When reality TV bites Reality television shows make instant celebrities out of ordinary human beings. No one knows this better than the latest Indian Idol winner, Prashant Tamang and runner-up Amit Paul. While the celebrities are thousands of miles away from their hearths and homes and both have displayed incredible maturity and magnanimity, one in winning the title, the other in losing it, their fans are not quite so forgiving. Reacting to what some impudent radio jockey had to say about Tamang, his fans erupted violently. Tamang himself is on a tour of Nepal. The last sound bites from him came from Kathmandu where he appealed to his fans to maintain calm. Idol hysteria A week before the Indian Idol grand finale, the hysteria in Darjeeling and Shillong had reached blistering heights. So sure were people of their idol’s win that fans in Shillong and Darjeeling were just counting the hours to celebrate. It’s a different story that Shillong descended into a pall of gloom once John Abraham announced the winner. People were not so much affected by the loss as they were by Sony Television’s apparent lack of transparency in the manner in which they conducted the voting. A voting essentially means that both winner and loser know how much they polled. This is in the fitness of things. It would have satisfied the supporters. In the case of the runner-up, his fans would know where they went wrong and what they could have done better. Sony’s announcement that a total of seven crore votes were polled sounds too glib. No one believes that the process was completely above board. In a voting process that is transparent, both participants must have their agents who will officiate as independent observers. Otherwise how do people get to know the truth behind the voting? The Civil Society Women’s Organisation which worked in tandem with the Shillong Arts and Music Lovers Forum have called for a CBI probe into this whole voting system of Sony TV. They have also expressed their resentment at the Meghalaya government’s invitation of Sony TV to Amit Paul’s homecoming event. Price of fame Last week has been hectic for Amit fans and all those organisations that claimed to have worked round the clock to whip up support for him. Each one wants to be part of the momentous homecoming of the Idol runner-up. But Amit Paul has apparently written to the government that he would prefer that the occasion be government-led and sponsored so that no single organisation takes the credit for doing so. Amit Paul does have a point. His homecoming on September 3 was a traumatic one. He could not spend more than a couple of minutes at his own home with his loved ones. Somebody, somewhere decided that he faced a security risk and cordoned him off completely from the crowd. Exaggerated claims that Sony TV asked for security bandobast have been floating around but no one knows if there is an iota of truth in that. Amit’s parents and his family members were most distraught at the way in which their son’s life was being controlled. His sudden rise to fame and the celebrity status he acquired were something they had not bargained for. But the reality television show has also triggered a host of questions. One question is why a runner up in a show gets absolutely nothing at all considering the channel has raked in millions from SMSs and phone calls nationally and internationally? It was Maruti’s own initiative and their commitment to excellence, which prompted them to give Amit a vehicle. They deserve appreciation for that. But what about Sony TV? Why has the channel treated Amit like a “use by date” commodity after they have made maximum capital out of the lad? These questions are never asked and therefore they are never answered. As a result reality television shows continue to make money, no questions asked. While a section of the entertainment media has today become a cut-throat business enterprise, it is imperative that they play by some rules and that those rules are not entirely dictated by them. Viewers who pay to watch the shows are as much entitled to set down some ground rules as the channel is to engage with people. Vote based The spate of reality shows on different channels, many of them purportedly looking for singing talent, have in a sense opened up avenues for small town boys and girls to make it big in life. Unfortunately, talent is often given a miss because of the heavy dependence on public votes. So, the best singers are voted out merely because the towns they come from are either too small to make a big difference through voting, or because the rest of India is not interested in watching the show, leave alone voting. So the big question is whether the channels are really on a talent hunt or a money-making spree. India’s greatest singer, Lata Mangeshkar had expressed her opinion that public voting is not the best way to look for talent. Her opinion is that only people with experience in and an understanding of music can alone judge a good voice. But perhaps Indian Idol is not really about singing as much as it is about performance. And the criteria on which people vote are too wide ranging. Some vote for looks, some for the voice, others because somebody is from their community and still others because they identify with the singer’s professional background. Those from Assam who have scaled new heights in the singing world, namely, Debojit Saha and Zubeen Garg, have their own take on reality shows and their talent hunt. While Saha feels that public voting is the best way out, and that is understandable considering he won the contest through public votes, Garg who got in through personal grit feels that the public is an unreliable judge because it votes for reasons other than voice quality. Many would agree with Garg especially after watching the manner in which Deepali, Emon, Puja and Parleen were voted out of the Indian Idol contest in the early days. In terms of voice quality they were heads and shoulders above Prashant Tamang. Yet Tamang was consistently voted in because he had a committed vote bank. Different version In the Northeast, horizons are now opening up for those with a good voice. Believe it or not, Mizoram has its own version called Mizo Idol where the winner takes back with him or her a host of gifts such a refrigerator and other kitchen appliances. When friends in Mizoram were contacted to seek support for Amit, they said that the Mizo Idol show happened at the same time as the Indian Idol one so they had not watched the latter. Subsequently, the Amit pitch reached Mizoram too. Assam is soon taking off with its own version of a music talent hunt contest. However, it is not depending entirely on votes. The show will have a set of celebrity judges, who are celebrated singers in their own right and whose opinions will matter. Voting will of course have its own weightage. Happening in the hub of Northeast India at Guwahati, this show will hopefully give an opportunity to many aspiring singers to grow into music stars, maybe not in Bollywood but within the film and music industry of the region. It is time to make music a paying proposition. As of today, music is a wasted talent that does not provide a profitable opening except if you make it to Bollywood. Maybe it is time to change the equations. The bottomline, however, is that film music pays and Bollywood pays even better. So for the moment that seems like the proverbial pie in the sky. (The writer can be contacted at haribohara@hotmail.com)