Ups and Downs of Reality Shows...

The highlight of the weekend’s musical shows was definitely the grand finale of Zee SaReGaMaPa Lil Champs 2007 series. The show indeed was a fitting finale to a good series. While SVOI raised expectations after a brilliant Friday round, on Saturday the viewers were left with just two reactions – shock and outrage! K for Kishore left viewers with mixed reactions and a lot of confusion.

SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs 2007 ended their second successful season with a Grand show. Mariani Assam’s Anamika Choudhury was crowned the winner while Patiala’s Rohanpreet and Lucknow’s Tanmay Chaturvedi were declared the first and second runners up respectively. The Grand Finale was very entertaining and saw some brilliant performances. Apart from performances what distinctly stood out was the dignity and maturity with which the winner and the two runners up and their families behaved. The show has concluded but the show will be cited as an example for a long time to come. The participants have evolved as better singers; the family members of "Most" behaved with decorum and made all the kids a part of their family, the public also voted right, most of the time. The creative presented us good themes week after week and in the end the grand finale show was a fitting end! The show may not have had the best talents, but with whatever they had, they rose up to the challenge and presented to us clean, entertaining, fun and enjoyable shows. Except for a few mishaps, the rest of the series was indeed worth a watch.

In VOI Chhote Ustaad, Friday was the bhajan theme and it turned out to be a very nice evening. The aesthetic essence of the show was perfectly maintained. Aishwarya’s Brilliant performance made even the judges give her a standing ovation and with this performance she has managed to seal the lips of few of her critics. But what stood out like a sore thumb was singer Abhijeet’s comment declaring Aishwarya “Sakshaat Saraswati”. He also made Vyom sing another song as he felt he was unable to judge him as a singer based on that particular day’s performance; forgetting his own comment that he never missed a single episode of the show. If Aishwarya’s performance made everyone’s day on Friday, then Saturday all such hopes got dashed. The theme and its song selection was something that could have been best avoided in a kids talent hunt. The AV of Emraan’s forthcoming film also was unsuitable for a kids' show. The "kissing drama" that ensued and the way it was handled, has left the viewers outraged and the most unfortunate part was that this drama was a part of a show that was meant for kids. Was the whole drama staged, including the walkout? This is one question that is in the minds of the viewers. The producers of the show made sure not to just air the clip of the AV, but also use it to promote the show. Was this obscene display really necessary?

K for Kishore surprisingly saw some really brilliant performances this week. One thing that should be credited to this show is the brilliance of the orchestra. They are indeed one of the best of the lot that we have heard so far in the reality shows. This week it was Filmfare Special and the contestants all sang songs that fetched Kishore Kumar Filmfare Awards. Arnab Chakrabarty got the special "Judge’s Favourite Award" for his performances throughout the show. But the show again changed the whole format of elimination leaving the participants and the viewers confused. The elimination of Anil and the way it was handled definitely was disappointing. If the participants had to choose, why couldn’t it be done by a secret ballot and then the hosts announce the final choice?

Mission Ustaad gave us a taste of simple and clean show while Lil Champs showed the same can be achieved with incorporating clean but fun X-factor. These two shows established that dirty masala is not required to raise the TRP’s of a show. A show can be simple and yet capture the attention and hearts of viewers. Will Zee follow the path set by L’il Champs in future too; will the other channels rise to this challenge and rid the disgusting dramas used to promote their shows? Viewers can wish for and only time can tell.

Author: Barnali

Note: The views expressed are solely of the author. For any information, please contact the author.