Marriage on TV - Usurp Reality

Put the final nail in the coffin of privacy: 'item girl' Rakhi Sawant is now offering herself up in marriage to the winner of her upcoming TV show Rakhi ka Swayamvar. "I've been a 'public property' and owe everything to reality shows. So why not get married through one?", Rakhi has been quoted as saying, adding that the announcement of her networked nuptials came as a surprise even to her immediate family with whom she had not discussed her plans.

TV's continuing obsession with ever-new ways to violate privacy raises a number of questions about mass media and how they shape and define what we call 'reality'.

The bride-in-waiting Rakhi Sawant has chosen to search for her real life-partner on Imagine’s new reality show Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. Rakhi is taking matters of the heart into her own hands with a nationwide search for her perfect husband along with the support of the audiences. After exhaustive challenges and eliminations, Rakhi will take the saat-phere with her husband in a grand ceremony that will be a fitting finale to this unique journey, and everyone is invited.
Rakhi Ka Swayamvar is a concept that has never seen before on television. The show promises to reveal a seldom-seen side of Rakhi and also provide an insightful glimpse of a roller coaster ride of emotions and tribulations. The ultimate selection of the groom will be
made by Rakhi herself with the active help and participation of the audiences.

15 prospective grooms will be found from across the length and breadth of the country through an extensive all-media audition process. As a starting point, interested, prospective grooms will need to send in their profiles for selection. This will be followed by multi-city face to face meetings where these prospective grooms will be shortlisted.

Rakhi wants to show us that in the voyeuristic soap opera of borrowed reality, there is vicarious life, and love, and marriage. How much more of what we call reality will 'reality' TV usurp?