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Some wait in long, serpentine queues to become 3-minute celebrities. Others, despite getting sore fingers, keep dialing the phone numbers for days to get through that one call which they think will change their lives. Celebrities from fields as diverse as sports, modelling, theatre, art, TV, cinema, etc. willingly bare their lives, at times, faking incidents involving themselves. They cry, laugh, willingly get humiliated, are bullied, fight, use foul language, some allegedly fall in love, some meet their soulmates, and some even go to the extent of public display of love. And all this to appear on a TV reality show? Yes, that’s new obsession among the middle class and not-so-middle class Indians. Sometimes even those from across the border crave for that one appearance on a TV reality show. Programmes are now strongly divided into two categories — weekdays fictional and weekend non-fictional shows — competing with each other for eyeballs. All leading channels — Star Plus, Colors, Sony TV, Life OK, Zee TV — have some reality show or the others going round the year. Bigg Boss, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), Dance India Dance, Jhalak Dikhla Ja, Nach Baliye, India's Got Talent, Swayamwar, Fear Factor — Khatron Ke Khiladi, Antakshari, Indian Idol, Sa, Re Ga, Ma, Pa, Master Chef India, Roadies and others. Every month, there seems to be a new reality show playing on your telly. Most of these shows are hosted by big names of the film industry. The first coup of sort was roping in of megastar Amitabh Bachchan to host KBC. He was followed by Salman Khan for Bigg Boss, Akshay Kumar for the Khiladi series, Shah Rukh Khan for Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Sonali Bendre, Hrithik Roshan, Kirron Kher, Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit-Nene and others for many other shows. Initially, the star drew the crowd and TRPs soared for all these star-studded TV programmes. The weekend primetime was reality showtime for majority of households. Having witnessed several seasons, some of them seem to be losing their steam. At one time, both Bigg Boss and KBC used to occupy top of the TRPs chart but now these are slotted at second and fifth position. Incidentally, their TRPs are low compared to the fiction weekdays shows. Talking about the decreasing viewership, the original Indian quiz master, Siddhartha Basu, managing director of Big Synergy, which produces several reality shows, including KBC, says, "Weekend programming is a challenge where every show is up against stimulus viewing and ‘snacking’, where viewers tune in and out for one performance or segment. So competition is very high, and numbers for factual entertainment on weekends may not be dominating for any show. But considering it came on as a 90-minute show, which requires sustained viewing, KBC held its own pretty well. TRPs are an important trade dipstick but there are several other data points by which the success of a show is analysed." To sustain viewership, the creative team works over time. Every season sees some change in the format. Like if it is a celebrity show the ‘casting crew’ tries to rope in as big a name from different fields as possible. That is how we saw cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu on last season’s Bigg Boss, cricketer Sanath Jaysuriya, singer Shaan on Jhalak Dikhla Ja and are now seeing comedian Raju Shrivastav on Nach Baliye. Even KBC introduced a slew of changes. Apart from increasing the prize money to Rs 7 crore, a background game of Kaun Banega Lakhpati for the contestants, who are not able to get into the hotseat can try the luck. For contestants, it’s a life-changing experience. Reaching the last 10 spots in any dance or musical reality shows boosts the participant’s prospect. A dancer getting offers for choreographing film songs or a singer getting his/her break to croon for Ranbir Kapoor or Aliya. If not that, then getting invites to dance or sing at weddings. In fact, many playback singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, Arjit Singh, Rahul Vaidya, Vineet and others are products of these reality shows. It is widely known that contestants who have either appeared on KBC or have won are running 'guiding schools' for wannabe contestants. Maybe it’s a win-win situation for the contestants but to keep the viewers glued to their TV sets, the channels and creative heads of every show have to do much more. They may get the contestants but they need viewers to sustain the programmes. When asked if Big Synergy would go in for 8th season of KBC, a very practical Basu said, "As long as people want it. It’s a call the broadcaster takes every season." This statement applies to all shows.
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