Article about singers in Reality shows

According to music director Ehsaan Noorani of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy group, music shows are all a battle for TRP's and advertising. "Talent rarely plays a defining role in the end results. The real talent gets eliminated for reasons not related to singing," he says.

"The shows promise creating superstars but instead produce singers who end up doing stage shows," Noorani adds.

The country's first Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant enjoyed his moments of fame with 'Mohabbatein Lutaunga (Aapka Abhijeet Sawant) and Marjawa Mitjawa (Aashiq Banaya Aapne) but then disappeared from the limelight. His successors Sandeep Acharya and Prashant Tamang fared even worse as they have hardly been heard of, ever since winning the crown.

Similarly, Debojit Saha and Aneek Dhar (winners of Sa re ga ma pa challenge 2005 and 2007 respectively)and Ishmeet Singh (winner of Star Voice of India 2007) hardly found any mention after the shows were over.

Commenting on the trend, music-director Aadesh Shrivastava, who will be seen as a judge in Zee's Sa re ga ma pa Challenge 2009 says, "The winner in these shows are not the best of singers. Hence they rarely get opportunities in Bollywood. It is the other talented but lesser known contestants of the show who have fared better."
Echoing Shrivastava, music director-singer Shankar Mahadevan, who will also tutor students for Sa re ga ma pa Challenge this season says, "We are not looking out for a winner in reality shows as the person may not necessarily be the best singer."

However, he adds "Bollywood is always scouting for talent and the show succeeds in throwing up talented people like Nihira Joshi and Raja Hassan."

The observation is not misplaced as the challengers to winner's crown like Raja Hassan (who lost to Dhar under controversial circumstances), Nihira Joshi (finalist, Saregamapa 2005), NC Karunya (runner-up to Sandeep Acharya), Rahul Vaidya (2nd runner up Indian Idol 1) and Rahul Saxena (made it to top 10 of Indian Idol 1) amongst others have made noteworthy strides towards Bollywood.

While Hassan is rumoured to have bagged work alongside Adnan Sami, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal Shekhar and Bappi Lahiri, Nihira received accolades for her songs in Saalam-e-Ishq. Meanwhile, Vaidya (Shaadi No. 1, Jigyasa, Hot Money, Krazzy 4 and Jaaneman), Saxena (Om Shanti Om) and Karunya (Lage Raho Munnabhai) look settled to play a long innings in Bollywood.

"The actual struggle for a contestant starts once the show is over. To succeed one requires a lot of willpower and perseverance and only people willing to make the effort succeed," says Jatin Pandit (Jatin-Lalit fame) who has been a part of Sa re ga ma pa as well as Star Voice of India, citing examples of Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal, themselves products of music shows.
"The shows provide contestants a platform where they get to learn from the bigwigs of the industry. They understand what is reqiured of them to make it big in the industry," he adds.

The veterans, however, are unanimous in their view that handling instant fame and success also plays a big role in the metamorphosis of a contestant. "The contestant gets instant fame and success but there is a process for getting mainstrean success and they (the participants) have to understand how to sustain this pressure if they are to succeed," says Jatin.