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Streaming reality series Lock Upp’s second season, which has been making waves across social media in India lately, is mostly about the crude attacks television actor Shilpa Shinde keeps spewing. She’s targeting her co-contestant Shivangi Joshi on the jail-themed set. What started off as typical rivalries over tasks inside the house soon turned into a public spectacle after Shilpa made some vulgar and disrespectful remarks about Shivangi’s personal life, romantic relationships and her character in public. The snippets went viral on X and Instagram within minutes of being broadcast on TV. Tens of thousands of followers rushed in the comments sections, analysed and took sides with their favourite.
The reaction from audiences online was immediate and intense. While they called the conversation crass, inappropriate, and unnecessary, these clips ended up amassing millions of views, dwarfing anything related to game strategy or actual task completion. However, this kind of audience response is a tried-and-tested formula in the Indian entertainment industry where audiences decry such on-screen behavior and yet, network trends and view counts show that sensational, loud-mouthed, in-house personal squabbles manage to glue viewers to the screens.
Old feuds and new allegations keep the fire burning
As far as publicly visible feuds and controversial episodes go, Shilpa Shinde is hardly new to them. The veteran actor had previously won the ‘Bigg Boss’ Season 11 due to, in part, an ugly rivalry with TV producer Vikas Gupta. Shilpa brought a similar antagonistic energy with her to Lock Upp, directly addressing some past personal conflicts, including her long, drawn-out fight with ‘Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain!’ producer Sanjay Kohli. Shilpa confessed on Lock Upp that she had actually filed a false sexual harassment lawsuit against Sanjay in 2016 with no evidence to back up her claims, in what was largely perceived as a calculated step to gain leverage in a contract dispute. The news shocked some parts of the Indian film and TV fraternity and led to numerous professional organisations denouncing the actor. However, instead of being cautious, Shilpa leaned into it on Lock Upp.
More recently, she has chosen Shivangi as her main target, using cheap insults, ridiculing her appearance, and attacking her character by imitatively imitating her for the other housemates. Shinde and fellow competitor actor Harshad Chopda’s row has escalating beyond that into a loud confrontation with regards to personal space and motives within the Lock Upp house. Yet instead of quelling the discord, Lock Upp’s production house used the shouting match between the actors in the show’s trailers. And to a degree, it has paid off in raw engagement numbers.
The math of reality TV shows producers follow
These segments are never accidental. Today’s popular reality television content is heavily dependent on strict metrics for viewer retention – the longer someone subscribes and remains subscribed to a streaming service, the more revenue it generates. A short and dramatic clip of a dramatic personal conflict would perform better for streaming services than one showcasing strategic teamwork on a physical task. When an actor is seen targeting and humiliating their co-stars in full public view, a large ripple effect will reverberate across the entire digital spectrum where all fan club members will jump in, entertainment news websites would post, and social media video creators would share.
That’ll be a Self-Sustaining loop. The show puts raw, visceral content on The Internet; The Internet Will Give Free Promotion, and the streaming platform will achieve maximum views from them. Even the TV stars recognise the equation.
Most of them understand staying neutral or focused entirely on physical challenge rounds would likely lead them to either be chucked out of the show too early or perhaps even without much screen time to be ever recognised.
The choice to engage in a shouting, polarizing and often vulgar-ass argument within Lock Upp for maximum screen time and public recall, and nothing else, is a strategically thought-out one.
Hypocritical audiences click on what they claim to despise.
There is a clear mismatch between what audiences say they want and what they choose to spend their time watching. The comment sections for Lock Upp clips on the internet feature users criticising contestants for their lack of etiquette and common decency, calling out their toxic arguments and asking for stringent measures against them. However, the views for these videos showing such arguments are enormous.
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In fact, it’s often outrages that draw the most viewers- audiences tuning in, not in spite of the bad behaviour, but precisely because of it. Watching respectable individuals shed their polite television persona and lose control and behave immaturely and baselessly opens a window to primitive, human desires. For watchers it is a way to feel righteous and superior from a safe distance.
Shift to noisy content permanently underway
The success of such in-house clashes underscores the permanent shift towards non-fiction as an anchor on TV. Polished television dramas require months to write and rehearse and only to get the average ratings they are seeking. A reality star’s messy argument within a sealed environment however, will generate far more attention overnight. Streaming platforms which can track viewership will no doubt be keen to continue to offer even more entertainment based on volatile personal traits so long as they yield the ratings.
So the mess that is Shilpa Shinde in Lock Upp just brings back an over twenty-year-old format of television entertainment, updated with new contestants each year. Whether the formats have name or a place changing, the same principles apply and as long as the audience remains willing to watch the mess.
