Reality Shows: Fame decides it all!
January 8, 2008
Popular TV stars Aamir Ali and Sanjeeda Shaikh emerged as Nach Baliye 3 winners.
A week before the Nach Baliye finale, another reality show Jhalak Dikhlaja , witnessed a wild card entrant and TV star Prachi Desai edging past established dancer Sandhya Mridul. Do audiences vote for their favourite TV stars and does talent take a backseat?
Aamir and Sanjeeda are basking in the glory of their Nach Baliye win, despite the rigging allegations by co-competitor Rakhi Sawant. The duo believes hard work was their USP and nothing else mattered. Being TV stars may just have been an 'added advantage'.
"I agree television is a big medium and we have developed a connection with the audiences but that's just one of the reasons why we got more votes. People accepted us as Sanjeeda and Aamir in a reality show and not as our television characters," says Sanjeeda Shaikh, better known as Ayesha in popular soap Kayamath and her lead role in Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka .
Beau Aamir Ali, another hot favourite on television in Woh Rehne Wali Mehlon Ki , says "It's true that our popularity and mass appeal amongst the audiences helped us but there is nothing wrong because it's all public voting that decides the winners."
Can we just dismiss Rakhi Sawant's claims? "Rakhi Sawant can say anything. Initially she blamed the channel then alleged foul play in the voting. She said the result bag was tampered with and now she is blaming our popularity and some software scandal. She needs to decide first whom to blame and then come up with evidence to make her point," Ali adds.
Ali asserts that they won probably because people liked the way they danced and behaved on the show.
"We already knew that we'll be used till the end to earn good TRP and finally the television celebrities would win," shares Rakhi adding that, "If this all was pre-planned, they should have told us that we are just being brought to entertain people without any chance to win. At least, we would have been prepared and would not have cried."
Sanjeeda says, "We won because we were popular on television are things that came up only after the result. We also knew that Rakhi is known in the industry and makes headlines but we never took it negatively. We never made public appearances to appeal for votes and if they can't accept their defeat gracefully, it's their problem."
Not just Nach Baliye but the two seasons of Jhalak Dikhlaja also witnessed the same hullabaloo. While the first season saw Mona Singh aka Jassi of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi winning the Jhalak battle leaving behind a fabulous dancer like Shveta Salve, history repeated itself in next season when Prachi Desai aka Bani from Ekta Kapoor's soap Kasamh Se was declared the winner.
There were speculations on how being associated with Balaji Productions helped Prachi be the winner and even her wild card entry hinted towards the final result. But Prachi clarifies, "Firstly Jhalak was not any talent hunt show that brought for people from different cities, it was all about dancing with the stars that can be from anywhere. Secondly all the contestants were popular in their respective fields. Ronit has been the most popular face on television, Mini is a famous host, Sandhya is a known actress, Sudha Ji is a renowned dancer and I have been a favourite bahu, so it won't be justified to say that television popularity is the major component to decide the winners."
Mona Singh says, "When we talk about celebrity reality shows, more than talent it's the overall personality and popularity that people look for. Eventually the audience decides the winner. Maybe that's the reason why Prachi managed to give a tough fight to another finalist Jay Bhanushali who is also a television star. "I always feared that people won't accept me as 'Prachi dancing on a reality show' because they have seen me as 'Bani, a family Bahu' and it could have been a negative point. But luckily they loved me and I agree that being a Balaji face was an advantage but I worked really hard for this," recounts Prachi.
Audiences can relate easily to TV stars. Shveta Salve, runner-up of Jhalak Dikhlaja's previous season feels, "I think the kind of television shows being made today allows so much interactivity that characters get popular so soon and become a household name. People also watch so much of television and undoubtedly television faces are extremely popular against any other celebrity from any walk of life."
"Audiences vote for someone they connect with extremely well and not someone who isn't that close to their heart and then that person can be as famous as Rakhi Sawant," adds Mona Singh.
In the case of celeb reality shows, the stars give audiences and their relationship with them the thumbs up. Nothing else matters.
http://www.newsfundas.com/2008/01/08/reality-shows-fame-deci des-it-all/
