By Chitra Ahanthem
When visually impaired Takhellambam Mandakini Devi, a popular Manipuri singer auditioned for Zee TV’s very popular music TV show, ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, 2012’ it inevitably led to some very interesting insights and observations. But before we go into the rather interesting strands of thoughts being expressed left, right and center; one needs to look at the commerce and politics of TV reality and talent shows. TV shows are undeniably formatted in such a manner that they garner the maximum viewership, which means their advertisement slots can be hiked up (figures running into crores and lakhs for a few seconds!). Such shows also tie up with the telecommunication sector with SMS-es being a medium for voting for contestants. There is a range of TV shows where popular voting is used as a mechanism for participants to get through: starting from dare devil based ones to being locked up in houses with over 70 cameras to dance shows to singing. Dance and music talent shows do rope in known names in the said performing art forms and the format is such that the judges gets to select till the quarter final stage after which the popular vote comes into the fore.
The race for viewership and raking in advertisements means that most TV shows will milk out every sympathy factor; every odd or disturbing context just to keep the shows in public consciousness. Add in the culture of breathless media attention especially from the TV news industry (which incidentally would in most cases be a sister channel where the shows are being aired) and hype gets built up, emotions are raked in that brings in the issue of regionalism and roots, rather than real talent being recognized. When talent shows first aired in India, most winners were from the Northern belt and it took quite some time for anyone from the South to garner winning numbers. Not so surprisingly, most contestants from the North Eastern States end up getting top votes, given the amount of campaigns that start out with a “vote for your people, vote for so and so”, not a “if so and so has the talent, vote for him/her”. Bulk SMS campaigns are directed at voting for ‘your people’ and are designed as a chest thumping and rousing affirmation of ‘our’ people and that ‘we’ deserve to win, no matter what the level of talent.
The other bit of it is that talent shows in India are totally centered on Bollywood. Dance shows are all about swinging to Bollywood music or at best, fusion music themes where again Hindi film music will be the main theme. Talent shows for singing also lean towards Hindi film songs, validating the fact that Hindi is the one common entertainment medium that exists and works in the country, also driving home the fact that Bollywood is where the name, fame and money lies.
Last week, when I watched Takhellambam Mandakini Devi sing a Hindi film song, the rebel in me grinned ear to ear. Coming in light of a recent hoo-ha over a young Manipuri actress being asked to choose between her life and a career (after she got an offer in a Hindi film) and another where another popular actress has been banned for marrying a Non Manipuri Army Major, Mandakini crooning a Hindi film song on National TV was heart warming. Her participation in a Hindi film singing talent show means one vote on my side: against the ban on Hindi film based entertainment that was imposed in 2000. The cherry on the cake (for me) was the fact that she was NOT dressed in Manipuri traditional dress. Not because I do not like my traditional dress but on a talent show, it is NOT the dress that needs to go on as a symbol but the talent for singing, her voice range, her diction, her flair that needs to get expressed.
Mandakini has been selected in the first round of auditions which gives her yet another chance to sing yet again and advance till the next round, till the time popular voting comes in at the later stages. But the nit picking continues at various labels with some lamenting over her very brief footage (while ignoring the fact that the footage that gets aired is very much edited and that some contestants are just shown getting selected while footage of them singing is not shown). There was another round of “why are they doing this to us?” lament going around alleging that Mandakini had been eliminated. Others stepped in to say that she had been accepted as a wild card entry (meaning she is back in the reckoning) but I still fail to understand why one’s root has to be dragged in as a reason to be selected or eliminated in the minds of the people.
The fact is Mandakini is already a popular singer in the state (though I cringe every other time I hear her singing ‘Waka Waka’. She had earlier won at the All North East India Singing competition but her participation at the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa talent show tells us she is looking for more beyond her comfort zone. It means her diction with Hindi will be tested though she has the advantage of her years of singing professionally. And it should be left at that: with no chest thumping or brow beating over.
End-point:
If Mandakini manages to keep the judges impressed and goes on till the stage where public voting comes in to the picture, I can easily predict her being in the top 3, if not being the winner. She would win because people from this side of the country will vote and egg on others to vote, egged on by her identity and where she comes from. She would be made the winner by people who would not necessarily know what music is or because she is the best performer up there. That’s why TV talent shows thrive: they divide and bring people together and then, they laugh all the way to the banks!
