Idiot box reality

At 23, Abhijit Sawant has already glimpsed glory.
He drives a Sedan, wears Manish Malhotra creations, is flanked by security guards who protect him from being mobbed, and is addressed as ''Sir'' by people around him.
It helps, of course, that he sings well.
Stardom in the television industry today seems to be split into two distinct types. There are TV stars, and there are reality-TV stars.
Currently reality-TV stars are in vogue.
Abhijit Sawant is a reality-TV star, one who has risen from the ranks of a local orchestra singer.
In a nation of a billion, there are millions of talented people.
Reality-TV is all about scouting for this talent on camera.
Thousands of melodious as well as off-key hopefuls are now queuing up for a chance to be reality-TV stars.
"Reality talent hunt shows are successful worldwide as they''re about real people, real emotions and real rags-to-riches stories," says Tarun Katial, executive vice-president, Set India Ltd, the brain behind Sony TV''s successful Indian Idol.
"They reflect the aspirations of the middle classes, aspirations which often remain unfulfilled. In India, talented people don''t have access to opportunities, especially in the fine arts. You don''t get the chance to make it big unless you''re somebody''s cousin or brother-in-law."
Reality shows are really more platforms than shows, and everyone knows it.
If you have singing aspirations, you head for Indian Idol or Super Singer, if you want to form a pop group, you head for Pop Stars, if you want to walk the ramp, you audition for Get Gorgeous, the supermodel hunt.
If you want to rich, then it must be Kaun Banega Crorepati. And so on...
Of course, it isn''t merely an...
... opportunity that the contestants receive.
The reward is more than a simple recording contract, it''s immediate fame and fortune, provided on a platter. "Both Indian Idol and Channel V''s Pop Stars have proved that one can achieve a lot via short cuts, through these shows," says Ravi Menon, VP, programming, Star One.
"Apart from the winner, even the shortlisted contestants achieve fame and success. Little wonder that contestants come to Mumbai from all over India for a 30-second interview!"
The 10 finalists of Indian Idol, for instance, have moved to Mumbai, backed by lucrative offers.
Losing finalist Amit Sana has signed a Rs 40 lakh contract with Sony-BMG. Rahul Vaidya has a Rs 20 lakh contract.
Aditi Paul and Prajakta Shukre have done well too. Another finalist, Amit Tandon, has bagged a role in a Balaji Telefilms serial.
Abhijit himself says that just being a finalist would''ve also been good enough for him. "I thought even if I make it to the top three, I''d get the recognition I needed to try my hand at playback singing," he says. "Any music director I approached would at least recognise me."
For audiences, these shows obviously fulfil the need to see the common man succeed.
(Indian Idol notched up TRPs upto 14, peaking at 20. Compare this with TRPs of 7, garnered by popular serials like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.)
Onscreen selections and rejections make for great drama.
Audiences like to guess which contestants will triumph, and which ones will stumble and head home.
What, then, is the reason for the flop of Sony TV''s Dance Dance, the hunt for India''s ultimate dancing couple?
"These shows are finally about talent," says Katial. "If the contestants are good, the show succeeds. The quality of contestants who participated in Dance Dance was below par."
Indian Idol (its second season starts in October) isn''t the only show to transplant the concept of American Idol to India successfully.
Channel V''s Super Singer received good TRPs too.
"Audiences today are obviously hooked onto these shows. We started...
... off with a surprisingly high TRP of almost 7 in the very first episode of Super Singer," says Amar Dev, head honcho, Channel V.
Lawyer-turned-''Super Singer'', Jaipur''s Ravindra Upadhyay, today has all the trappings of a typical reality-TV star: a flat in Mumbai''s Lokhandwala, two albums with Times Music and several film playback offers. "I''ve discontinued my law practice as singing takes up all my time," says Ravindra.
Talent comes in many forms, and talent hunts too assume many dimensions.
Thus, after reality-TV''s search for the best singer, the best dancer, the best supermodel and the best pop group, we now have a hunt for the best ''funny man'' in India.
Star One has announced The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, scheduled to air this monsoon, which will hunt out people''s talent for being funny, judged by Shekhar Suman and Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The phone lines which opened recently, have already got one lakh calls in two weeks.
Obviously, India''s real people are now gearing up to laugh all the way to fame and fortune.
"With reality shows like Indian Idol, musicians are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Now, they are not relegated to the category of gaane bajaanewallas. Genuine talent will shine and be recognised forever."
– Sonu Nigam
Singer