No one's a loser here!

DEEPALI DHINGRA Times News Network

Actor Mannish Goyal may not have taken the prize money home in Star One's Nach Baliye last year, but as one of the participants in the reality dance show, he took something much bigger back home — popularity. And that's something which most reality shows are offering to the participants, the chance to gain recognition amongst the audience. So even if they don't end up winning the show, they eventually only gain from it. Result — nobody loses and everyone's a winner! According to Rajesh Kamat, producer of reality shows like Sony's Bigg Boss and Fear Factor, the audience reacts to the character and not the person in a soap. "Whereas in reality shows, they identify with the individual," he says. Mannish adds to this sentiment, "Before Nach Baliye happened, people used to call me by my screen names but after the show, they knew who Mannish Goyal was. I think I speak for everyone when I say this, that whether somebody gets eliminated in the first round or last, they all gain from it," he adds. Says Rati Agnihotri who took part in Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa on Sony, "I've done around 200 films in my career, so people know me already but there is a certain section from the younger lot that doesn't recognise me. After Jhalak... even three or four-year-olds recognise me. I'm called 'Jhalak aunty' these days," she laughs. According to Anita Kampani, a schoolteacher, she has started recognising TV actors like Deepak Parashar and Sveta Salve because of the reality shows they have taken part in. "They might have been doing serials and shows but it's only now that I know their names," she adds. This is one of the reasons why celebs get interested in taking up reality shows, explains Rajesh Kamat. "Otherwise, why would a celebrity agree to spend three months holed up in one house
like in Bigg Boss? Because he knows that by the end of it, he would become an icon." Like Mannish says, "I don't think you can lose anything in a reality show."