Reality Bites!

Arijit Singh didn't know that one vote, against a fellow contestant, would turn his whole world against him. Worse, he didn't know that his medical problem of "opposite valvation in the heart" would act up soon after. He felt breathless. He collapsed. Doctors rushed on to the Sony sets…

Arijit is not the only one who's taken the Fame Gurukul tagline Iske liye kuch bhi karega too seriously. If the Murshidabad boy couldn't handle the heat on camera, Calcutta contestant Rooprekha Bannerjee — the only other from the eastern region — had her family physician visiting her on the Mumbai sets to take care of her recurring "nerve problem".

Reality television has got under the skin of the TV audience — with Fame Gurukul the "most voted" show on the small screen — but do we have the nerve to live it out? The cracks are starting to show in contestants under the constant glare of cameras and with hardly a breather from the pressure-cooker situation.

"It's been maddening," Arijit tells Metro from the sets of Fame Gurukul. "Concerts, recordings, interviews, training sessions…. I hardly get to sleep. Aar parchhi na. Then you have these 20 cameras and you know that your every action is being recorded. Once I burst out on camera that I want to just run away... I really want to go back (home)."

Gurukul headmistress Ila Arun has little time for student tantrums: "I wouldn't like to say it myself, but I have heard people saying this is all done by the contestants to seek attention. How much is true is very much doubtful…"

Even if the stories of strife are true, the rulers of the reality show are not really worried. "Like in stardom, stress is an essential part," says Tarun Katial, executive vice-president of Sony. "It is essential that these kids learn to handle pressure. If they go on to become champions, they have to face more such problems in the world outside."

For city girl Rooprekha, visibly nervous on the Andheri sets of the show, 'today's pain, tomorrow's gain' is of little consolation. "I know that it's going to get far worse once we step out into the competitive world. But having been a nervy person, it's not easy to handle this… It's not just about performing well… What you see is not everything."

So does the channel actually 'create' situations for good television and TRPs? "We haven't done anything," laughs Katial. "We are just following the rules and regulations of the original format (Fame Gurukul, like Indian Idol, [V] Popstars and Kaun Banega Crorepati, is a licensed version of an international show). All these twists and turns happen because of the contestants. You can't fudge it or manipulate it. That's the best thing about reality television — it's unpredictable and it's real."