[ This is Essay # 21 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]

Reality Shows

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Pradip Somasundaran

People have started referring to me as the first reality show winner since the success of reality shows here in Kerala. Well in a way that’s true as there was more reality to the program that I won in 1996 than the manipulated reality that’s being shown nowadays! Though I am not against reality shows in general, I am really concerned about the message they have been putting across to the younger generation. It’s all about money power and SMS power now. The most dangerous aspect of these music reality shows is that they tend to give a wrong notion of music to the younger generation who are led to the belief that this is the way music has to be presented and this is music, which is seldom true. Real mastery in music takes years of perseverance and hard work to achieve and there is never a short cut to success. Music should always aim the ears and the hearts of the listener. When it is combined with dance and acting, it becomes a mockery of pure music and insult to those who have set high standards in this divine art form.

The judges in these shows are mostly ornamental. Even though they pass on their views, it’s the total count of SMS’s that finally matters. Many a times we find very weak contestants going up to the final phases of such competitions. The results are engineered as many of them even though musically ignorant of even the basics of pitching need to be kept in the fray for obvious commercial reasons by the T.V Channels. Some also reach peak levels of stardom in a few weeks and finally when are out of the competition, their fall to oblivion is catastrophic! The mass has a weak memory. They carry you to dizzy heights and then drop you when another reality show hero emerges. If singers were to go by the temporary reaction of the masses he or she would be doomed in the longer run. Though I have not forayed into the commercial playback arena in a large scale for my own personal reasons, I have managed to survive the test of time even after 12 long years of my euphoric win along with “Sunidhi Chauhan” in 1996. Today, Sunidhi is the most sought after playback singer in India!

Those days, singing was considered supreme and stage histrionics were not used to fool the audience into rhapsody. Today, singers hide their weakness behind dancing and acting. On the stage they could do a few numbers but can they sing 20 odd songs in a stretch as our greats did? I have always wondered at the purity of music and the dedication that our legends like Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lataji, Yesudas, S.P.B, S. Janaki, Chitra…etc. had. Some of them were natural entertainers like the great Kishore Kumar. He was not “trained” to act or sing. Whatever he did was being his natural self. Hariharan or Shanker Mahadevan or Sunidhi Chauhan are not “trained” to do what they do on stage. Yet they captivate the audience with their electrifying presence on stage. Yes, reality shows do help the younger generation to get noticed fast and get a platform to show their talents. I also admire the immense talent some of these singers display! It also boosts their confidence by leaps and bounds but sometimes makes them believe too much in themselves and they find it hard to survive when the real test begins. Finally I would say that only the fittest and the talented would survive the real test of time. You could get fame and money for a short span, but then talent and hard work reigns supreme and that’s the only merit that would get you going in the longer run.

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Pradip Somasundaran is the winner of Lata Mangeshkar award for the best male singer in India, chosen through the first musical reality show Meri Awaz Suno broadcasted in Doordarshan in 1996. He has also sung for Malayalam films and is a music blogger.