My Precious 15 Minutes in the Spotlight

They are a platform to showcase talent,” says Amar K. Deb of Channel [V]. A glance at the channel’s programmingconfirmsthisthinking: long queues of girls waiting to be Channel [V] popstarsbackin2002, andmorerecentlySuper Singer andVMobileSinger, whichhadthemusi-cally gifted and not-so-gifted crooning to imp-ress AdnanSami andBappiLahiri,respectively.

The countrywide search, on-the-spot audi-tions and grand finales—these are preceded by aTVcampaignblitz, postersandbillboards.“We advertise on the channel whenever auditions are to take place,” says Deepak Dhar, creative head, Endemol, the production house behind shows like Fame Gurukul, Fear Factor and the Great Indian Laughter Champions. But the process is not as simple as it looks. While in In-dian IdolandSuperSinger theauditionstoomake for episodes, in some others screen dreams are fulfilled onlyifyoumanage tocleartheprelims.

Forinstance, those withambitionsofbecoming thenextbig entrepreneurthroughZee’sBusiness Baazigar need to impress a jury—Subhash Chandra, chairman, Zee Telefilms; Mahesh Murthy, CEO, Passionfund; and IIM professor AnilGupta—beforetheyget tofacethecamera.

Then there are shows that are pure luck. Consider Jet Set Go, the Star One show where you are randomly approached on the streets and asked if you want to visit a foreign country. The criterion?You need to have a passport and be ready to board the flight immediately. But before that, you need to bump into any of the four girls from the programme who are on the lookout for prospective travellers. That’s the difficult part.

On other shows you need to show initiative. For instance, Discovery and Animal Planet of-ten have adventure shows for the common man. The latest is Animal Planet’s Unearthed, where six contestants will be filmed during their journey through jungles. Interested par-ticipants are required to post video recordings to the Animal Planet office, and the chosen ones will be called to join the“wild” party.

For game shows like DealYa No Deal or Kam Ya Zyaada, seekers of fame and money need to SMS or call Hutch numbers. But before Manoj Bajpai throws his first question in KamYa, the candidate has to clear a preliminary round. Only accurate and speedy responses will yield the opportunity to participate in the show and win prizes worth Rs 3 crore.

For the more daring, there is Fear Factor. Eat insects, jump from skyscrapers, dive in the middle of the ocean—to do such things on screen, the CV has to be sent to Endemol or Sony. “Shortlisted candidates will be called, andtheirguts andenthusiasm gauged through an interview,” says Dhar.

But even for those wary of the spotlight, the tellyhassomething tooffer.Youcan beapartof the audience. “Simply log on to the channels’ websites and request to be part of the audi-ence,” says Dhar. The house is always packed, so send your entries well in time, suggests AshviniYardi, head of programming, ZeeTele-vision. Firmlybelieving thatrealitytelevisionis here to stay, she says: “Games, talent hunts, partnerships… the variety will only increase.” And more and more people will be famous, for shorter and shorter periods of time.