Bathroom theme for India TV show

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Posted: 18 years ago

Bathroom theme for India TV show

By Monica Chadha
BBC News, Mumbai

It's the latest reality show to hit India

There's bad news for those Indians singing in the shower who thought no one was listening. They could have an audience that stretches across the country in a new reality television show which judges their ability to hold a bathroom tune. The winner takes home almost 2,500,000 rupees ($62,000) as prize money. Bathroom Singer will be aired on the Sahara Film channel at the end of August. Already thousands of aspiring singers have applied to star in it. 'Great viewing' Marketing and content head Shailesh Kapoor told the BBC News website that the decision to launch the programme was taken because it was light-hearted, fun and involved Bollywood. "Bollywood is intrinsic to all our programming on the channel," Mr Kapoor said, "so when our production company first came up with the idea, it seemed to have all the ingredients we would look for. We decided to go for it."

The singer Shibani Kashyap is one of the judges

The judges will be as glamorous as the participants

Mr Kapoor also said that the aim was not just to find an accomplished bathroom singer. They were also looking for interesting characters who could liven up the show and make for great viewing. "We would definitely need decent, even good singers because you cannot sustain a reality show with bad singers. More than singing though, we are looking for exciting characters with personalities who add colour and variety. They will connect with the masses," he said. Auditions to find the first season's participants will begin in the last week of July in Mumbai (Bombay), Calcutta, Delhi and Ahmedabad. Bathroom themes People can apply for an audition by calling in and recording a song, or by arriving at the venue where the auditions are taking place. All those short listed will then be asked to participate in the weekly show that will run for 18 weeks.

Television actor and presenter Gaurav Gera

The show will not be short of Bollywood's influence

While the contestants will initially be allowed to sing a song of their choice, further in the programme they would be asked to sing songs from Bollywood films only. The show will have an anchor and a two-member jury and there will be various sets at different times with strong bathroom themes. The phone lines opened last week and Mr Kapoor said they had already received 2,500 calls within a day. "I think what is working in our favour is that we don't have an upper age limit for participants. The only proviso is that candidates must be aged over 18 as per the law. "We've already had a call from a 75-year-old man who wants to participate in the programme! We expect more such calls once we roll out our marketing campaign for the programme."

Indian channels are already flooded with reality shows - Big Brother had its Indian version Big Boss aired here, as did other programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing and Pop Idol.

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6903036.stm