Celeb judges walk a tightrope
Piyush Roy
November 29, 2005
Judging contests has been, of late, cool, glamorous and a must-do for almost anyone who is someone. Now, with reality TV, an increasing number of contests in various fields and general media attention focused on these events, celebrity judges have moved to another level of visibility altogether. With thousands of eyeballs fixed on them, not only is their profile very high, but their abilities and demeanour have also come under close scrutiny.
"The issue is not how fair you are; it's how fair you appear to be," says Prahlad Kakkar, a favourite for judging competitions in several fields, from advertising to films. Most recently, he was on the panel for the Teacher's Achievement Awards, results for which were out on Saturday.
Milind Soman, a veteran at judging beauty pageants and such like contests says, "You are asked to judge on the basis of your achievements and expertise in the field, not because of your celebrity status alone."
"However, if the audience feels that a judge is not up to the task, he or she may have to face detractors," says Soman.
Critics also argue that the reality shows' audience-voting formats, and film and TV award functions' dependence on reader votes have limited the judges' role to merely lending glamour to the event. Ashwin Varde, executive editor of Magna Publishing Co Ltd, contends, "The format of these shows is such that judges can, to an extent, influence the audience vote, but they can no longer be the ultimate arbiters. We have seen that happen with Indian Idol, where Abhijeet Sawant emerged the winner even though opinion remained divided on his singing talent."
On television, judging is a completely open process, with viewers able to follow every move of both the contestants and the jury. On such shows, the heated discussions between the judges themselves (Ismail Durbar vs Adesh Srivastava and Jatin-Lalit vs Himesh Reshammiya on Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa or Ila Arun vs Javed Akhtar on Fame Gurukul), and their emotional bonding with their favourite contestants are all parallel attractions, often as important to the shows' popularity as the contest itself.
The judges, at times, begin to affect each other at a personal level, too. For instance, one episode of Nach Baliye had every other participating couple paying compliments to judge Malaika Arora's green sari. While the sexy dancer-actress did score a perfect 10, the overdose of admiration prompted co-judge Farhan Akhtar to say, "Next time we both (Farhan and Saroj Khan) would be dressed in green saris to get that appreciative nod from the contestants."
Looks, talent, ability and fame apart, judging is serious business and the celebs involved need to realise how important it is to uphold the integrity and respectability of any competition.
And with the awards season round the corner, veteran film director Ramesh Sippy, a judge at various film, TV and public award ceremonies, has the last word on walking the tightrope: "There are no shortcuts to judging, neither is anyone equipped to sit on judgment on others. However, in a competition, we are given set guidelines to follow and it's best to use one's experience and expertise to arrive at an honest decision."
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