Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka

Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka

Genre	Reality
Presented by	Ravi Kishan
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of seasons	2
Production
Running time	58 minutes per episode
Production company(s)	NDTV Ltd.
Release
Original network	NDTV Imagine
Picture format	576i (SDTV),
Original release	December 7, 2009 – January 15, 2010 (Season 1) ^[1]

Raaz Pichhle Janm Ka (Hindi: राज़ पिछले जनम का, "Past Life Secrets") is an Indian reality television series based on the technique of past life regression. The NDTV Imagine show is hosted by actor Ravi Kishan, while the past life regression sessions are conducted by Mumbai-based psychologist Trupti Jayin.^[2]^[3]^[4] The first season started on December 7, 2009, was planned for a 20-episode run from Monday to Friday, 9.30 pm, by Ideas Box Entertainment, got an extension of 20 episodes, and ended on January 15, 2010, while Second season started on October 23, 2010, with actor, Chunky Pandey as guest.^[1]

Participants include a mixture of invited celebrities and ordinary people selected through a phone-in process. Celebrity participants have included Shekhar Suman, Monica Bedi, Celina Jaitley, Payal Rohatgi and Manvendra Singh Gohil.

Concept

The show opens with the guest explaining a particular problem, usually a fear he or she is facing and wishes to find a solution or insight into. Thereafter they are taken through an extended past life regression session, edited for television.

The procedure as explained by show's therapist, Dr. Tripti Jayin, the patient are first taken into in a state of progressive relaxation, followed by an alpha-theta meditation through the visualisation of light and then supposedly 'taken back' into the past to know the reason for things that trouble them in this birth. Some of the events are dramatized as the participant narrates certain incidents, and in the end talks about the experience.^[2]^[5]

About past-life regression

It uses conscious meditative technique to recover memories of our past lives. It helps address fears, phobias and even physical ailments in our present day lives by finding their roots in our previous lives.

Recalled information

Many of the participants have supposedly recalled information from the past. The best example is that of Swati Singh (Episode-1 participant) who correctly recalled information about the 1966 Air India flight 101 crash incident (24 January 1966), in which she claimed that she was an Indian sailor named Singh, and in this flight the eminent Indian physicist Dr. Homi J. Bhabha had also died.^[6]

Views of medical-community

A number of clinical psychiatrists have said that such ‘memories’ of a past life may only be the projected imagination of an individual. However, some others believe that the concept needs further research. “I do not practice it but I do not agree that past-life regression should be dismissed altogether. I believe that this concept needs to be thoroughly researched,” says Dr Divay Mangla, a psychiatrist practising in Yamuna Nagar, India.^[7]

Controversies

Some people and organizations have raised doubts over the credibility and reality of the show.^[8] Much of the past-life regression process is also not shown on television, so it can't be confirmed whether the process is real or not. No explanation has been given by NDTV Imagine in this regard.

Statutory notice

Bharat Jan Vigyan Jathan, an independent Indian organisation, has got issued a statutory notice by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to NDTV Imagine TV Channel (a copy of which was also issued to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India^[9]^[10]) for allegedly spreading superstition through Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka. It also asked the channel for a public debate in the presence of experts and scientists and prove its credence scientifically.^[11]^[12]

Season 1

Episodes

The first series of Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka began on 7 December 2009 and ended on 15 January 2010. Episodes were aired on NDTV Imagine nightly from Monday to Friday at 9:30pm. It was originally planned to have 20 episodes but this was extended to 40. The season finale revisited the participants post their experience on the show and explored the impact the show had made on their lives.^[13]

The makers of the show, The Ideas Box Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. are said to be planning the second season of the show which is again planned to have 20 episodes.^[14]

Celebrity Participants

Shekhar Suman, met his dead son
Celina Jaitley, saw herself as a German soldier fighting and dying in action in World War 2 in her first past life regression and as a happily married woman from the US in her second past life regression.
Payal Rohatgi, saw herself as a Boy in her previous birth who was betrayed by his lover.^[15]
Monica Bedi, saw herself as a Portuguese woman, a self-sacrificing mother of three kids who watches helplessly as her ex-husband dies in a car accident.^[16]^[17]
Manvendra Singh Gohil (Prince of Rajpipla and gay rights activist), saw himself as a poor farmer, and in a tragic accident while crossing a river, he lost his son. Manvendra’s wife gets extremely disturbed at the loss of their son and this strongly affects their married life.
Sambhavana Seth, saw herself as a Muslim woman, whose uncle had killed her after molesting her.
Ravi Kishan (host of the show), saw himself as a ‘Naga Sadhu’ in Manali, Himachal Pradesh during the 1890s and tried to obtain moksha but failed; as certain circumstances that led him to commit not one, but three murders in his past life thereby altering his life forever.^[18]
Eva Grover (Famous TV Star and ex-wife of actor Haider who happens to be Aamir Khan's step brother).