Mumbai: Amid the excitement of spinning, winning and guessing to win big on Wheel of Fortune, Akshay Kumar takes a moment to reflect on a modern-day habit that concerns phone addiction. Pointing out how watching a single reel or videos on mobile ends up consuming nearly six hours of screen time, he draws a parallel with Red Indians as he stresses the value of cultural awareness and self-control.
Akshay engages contestants Akash Singh, Priyanshi Singh, and Prateek Chaturvedi in a deep conversation about persuasion, technology, and parenting in the digital age. In a playful start, Akshay asks Akash, who works in sales, how he would sell a pair of sunglasses. Akash responds confidently, “Agar iss chashme ko pehnenge, toh aapko aur behtar dikhai dega.” He then turns to Prateek who is a well-known travel blogger who has travelled with his bike across Norway and London with the same question to which Prateek replies, “Duniya rangeen dikhegi.” Then comes Priyanshi’s turn, who is an app developer. Akshay asks, “Agar aapko ispe app banana ho toh?” to which Priyanshi says, “Mai bol dungi ke chaka-chaundh se thodi chutkara chahiye toh sunglasses lagao.”
The conversation deepens when Akshay questions Priyanshi about the dominance of social media apps asking the audience, “Yaha kitne maa baap hai jinko lagta hai unke bacche addicted ho chuke hai?” to which one person from the audience says, “Sir, aaj kal jo bacche hai vo khaana bhi mobile dekh ke hi kha rahe hai.” Responding to a parent’s concern, Akshay stresses that parents today need to introspect on the entire situation and goes on to say that it is parents who put mobile phones in their children’s hands at an early age many a times while emphasising that devices at a young age are a trap. He further shares a worrying anecdote about his friend who had said to him that, “Akshay bhai, ek saal se lagatar saade 6 ghante vo reel dekh raha tha aur uski diabetes jo hai vo kaafi aage nikal chuki hai, aur kitne log digital rehab ke liye admit ho rahe hai. Aur mai aap sab se aur jitne bhi sunne wale maa baap hai, agar aapko lage ke aapke bacche addict ho rahe hai, aapko hi kadam uthana padega. Vo baccho ki galti nai hai, unko batane wale aap hai, aapko hi batana padega. Ye early signals aapko hi pakadne padenge, vo toh bacche hai, unko aapko hi samjhana padega.”
Akshay goes on to cite an example from Native American communities (historically referred to as “Red Indians”), saying, “Unke yaha pe un log beech mein aag lagate hai raat ko aur sab log circle pe baith jaate hai aur baithe rehte hai aur un log koi gaana gaa rahe hai, koi baat kar raha hai, koi so raha hai, koi khade hai, pee rahe hai, kya hota hai ek baccha beech mein aag laga hua hai vo aag ke taraf jaane lagta hai, aapko pata hai Red Indians kabhi rokte nahi hai vo bacche ko, vo jaane dete hai aur sab dekhte hai, vo baccha jaake vo koile ko ya lakdi ko haath lagata hai aur uska haath jal jata hai aur vo rone lagta hai, vo din hai aur uske marne ke din tak vo kabhi aag se nahi khelta.”
He concludes by adding, “Lekin main aap logo ko nahi sikha raha. Jisko sahi lage ye cheez apne aap mein daal dijiye, nahi theek lage aap maa baap hai, aapse zyada samajhdar aur koi nahi ho sakta.”
Catch Akshay Kumar voice his opinions about screen addiction, parenting choices and more only on Wheel of Fortune, from Monday to Friday at 9:00 PM, only on Sony Entertainment Television & Sony LIV