This is the story of Reality shows

Hello friends, these days when you on a TV Reality Shows are shown repeatedly all the day in some channels like Sony, Star Plus, Zee etc. First major reality shows which became popular was Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in 1995 and at that time Sonu Nigam was the anchor. In this show singers use to sing their own composed songs or composed songs of their gurus. The judges were also great legends like O. P. Nayyar, Naushad and Talat Aziz etc. The highlight of this show was no quarrels between the judges or contestants or no sympathy stories of contestants. No voting system was used to decide the winner of the contest. That is why this show had produced good playback singers like Shreya Ghoshal (winner of 1996 and Mega final 1999) and Kunal Ganjawala (participated in 1997 and again in 1998).

As years passed on, suddenly public started showing interest towards these reality shows and popularity increased for these shows. I don't know which gentleman got the idea of public voting, this type of voting has suddenly spoiled the reality show's thrill. Like politicians, the contestants started begging for vote and judges started cursing the public for choosing a wrong person as winner, etc. But I would blame the production team of these reality shows for putting such a system to gain profits for their channel. If the Channels are interested in this voting system, then it is their responsibility to see that the judges show more restraint while talking on the show and do not criticize or blame the public.

In almost all the reality shows, we are listening songs from the contestants which have already been sung by famous playback singers in the films. So, no originality is left in these shows and it looks very disgusting and indecent when judges argue or quarrel with each other. These judges are showing very bad example of behavior to youngsters or budding stars.

The auditions for Indian Idol are being presently shown on Sony channel and one of the judges, Mr. Anu Malik is making fun of some contestants. Unfortunately one Doctor participated and Anu Malik made fun of him. I found this very improper because if anyone's singing is not fine then one should not make fun of that person. Not everybody is master in singing and one should give respect and take respect. Anu Malik's voice is also very horrible while singing but he still sings in films because he is son of some famous music director of the past. Even now he did not change his voice and still sings songs in very horrible manner.

I feel Indian Idol production team should go to arts colleges or to places where singers are taking training instead of going on to the roads and asking ordinary public to participate in Indian Idol. When these contestants come for audition, the judges make fun of them, which looks sick. I already lost respect on Anu Malik for the way he talks with contestants and with other judges, as if he is only music director on this earth who knows more about singing.

Many of the reality shows these days are highlighting the personal life of contestants as if he is the only person on the earth who is having problems in life. There are hundreds of poor people who are struggling daily for food and employment. Highlighting their personal life and showing all the family plights is like an act being shown for gaining the sympathy of public. It is true that most people who are participating in these shows have problems, but showing them on the TV is not meaningful. When singing is the ultimate challenge here then one should show how much the contestant has learned after coming into the contest and how well he is performing instead of all the other issues.

Sooner or later these reality shows will make contestants to fight with each other, question the judges (which has already been done in one show), etc. Finally, I want to ask all my friends what are the winners of the contestants doing after their win. They are either anchoring in a reality show or participating in another reality show. No music director is giving them chance on regular basis.

I want to let you all know that A.R. Rehman, the famous and legendary music director is the person who had started a music school in Chennai and other regions of India. He is a music director, who has given chance to number of new talented singers in his films. Hat's off to him. He talks less and shows the results. Not like Himesh Reshammiya or Anu Mallik, who speak too much and do less, that's all for now.

Signing off with love,

Vamsi....