Not just arrogance, he’s just a child: Experts caution against trolling of 10-year-old KBC contestant

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) The hate came in droves -- on social media, in office debates and drawing room conversations. The unlikely target? A 10-year-old labelled “arrogant”, “rude” and “budtameez” after his appearance on “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, gaining notoriety entirely out of sync with his age.

Gujarat boy Ishit Bhatt’s brisk confidence on the hot seat, telling host Amitabh Bachchan not to repeat the rules, answering before hearing the full question, and interrupting mid-sentence, became a flashpoint for furious discussion. Is it poor parenting? Is it the natural brashness of a bright boy? Should it be ignored, after all he is just a child, or should it be addressed? The questions came fast and furious, pitching the fifth grader into a trending topic. An apology letter, purportedly written by Bhatt and shared on an Instagram account @ishit_bhatt_official along with a video, was widely reported. And then pulled down with the message that the account doesn’t exist.

There were also scores of fake accounts on various social media platforms with the boy’s photograph.

Everything points to a troubling lynch mob mentality with concerns that such events of trolling and public shaming can have long-lasting impact on a child at a formative age.

According to experts, the reality is complex, shaped by shifting parenting styles, school cultures, and the way children today process and express themselves.

The instant two-minute verdict is that he is rude.

“But that may or may not be the case,” family therapist Maitri Chand told PTI.

People are judging the child’s tone, gestures and responses in a “unidimensional way”, she said.

“Rudeness and arrogance have a cultural basis - they are culturally normed. And I don’t just mean country-wise culture. It can be a family culture, a community culture, or even a school culture.” Bhatt isn’t the first such case.

In 2023, Virat Iyer, a then eight-year-old from Chhattisgarh, played the game in a similar manner - answering before Bachchan could finish asking a question.

Unlike Bhatt, who went home without winning anything, Iyer reached the final question for Rs 1 crore but went home with Rs 3.20 lakh after answering it incorrectly.

As Chand sees it, children of this generation are growing up in an environment that actively encourages them to be vocal and opinionated.

“Schools teach critical thinking earlier and earlier, which is fantastic. In our generation, if we were lucky, we learnt it at the master’s level. So the child may simply have been thinking fast, assuming things, responding quickly, not necessarily from a place of disrespect.” What many adults perceive as arrogance could actually be impatience born from faster cognitive rhythm, Chand added.

Ankita Verma Mehta, an HR professional and mother, has a slightly different view. She believes the child’s behaviour should have been corrected at the right time.

“He feels this way of talking and kind of demeaning is fine, because it has been accepted in his past. Maybe he was praised for his confidence which turned into overconfidence. It needs to be corrected. I would have taken him to a separate room and told that the behaviour is wrong,” Mehta said.

Chand, however, feels that humility is not a construct most 10-year-olds can meaningfully grasp.

“Humility comes later in life when experience humbles us a bit,” she said.

“At his age, if you try to impose it, it can feel like stifling the child or discouraging him from voicing his thoughts.” She also pointed out that Bhatt’s response to one question - “Which of these meals are generally eaten in the morning" - may have been misread. The young contestant immediately asked Bachchan to lock “breakfast” without hearing the options.

The options could very well have been about different types of dishes typically served in the morning.

“There are multiple options that can come up for a question as wide as this. But a fifth grader does not have the neurological ability for abstraction that comes about in the seventh grade typically. So you cannot just bracket this and say that the child is arrogant. I think that would be a disservice. Other things need to be taken into account as well,” she said.

Is it about bad parenting? There’s no absolute answer.

“It’s larger than just parenting,” she said.

“We are raising children differently - to perform, to express, to be up front and centre. And then when they do that, we come down on them for being too much. That’s a contradiction.” Chand added that children today face mixed signals from society.

“We want them to be go-getters, confident, verbal - but just enough to sit well with us. That’s an unfair ask,” she said.

For clinical psychologist Shweta Sharma, it wasn’t about confidence. His responses reflected gaps in his social emotional skills, as he had difficulty with “impulse control, boundary awareness, and respectful communication, a pattern in today’s generation”.

Sharma added that the pressure of performing on national television opposite a towering figure like Amitabh Bachchan could have magnified the child’s behaviour.

“Excitement, adrenaline, and the desire to prove oneself can all exacerbate boundary-crossing,” she said.

“So instead of criticism and labels, this should be treated as an opportunity to teach emotional regulation, respect for social norms, and adaptive assertiveness.” The long-term impact could be profound, the psychologists agreed.

“Exposure to this kind of criticism can impact his self-esteem and social trust. He might even become more defensive or rude as a result,” Sharma said.

Chand recommended that the family work with a therapist to help the child process the backlash and retain his confidence.

“Otherwise, the shock and hurt of being misunderstood can make a child withdraw, doubt himself, or develop anxiety,” she said.

“Beyond everything, he’s still a child. We need to see him in that light.” PTI MAH/MG MIN MIN