It all started with Indian Idol, three years back, when the music reality shows gained popularity among people. Then taken as a strong medium for the common people to appear on television and enjoy their 10seconds of fame, today reality shows are meant to serve a different purpose.
Considered to be an introduction to the glamour world, most of the reality shows, today, focus not only on finding out the hidden and extraordinary talents of the nation but also polishing them to be fine artists, rather than just making them the familiar faces with their audiences. They are an excellent platform for all those people hidden in different corners of India to showcase their talent to the whole world.
Be it singing, dancing, acting, performing extraordinary stunts, record-making, stand-up comedy or even indulging in adventure-activities, Reality Shows have tried to explore every possible way of bringing out the exceptional talents of the country, who otherwise would have been lost in the crowd of the common.
Talking about the myriad of musical shows being aired on number of Indian TV channels, it can be said that they are all good shows of entertainment.
Musical contests like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Voice of India, Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar, K for Kishore and many more have now created a new trend of 'music-learning' among the people.
Along with the new Hindi hip hop music, classical music is now-a-days also being revered by the youth. The quality of singing given by young participants like Rahul Vaidya, Abhijeet Sawant, Vineet Singh, Raja, Toshi, Prajakta Sukre, Nihira Joshi, to list a few, has created an interest among the people to understand and know more about the fineness of this art. Such television shows don't talk of sheer entertainment but concentrate also on the growth of this music culture.
The best examples to support this point are the musical contests like Chote Ustaad and Little Champs where school going kids too are fighting hard to sing each and every note of their song in the perfect 'sur'.
When 14 year olds like Aishwarya and Anwesha are given a break to do playback for our leading Bollywood actresses, doesn't that suffice to say that reality shows are doing their bit to enahance and encourage the talents of our country??
When it comes to talent shows, dance competition show like Boogie-Woogie has to be given all credits for bringing out some of the best dancing talents of India. Though it doesn't particularly fall in the reality show segment, yet it is an excellent platform for kids, youngsters and the aged to tap their feet on the popular filmi tunes and still show to the world that they are Talented...!
Another genre of reality show is 'Comedy'.
After the successful first season of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, many similar comedy shows were telecasted on different Indian channels. Today, this form of art, also known as Stand-up Comedy, is so popular that each and every Indian family channel is having atleast one such new show on air and the previously existing ones have already entered into their third or fourth seasons.
Standing with a mike in one's hand in front of a live audience and putting them into splits with spontaneous wit and comedy is not as easy as it sounds. But it's good to see such hard work being appreciated just through the medium of reality shows.
Apart from these 'sole entertainment' reality talent shows, there are also shows like Shabash India and MTV Roadies which,though may not make their audiences enjoy what the participants are doing but atleast make them sit glued to their television sets in amazement.
Particularly talking about MTV Roadies, though people feel it may have a negative impact on today's youth in the way things are being portrayed in the entire show, yet to think from the other perspective, it is a show about the youth focussing on how today's generation is so energetic and enthusiastic, that for them nothing seems to be 'Impossible'. The youth is always prepared to face the challenges of life and willing to experiment. The only need is that these qualities should be used in their best ways.
These are some of the reality shows which, according to me, stand out from the rest, though there are a plethora of them being shown on the vast number of Indian regional channels also.
However reality shows don't go without plenty of commercialization. Like other services, reality shows are a form of business in the service industry providing us with entertainment.
So, when basic necessities of life like food,clothes and house don't come without paying money for it, how could entertainment come Free.....??
It is to be accepted that commercialization is a part and parcel of each and every activity in today's world and Entertainment is no 'exception' to it. Although the amount of money people spend on sending votes for their favourite contestants via Calls and SMSes is too huge and so sometimes, unjustified, the results of such reality show contests makes it quite convincing to vote more than once for the deserving contestants.
Be it good or bad, reality shows are nowadays the best of the television shows with all the elements of fun, excitement, suspense, laughter, information and entertainment that once upon a time, people used to find in the daily soaps and weekly serials.
Inspite of being strategically designed to increase the TRPs of the TV channels and make larger profits out of people's money, they are still a 'Worth Watch' than those which only show their Protagonists clad in designer sarees and jewellery, still shedding buckets of water from their eyes which is nothing but an unnecessary wastage of glycerine....!!
Please don't mind Ms. Kapoor.....but as compared to your 'out of this world' tele-soaps, for me, 'only of this world' Reality Shows still rock......!!! ;)
"Boy Erased": After-thoughts
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#BoyErased
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