Reality shows - whats the story?

What's in a song? Plenty

TV's talent hunt shows do more than guarantee a singing career. Our correspondent looks at what they have done for winners and even losers
Ritu Pandey

Question: What does a reality talent hunt show do for you? Well, it gives you a career in the heady world of Bollywood playback singing, maybe. Discs are being cut faster than a participant can sing a song. And there's more to it than singing: there's money, comforts and instant fame. From Popstars to Indian Idol and Fame Gurukul to the recently concluded Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenger, we have seen a whole new generation of talented youngsters become singers, actors and even writers.

The winners must have more than a good voice. Strong audience appeal and histrionic abilities are a must. A middle class background and strife-ridden home state are also preferable. A sense of drama helps.

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Take Qazi Tauqeer: after Fame Gurukul made him richer by a Rs.10 million contract with Sony, a car and huge amounts in endorsement money, the once-aspiring singer realized his real passion was not singing but acting. Sony offered him K soaps, but Qazi turned them down saying he's cut out for bigger things - read Bollywood.

Last year, Indian Idol contestant Amit Tandon joined the cast of Sony's soap Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai rather than opting for the music fraternity. Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2005, which turned into a regional battle fought with sms messages, had all the makings of a blockbuster — conflict, melodrama, music, romance and star appeal. In the process, it catapulted Zee to No.2 in the rankings after it had languished at No.3 for the past seven years. The finale on February 24 got an audience rating of 7 TRPs - the highest Zee has seen in years.

Debojit defeated Vinit. He took home a two-album contract with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a flat and a two-year sponsored stay in Mumbai. Thrown in were freebies like a color TV, an iPod and a mobile phone.

A year after becoming the first Indian Idol, Abhijeet Sawant remains Sony's true pin-up boy. He performs with Shah Rukh Khan under the Sony label, is the face of a mouth freshner, has a biography in his name released by the channel. His first album sold 5 million copies. The album was pitted against his Indian Idol judge Sonu Nigam's Chanda Ki Doli at the recent MTV Immies and won the Best Album award for 2005. Last year, former Sony head Tarun Katiyal had proudly announced: ''Abhijeet Sawant has truly proved to be the Indian Idol we wanted.''

Son of a Mumbai Municipal Corporation employee, Sawant today charges Rs.5 lakh for a show. He drives a Honda City and recently moved from suburban Mahim to a five-bedroom flat in Mumbai's posh Ville Parle area. And he doesn't care if he doesn't have a single film playback contract and that people still feel Amit Sana and Prajakta Shukre were better singers than him.

Sana and Shukre may not have made it to the big league, but Sana has an album on the way while Prajakta and Ravinder Ravi are busy with stage shows for which they charge between Rs 50,000-70,000.

On Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Vinit might have lost the crown but he is the only contestant who has sung for three films for his mentor Reshammiya even before the show ended. Others who were voted out haven't done badly for themselves.

Once a strong contender for the crown, Himani has sung for Chingari and is now flying to Dubai for a series of stage shows. Another contestant Rajiv also sang for Chingari. Nihira Joshi and Hemachandra have been roped in for Subhash Ghai's next film Alagh. And if that's not enough, come 16 March and the same contestants will be vying for another crown as couples in a new talent hunt on Zee — Ek Main Aur Ek Tu. ''The number of votes each one of them got made us feel that they were no less popular. Andsince Sa Re Ga Ma Pa had to have a second season, we thought why not with them,'' says Zee head of Corporate Brand Development, Ashish Kaul.

Vote Banks
As Sa Re Ga Ma Pa heads into a new season, there's lingering criticism of the voting-judging process that launched an sms war between supporters of Debojit in Assam and Vinit in Lucknow. ''This time the judging process will be a 60-40 spilt: 60 per cent based on public votes, 40 per cent from the judges,'' says the shows producer Gajendra Singh.

''The voting system was introduced to make it interactive and give the viewer the power to decide,'' adds Kaul, ''It's upto viewers. We won't change the rules of our business because some (contestants) don't feel good about it,'' states Zee's Kaul.

Says Star head Deepak Sehgal: ''These are early days for reality TV. Let things settle down and people realize the importance of each vote. Three years from now, I'm sure we'll have better things to say about reality talent hunts.''

source:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=173562

Originally posted by: madhavir108

What's in a song? Plenty

TV's talent hunt shows do more than guarantee a singing career. Our correspondent looks at what they have done for winners and even losers
Ritu Pandey

Question: What does a reality talent hunt show do for you? Well, it gives you a career in the heady world of Bollywood playback singing, maybe. Discs are being cut faster than a participant can sing a song. And there's more to it than singing: there's money, comforts and instant fame. From Popstars to Indian Idol and Fame Gurukul to the recently concluded Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenger, we have seen a whole new generation of talented youngsters become singers, actors and even writers.

The winners must have more than a good voice. Strong audience appeal and histrionic abilities are a must. A middle class background and strife-ridden home state are also preferable. A sense of drama helps.

Advertisement
Take Qazi Tauqeer: after Fame Gurukul made him richer by a Rs.10 million contract with Sony, a car and huge amounts in endorsement money, the once-aspiring singer realized his real passion was not singing but acting. Sony offered him K soaps, but Qazi turned them down saying he's cut out for bigger things - read Bollywood.

Last year, Indian Idol contestant Amit Tandon joined the cast of Sony's soap Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai rather than opting for the music fraternity. Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2005, which turned into a regional battle fought with sms messages, had all the makings of a blockbuster — conflict, melodrama, music, romance and star appeal. In the process, it catapulted Zee to No.2 in the rankings after it had languished at No.3 for the past seven years. The finale on February 24 got an audience rating of 7 TRPs - the highest Zee has seen in years.

Debojit defeated Vinit. He took home a two-album contract with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a flat and a two-year sponsored stay in Mumbai. Thrown in were freebies like a color TV, an iPod and a mobile phone.

A year after becoming the first Indian Idol, Abhijeet Sawant remains Sony's true pin-up boy. He performs with Shah Rukh Khan under the Sony label, is the face of a mouth freshner, has a biography in his name released by the channel. His first album sold 5 million copies. The album was pitted against his Indian Idol judge Sonu Nigam's Chanda Ki Doli at the recent MTV Immies and won the Best Album award for 2005. Last year, former Sony head Tarun Katiyal had proudly announced: ''Abhijeet Sawant has truly proved to be the Indian Idol we wanted.''

Son of a Mumbai Municipal Corporation employee, Sawant today charges Rs.5 lakh for a show. He drives a Honda City and recently moved from suburban Mahim to a five-bedroom flat in Mumbai's posh Ville Parle area. And he doesn't care if he doesn't have a single film playback contract and that people still feel Amit Sana and Prajakta Shukre were better singers than him.

Sana and Shukre may not have made it to the big league, but Sana has an album on the way while Prajakta and Ravinder Ravi are busy with stage shows for which they charge between Rs 50,000-70,000.

On Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Vinit might have lost the crown but he is the only contestant who has sung for three films for his mentor Reshammiya even before the show ended. Others who were voted out haven't done badly for themselves.

Once a strong contender for the crown, Himani has sung for Chingari and is now flying to Dubai for a series of stage shows. Another contestant Rajiv also sang for Chingari. Nihira Joshi and Hemachandra have been roped in for Subhash Ghai's next film Alagh. And if that's not enough, come 16 March and the same contestants will be vying for another crown as couples in a new talent hunt on Zee — Ek Main Aur Ek Tu. ''The number of votes each one of them got made us feel that they were no less popular. Andsince Sa Re Ga Ma Pa had to have a second season, we thought why not with them,'' says Zee head of Corporate Brand Development, Ashish Kaul.

Vote Banks
As Sa Re Ga Ma Pa heads into a new season, there's lingering criticism of the voting-judging process that launched an sms war between supporters of Debojit in Assam and Vinit in Lucknow. ''This time the judging process will be a 60-40 spilt: 60 per cent based on public votes, 40 per cent from the judges,'' says the shows producer Gajendra Singh.

''The voting system was introduced to make it interactive and give the viewer the power to decide,'' adds Kaul, ''It's upto viewers. We won't change the rules of our business because some (contestants) don't feel good about it,'' states Zee's Kaul.

Says Star head Deepak Sehgal: ''These are early days for reality TV. Let things settle down and people realize the importance of each vote. Three years from now, I'm sure we'll have better things to say about reality talent hunts.''

source:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=173562

Vote Banks
As Sa Re Ga Ma Pa heads into a new season, there's lingering criticism of the voting-judging process that launched an sms war between supporters of Debojit in Assam and Vinit in Lucknow. ''This time the judging process will be a 60-40 spilt: 60 per cent based on public votes, 40 per cent from the judges,'' says the shows producer Gajendra Singh.

These forums are now closed and will not be reopened in the foreseeable future

I think it would be nice to be able to have an open poll in closed thread.

$$$$$$$$ Talk Louder than Value Ethics and principal $$$$$$$$

I do not believe there will be any difference this show than the last one. May be this one could be worse.

On an average, a popular reality television show gets about 7 million cell phone text messages each episode.

At Rs 4 per SMS, that adds up to Rs 28 million per episode.

Over a year (52 weeks), that is an astounding R 1,460 million.

On a 50:50 split between the channel and the mobile operator, that works out to Rs 730 million to the channel.

All that money from just one reality show.

To get the SMSs in, they will motivate, inspire, incite, instigate and also lure you.

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/feb/24mperi.htm

Love ARR

Thanks for the articles

I am glad unlike us, new generation have so many ways to get popular and reach thier dreams

during IL Farah said to reach this place we have struguled for 15 to 20 years but this generation kids are so lucky all they hv to do is enter contests and show thier talent.. Duniya uski kadam chume gi 😊

Originally posted by: uknaik99

Thanks for the articles

I am glad unlike us, new generation have so many ways to get popular and reach thier dreams

during IL Farah said to reach this place we have struguled for 15 to 20 years but this generation kids are so lucky all they hv to do is enter contests and show thier talent.. Duniya uski kadam chume gi 😊

Very well said *Just want to add 3 letters with that SMS otherwise Duniya uski kadam NAHI chume g*other wise struguled for 15 to 20 years