Are Popularity & Talent Synonymous ?

This has been puzzluing me for some time, this post is not intended to offend anyone...

Nice post Rima

Good Post Rima!

Be warned ---My post is a bit long so be prepared……Some points to consider regarding reality shows.

Viewer voting brings in the revenue for the production companies. Believe it or not…when you vote by phone/text etc: part of the cost of the call goes to the telephone company and the other part goes either to the production house or the channel depending on the deal. The production house also has deals with the sponsors (in this case Reliance Mobile and Lux) where they generate extra revenue.

In some shows like Indian Idol…the judges are there to give an opinion and not marks. By this they try to guide the audience to the best contestant. However….due to India's diversity. …The geographic area that a contestant comes from mainly decides viewer voting. No matter how much more talented other contestants are…voters will normally vote for someone who comes from their own region than someone with more talent from another part of India.

In shows where 50-50% votes are split between judges and viewer voters….may bring some fairness in the competition. But this only works if all the contestants are unknown. When celebrities are included in the mix….the voting results can get distorted in favour of the most favorite and not the most talented. In Kaun Jeetega….this is even more skewed because out of the last two couples with the lowest overall marks, one couple is voted out by the other Jodi's. What normally tends to happen in this situation is……the best couple is eliminated because the other Jodi's will vote for the couple, which is most likely to be a threat to them. Also in this show…it looks like dancing is a major factor in the 50% marks awarded by the judges. Some talented couples may not perform well on a certain episode and will loose judges marks for that performance. Voter marks for this couple may not be enough to get them out of the danger zone and be eliminated.

The best voting system is where the judges totally decide who is the best. A small danger here is a judge tending to favour one candidate over another who is more talented. However, if the judges are chosen carefully, the likelihood of this happening is very low and in the end you will get the most talented competitor. Example of this is Ekta's other show…..Kabhi Yaar. Kabhi Pyaar….This is totally judged by judges. They don't hold back. What was a shocker to the audience was that a well-known Jodi….Hiten & Gauri Tejwani (Karan & Nandani of Kyuki) got eliminated in the 2^nd episode. This couple totally relied on their popularity with the audience to get votes to win awards and competitions. It came as a complete shock to the them as well as the audience when they were voted out so early in this dance competition.

I no longer work in this industry…it got too much for me and my sanity!!!. However…I still follow reality shows as they were part of my career once. I am in a totally different (much more sensible) career now.

I think having a 50/50 thing is supposed to be fair but i dont think it is.... I think tht bcos there r celebs ur still gonna get a biased vote as to who is the most popular. I think the judges should solely pick who should be eliminated. Even though they may have their favourties I think they will still try to be fair as in choose the best talent. But u no wht rimz.....this show is seriously taking the piss bcos panchi had the talent and now she is out.....she is quite popular as well Also bcos all we get to see is ppl dancing there no sign of acting!!!!! i thought we might get to see some acts performed as in scenes taken from films and the jodis have to act it out..... To be honest this is completely a ''Nautanki'' show....I will watch this stupid show only for Jay..

I think it should be 50-50 judges get a say as professionals i think if they are good judges and mature they will mark fairly and i think it does become obvious if they are not so even because of that they could be more cautious of favouriting.

Originally posted by: sweet_JAY_FAN

Nice post Rima

I think the judges should just have 100% say in the competition.When u iv ethe audience a resposibility of voting and giving support for the right talent it just does't work. The right person always goes and the best talent doesn't wins. The cons in an all jusged based show is that it doesn't do as well as a voting system show goes. For example: people like to watch Indian Idol because they feel they have the say in deciding who stays and goes. In shows like K for Kishore people feel it becomes a weekly soap like Kayamath or KavyAnjali{just random examples} they feel they have no say- things are decided- they are not needed for anything. Then we have the 50% judgmental system and 50% voting system. This is SUPPOSED to balance everything out- but unfortunately it never works! The audienence votes wrong or unjustified. So in my opinion the real question in these talent reality hows is: do we wants highter TRP's {from voting system} or do we want the real, best, GENUINE talent. I don't know about other people, but for me it's the talent!

Rima in this kind of reality show where people/celebs are competing for bollywood I think personality also counts a lot. You need to be confident, humble and patient and at the same time have the talent. But the problem is this show does not give people a chance to prove themselves...or even improve And after knowing tht panchi and reshmi were in the bottom two...its given me a shock....

Originally posted by: kash101

Good Post Rima!Thanks Kash...

Be warned ---My post is a bit long so be prepared''Some points to consider regarding reality shows.I was looking forward to them actually...love your insight...😊

Viewer voting brings in the revenue for the production companies. Believe it or not'when you vote by phone/text etc: part of the cost of the call goes to the telephone company and the other part goes either to the production house or the channel depending on the deal. The production house also has deals with the sponsors (in this case Reliance Mobile and Lux) where they generate extra revenue. Yes, I assumed that...of course when is it not about the money...sponsers are vital for most shows, but encouraging audiences to vote and call in can as you've said generate a lot of income. Shows like K for Kishore as Shriya mentioned do have similar sponsers but of course they do not bring in as much revenue as voting is not done...

In some shows like Indian Idol'the judges are there to give an opinion and not marks. By this they try to guide the audience to the best contestant. However'.due to India's diversity. 'The geographic area that a contestant comes from mainly decides viewer voting. No matter how much more talented other contestants are'voters will normally vote for someone who comes from their own region than someone with more talent from another part of India.I totally agree with that...in fact that first came to my notice when I watched JDJ...and both Prachi Desai and Jay urged the Gujarati people to vote for them, I think Prachi used the words, "Hoon Gujarat ni dikri chu...meri maate vote karjo..." Roughly tanslated, I'm Gujarat's daughter, vote for me...thus showing that even the participants are aware of the trends in voting in regions. I know Prachi is deff talented and she deserved to win, but her words forced me to think. When I first heard her, I felt connected to her and genuinely would have voted for her given the chance simply because she was from Gujarat and she had spoken in the mother tongue, it was rather endearing.

In shows where 50-50% votes are split between judges and viewer voters'.may bring some fairness in the competition. But this only works if all the contestants are unknown. When celebrities are included in the mix'.the voting results can get distorted in favour of the most favorite and not the most talented. Absolutely...with unknowns it's easier to be objective...but when it is about celebrities...favouritism is bound to occur... In Kaun Jeetega'.this is even more skewed because out of the last two couples with the lowest overall marks, one couple is voted out by the other Jodi's. What normally tends to happen in this situation is''the best couple is eliminated because the other Jodi's will vote for the couple, which is most likely to be a threat to them.I agree...despite what the contestents say, Tactical voting is perhaps done by all...after all it is a competition and they're in it to win...they'll want to eliminate the competition first...In the case of Panchi and Reshmi...personally I felt that Reshmi was more of a threat...but I am just basing this on my own assumptions, I do not know what they do...from what I have seen...Reshmi's performances garnered higher marks than Panchi's in the other rounds... Also in this show'it looks like dancing is a major factor in the 50% marks awarded by the judges. Some talented couples may not perform well on a certain episode and will loose judges marks for that performance. Voter marks for this couple may not be enough to get them out of the danger zone and be eliminated.I agree to some extent...but when couples get similar marks...the voters have more influence over the outcome I guess...Though even couples with High scores have not fared well with the voters...I was surprised to find Naman in the bottom four in the second week...

The best voting system is where the judges totally decide who is the best. A small danger here is a judge tending to favour one candidate over another who is more talented. However, if the judges are chosen carefully, the likelihood of this happening is very low and in the end you will get the most talented competitor. This is completely agree with...I like to think of it as a panel of judges for a job, the Producers and Director are looking for an actor, it is a job and who better to select that person than the very people who have experiance in the field and know what is required from the contestents. Allowing the audience to influence this process...in my opinion disrupts the process as we cannot ensure that the most deserving candidate wins. Perhaps it is suprising that the Producers and Director have taken the risk to have audience voting too, they cant be sure who will win and eventually land a role in this Gen X film (But perhaps that is why we see signs of set-ups and staging, steering the voting in a certain direction so that candidates they want to stay in the show, do so and those that they dont, get eliminated...?)... Example of this is Ekta's other show'..Kabhi Yaar. Kabhi Pyaar'.This is totally judged by judges. They don't hold back. What was a shocker to the audience was that a well-known Jodi'.Hiten & Gauri Tejwani (Karan & Nandani of Kyuki) got eliminated in the 2^nd episode. This couple totally relied on their popularity with the audience to get votes to win awards and competitions. It came as a complete shock to the them as well as the audience when they were voted out so early in this dance competition.You've given a very good example. The certainly should have been eliminated and they were not the strongest and did not perform as well as some of the others. If there had been audience voting too, they would have surely stayed a few more rounds...(Though the debate over whether they knew they were going that week and staged it still continues...)

I no longer work in this industry'it got too much for me and my sanity!!!. However'I still follow reality shows as they were part of my career once. I am in a totally different (much more sensible) career now.Ahaha..it's driving me nuts far far away from it all...I can only just imagine what it must have been like...well Good luck hun😊 and thanks for commenting...

Originally posted by: fahimataq

I think having a 50/50 thing is supposed to be fair but i dont think it is.... I think tht bcos there r celebs ur still gonna get a biased vote as to who is the most popular. I think the judges should solely pick who should be eliminated. Even though they may have their favourties I think they will still try to be fair as in choose the best talent. But u no wht rimz.....this show is seriously taking the piss bcos panchi had the talent and now she is out.....she is quite popular as well Also bcos all we get to see is ppl dancing there no sign of acting!!!!! i thought we might get to see some acts performed as in scenes taken from films and the jodis have to act it out..... To be honest this is completely a ''Nautanki'' show....I will watch this stupid show only for Jay..

Exactly hun...completely agree....no some may argue that popularity comes from talent, but that isn't always the case, is it...

Originally posted by: Ektas_Angel

I think it should be 50-50 judges get a say as professionals i think if they are good judges and mature they will mark fairly and i think it does become obvious if they are not so even because of that they could be more cautious of favouriting.

Audiences i think do tend to vote their favourite however i do belive that the audiences can be fair too and if someones talented they will get a fair chance if it was just popular ones in other shows popular contestents would win but not always happened.