The dirty truth behind reality shows
Remember Arpita Mukherjee, the melodious voice who won several hearts on the reality show Fame Gurukul, Vishal Kothari (one of the top ten finalists of Indian Idol), Sandeep Batraa (yet another finalist of Fame Gurukul) and Meenal Jain (finalist of Indian Idol 2)? Unfortunately, these one-time popular faces on the TV screen suddenly disappeared once their shows went off air. And although we kept wondering what happened to these young talents, no one really bothered to find out what happened.
Needless to say not all of them were lucky enough to bag big breaks in their careers and not all promises were kept. Recalls Vishal Kothari, "After I was out of Indian Idol, it became even more difficult for me sustain myself. Suddenly, I had nothing worthwhile to do. Although I got several stage offers, I wasn't happy. Once I was in the top ten, HMV-Sa Re Ga Ma had signed me for an album, but it never happened and I terminated the contract out of disgust."
Talking about the latest trend seen in most of the reality shows where the judges rope in the contestants and make them sing in their forthcoming projects, Vishal bitterly says, "Anu Malik had promised to give me a break, but he didn't. I spoke to him several times but then decided not to push it further."
However, Arpita got her share as Himesh Reshammiya made her sing in the film Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye. A few remember, but Arpita was a contestant on Zee's Sa Re Ma Pa too. A diplomatic Arpita remarks, "I think we should not blame others for our activities. We had been lucky enough to get a platform like Fame Gurukul which gave us little bit of recognition. Rest is our struggle alone."
The bubbly Meenal Jain seems to echo Arpita's views. Says Meenal, "One should not try to cash in on his or her new found popularity and rather move ahead to prove oneself on a higher level."
Jayaji you have given a good spin to the otherwise thanda story.
And how much were you paid jaya for this article? Isn't it quite an old type of marketing, where you first create sympathy and then 'cash in' on people's emotions. Reality shows like these offer only 1 thing: popularity and the winner gets a contract too. However, it is expecting too much from them if you think they should feed you for the rest of your lives. Don't take it as the end all thing but just a good beginning to the struggle to establish oneself.
Gr8!
very analytical!
Well written. I think one should take a lesson from this article. All that glitters are not gold. 'fame' shows are not really be all and end all... I mean one should just work harder to sustain the success. Jaya has written something which all these contestants must read... Good job!