{"id":3237,"date":"2016-06-28T08:59:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T03:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3237"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:57:04","slug":"reality-shows-auditions-dreams-livelihoods-privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3237","title":{"rendered":"How to Win a Reality Show: Forget Your Talent, Surrender Your Dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"container page-content\"><p><span class=\"dropcap\">R<\/span><\/p><\/div><p>ecently, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/trending\/trending-in-india\/ugly-side-of-reality-shows-ex-indian-idol-contestant-reveals-what-goes-on-behind-the-scenes-5320461\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nishant Kaushik<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an author who lives in Australia, took to Twitter to share his harrowing experience at auditioning for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Idol<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a reality TV show for singers. In the post that went viral, Kaushik wrote about queuing up for the audition in Mumbai for more than 12 hours with no facilities, witnessing participants praising the show on camera after being lured with an early call to the judges\u2019 room, and a blind man\u2019s disability being exploited for TRPs. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his rant, he summarised the ugly truth about reality shows that we are all aware of \u2013 they are far from real.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve had a full 360-degree experience of it myself. And this goes beyond binge-watching <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unreal<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a show on exactly how manipulative the business is. I was one of the hundred volunteers at the Delhi auditions of the first ever <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Idol<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. On that muggy September in 2004, the hockey stadium was teeming with people \u2013 organisers, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/people\/robin-hood-army-mission1million-food-india-pakistan-independence\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">volunteers <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">like me and participants. Thousands and thousands of participants. So the four days of what I thought was all about making a quick buck, turned out to be an eye-opener. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These were early days of reality TV in the country and they brought a lot of hope for small-town India. As hordes flocked to the stadium, we slapped their chests with stickers that reduced them to a number. In groups of 20, they stood outside the audition rooms awaiting for their turn. Those who had already auditioned waited anxiously outside the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/culture\/open-house-teachers-results-school\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">results <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">room which I occupied. I simply barked out the numbers that got selected for the next round. The ones I didn\u2019t announce hung their heads and left the venue. Many among those who were asked to leave were trained classical singers. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was also given the job of getting \u201cbytes\u201d. I asked the ones who qualified what an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Idol<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ticket means to them; often I asked them awkward questions about their <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/modern-family\/memories-family-photo-album-nostalgia\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">families <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and their social status. Most found themselves flabbergasted in front of the camera, so I helped them with prompts like \u201cHumari zindagi badal jayegi show jeetne se.\u201d Lines such as this got me a pat on the back from the higher-ups.<\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p> The judge, some beefy guy from the channel, announced, \u201cSab Hindi mein baat karenge.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the end of the auditions, I had seen a poor vegetable seller who sung beautifully get promoted more for his story than voice. I had seen awful singers being encouraged to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pop-culture\/global-citizen-india-coldplay-jay-z-ananya-birla-demi-lovato\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sing <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in front of the judges only so that they could ridicule them. We all remember the \u201cfunny segments\u201d where the \u201cbesura but brave\u201d singers auditioned for the show, don\u2019t we? <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the season was aired, there were many participants I remembered. And then I forgot about them. But years on, I still remember many of those who never made it in front of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/series\/portraits\/dalit-battle-of-koregaon-pune-dalitcamera\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cameras<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, those who were relegated to being part of the Mexican wave shouting \u201cIndian Idol\u201d after waiting for a chance to audition for most part of the day.<\/span>\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1535463497.jpg\" alt=\"indian_idol_auditions\" width=\"594\" height=\"395\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-38802\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>These were early days of reality TV in the country and they brought a lot of hope for small-town India.<\/p>\n<p>Image Credits: Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back then though, it was still easy to forget the ugliness of reality shows. Four years after my <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Idol<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stint, I decided to apply for MTV<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Roadies<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I was selected and finally had a chance to find the answer to the question that defined my <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/helicopter-parents-indian-millennials-dependency\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">generation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Tu Roadie banega saale? \u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019d know only after the 10-hour ordeal that the audition turned into. In the long, long line that led to the venue, I befriended a Divyanshi, who said she wasn\u2019t prepared for the auditions at all, but her peroxide hair and obnoxious heels told a different <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pop-culture\/the-handmaids-tale-season-2-margaret-atwood-review\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tale<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A certain Nancy standing ahead of me had a cut on her forehead. \u201cI was at the earlier auditions and a bottle hit me during the ruckus,\u201d she told us. And here I was, believing that I was a true Roadie only because I woke up at 6 am and made it to the venue. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Soon a camera swooped past us and we were asked to cheer very loudly and scream \u201cRoadies\u201d, the MTV version of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Idol<\/span><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/sports\/world-cup-2018-underdog-mexico\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mexican <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wave. The host asked the guys to do push ups and everyone scrambled to prove they are the \u201creal mards\u201d. I coyly waved at the camera and then cursed myself. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a few hours of waiting, in groups of eight, we were led to different rooms for a \u201cgroup discussion\u201d. The judge, some beefy guy from the channel, announced, \u201cSab Hindi mein baat karenge.\u201d And then went on to speak in fluent English that the topic of debate would be \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/love-and-sex\/relationships-dating-advice-love-romance\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">live-in relationships<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d. Before I could wrap my head around what was unfolding, the other seven participants started speaking\u2026 all at the same time. \u201cLove shuv kuch nahin hota,\u201d said one guy. The other said, \u201cSex important hai, sir\u201d. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The cacophony continued until the show\u2019s main man barged into the room, his hands outstretched. He walked up to one of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/gender\/india-good-boys-parents-girls\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">boys <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and dragged him by the collar, accusing him of violence at the earlier audition that had caused the cut on Nancy\u2019s forehead. \u201cKhub tod fod kara tune us din? Chal ab karke dikha, apne dosto ko bhi bula le,\u201d the main man barked. The six-foot tall Jat cowered. \u201cSir, mujhe police ne bina karan do mara. Maine gusse mein khidki todi, God swear sir.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSorry bol B&#038;^*$!\u201d<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the moment I was waiting for. The true Roadies moment. The 10-hour wait that preceded it now seemed worth it. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And this was followed by what seemed like an eternity spent waiting in a large auditorium of an old <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/introverts-extroverts-school-classroom\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">school <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with no food or water. I could have ideally left anytime, having said absolutely nothing in that discussion and no one would\u2019ve noticed. But something made me hang on. Maybe the sporadic takedowns by the angry host at unsuspecting stud boys.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hours later, the results were announced. \u201cLove shuv\u201d guy was selected, so was the \u201csex is important\u201d guy. Divyanshi was not; I was shown the door too. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I did not find the answer to what it takes to be a Roadie. But I learnt something else: That the entire process of audition is maybe unfair to those who believe in the power of art \u2013 but what the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/sexual-harassment-kevin-spacey-bryan-cranston-shakti-kapoor\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">artist <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and the aspirationalist have in common is that each one gives up a bit of their self-esteem to reach this point. People who apply for reality shows do it for a reason \u2013 for some it may be fame, for some it maybe be money, and for someone like me, it just helps break away from the monotony. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For a fly on the wall like me, this whole experience has ended up as a funny story that I tell my friends. But for so many others, being in a reality show is probably a ticket to fame, fortune, or even livelihood. Those of us with the privilege to follow our dreams \u2013 and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/liberal-woke-privilege\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">privilege <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to lose out on a few \u2013 will never understand the transformative power of a potentially life-changing chance. That dream and that chance alone is worth the pain of rejection. For a dream, a hundred times over. \u00a0<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was a behind-the-scenes volunteer at Indian Idol auditions a few years ago, and had to prompt awkward aspirants to say cheesy things like \u201cHumari zindagi badal jayegi show jeetne se.\u201d Reality shows can be toxic places, where everything from a person\u2019s disability to lack of talent, is fair game for exploitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":3240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[3888,4896,6307,6308,6309,334,4886,6310,6311,6312,3173,80,4627,6313,899],"class_list":["post-3237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-actors","tag-aspirations","tag-auditions","tag-chances","tag-channel-v","tag-delhi","tag-dreams","tag-indian-idol","tag-life-changing","tag-livelihood","tag-mtv","tag-mumbai","tag-privilege","tag-reality-shows","tag-roadies"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Win a Reality Show: Forget Your Talent, Surrender Your Dignity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was a behind-the-scenes volunteer at Indian Idol auditions a few years ago, and had to 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