have been targetted and abused by trolls over comments she made during the auditions for MTV Roadies Revolution. After a contestant admitted that he had slapped his girlfriend for cheating on him, Neha reportedly said that it was the woman's choice if she wanted to be in a relationship with five men at the same time, but he had no right to hit her regardless the circumstances.
“Sadly as a reaction to my opinion, I have been subjected to weeks of vitriol. One of my posts had over 56k comments! Yet I was silent. But now, people close to me who have nothing to do with this - my family, my friends, my co-workers and even my dad's personal WhatsApp are being flooded with abuses and harassment. My daughter's page is nothing less than a barrage of abuses and this is not acceptable to me," she wrote. "What a man or woman does in a relationship is their choice and moral choices are always ambiguous. But no matter what they are, they cannot lead to physical abuse. I stand by that fact no matter what,” she added.
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