Small screen sells big dreams

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" arial=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">There are soaps and there are talent hunts – two big addictions on the small screen. But when the country’s soap queen screams she will turn around your life in a talent show advert, you know this could be television at its most intoxicating.</span><br /><br /><img align="left" src="/photo/766734.cms" alt="/photo/766734.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">It has happened earlier with Amitabh Bachchan and his </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Kaun Banega Crorepati </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">(KBC), but that was four years ago, when TV joined hands with the biggest Bollywood brand.Now, it has joined hands with one of the biggest TV brands – Ekta Kapoor. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">The soap queen, along with youth channel MTV, is on the lookout for four young women and two young men to feature in their serial </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">through a TV show called </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Screen Test</span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Already on air or in the pipeline on most other channels are at least half-a-dozen similar shows, looking for singers, actors and models. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">“What makes us different is that no one ever has prefaced a serial with real programming,� says Vikram Raizada, MTV’s Vice President (Marketing), referring to the episodes before the actual soap that will chronicle the selection process and candidates'' training. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Screen Test, however will be quite similar to what Channel [V] did with </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Popstars</span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">, a talent hunt for a manufactured music band. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Raizada says MTV''s show will still be different in that whereas </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Popstars </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">finished with the formation of the band, Screen Test will produce a 39-episode serial, once the reality programming is over. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">With so many talent hunts on the tube, the TV industry is not ruling out overkill. After all, reality TV shows are the most expensive format on the small screen. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">“There will definitely be a shakeout. What''s surprising is no one is original. Most of them are copying our </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Popstars </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">format, like the way KBC generated clones on every other channel,� says Channel [V] head Amar K Deb. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Despite the scepticism, the benefits are too great to be overlooked. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">While Raizada cites interactivity as a key element of MTV’s philosophy as a reason for the show, Deb says </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Popstars </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">did to Channel [V] what KBC had done to Star Plus four years ago. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">“Because of </span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-style:="" italic="">Popstars</span><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">, our viewership jumped as a result of which revenue shot up considerably too. It made us the number 1 music channel then,� Deb says. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">It''s too early to say whether the same ploy will work for other channels. At the moment, it''s MTV''s turn for the screen test.</span></div> </div>