If contestant profiles are any indication—from Bangalore-based dentist Mayank Chang (Indian Idol 3) to Amritsar-based businessman Rajiv Thakur to Bikaner’s music makers Ali and Ghani Mohammad—reality TV has reached the farthest corner of the country. Zee TV even shot the grand finale of Rock-n-Roll Family in Indore, hometown to one of its finalist families. One fact that shows the spread of the medium—there was just one entry from metropolitan India; 11 of the 12 participating teams were from suburban towns and mini-metros.
Look at the stories of aspiration that television has thrown up. There was Sonali Dogra, who braved riots in Jammu to make it to Star Voice of India 2’s J&K auditions this summer; there was farmer boy and toli singer from Jharkhand, 12-year-old Deepak Tirkey, who along with Udaipur’s Nishtha Nath Chowdhry, won the Chakde Bacche finale on 9X. “Why only reality shows, even our national cricket team, which once had five players from Mumbai alone, looks a representative interiors-India today. I call it the Dhoni effect, a sweep that defines the aspirations and spirit of young India, and irrespective of their location, that hunger is there in every child,” says Ajay Balwankar, programming head, Zee TV.
Gajendra Singh, the brain behind at least one reality show on each channel—Waar Parriwar (Sony), Voice of India (Star Plus), Junoon (NDTV Imagine), Chakde Bacche (9X), including satellite TV’s first reality show, SaReGaMaPa (1992)—is quite happy with the fever he’s unleashed. “The urge for fame was always there. Now because of the many platforms, channels and the desire of programmers to audition in the interiors, opportunities have increased for the common man beyond the powerful cliques in the film and music industry.”

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