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Today, reality shows are not just a means to our entertainment but have also captured our imagination in a significant manner. Reality shows have proved to be the cash cow for various television channels in the last few years.

For quite sometime, it is being observed that celebs, who had somewhat faded into oblivion, are making a comeback of sorts through the reality show route. In the past, it was observed that amateurs used to participate in such shows and these were judged by some of the biggest names ruling the business of entertainment. But with the reality show clutter across channels, a recent trend that has been observed is that the reality shows are often being judged by some of those yester-year celebs, who were once at the peak of their career graph and then their career prospects took a plunge.

The phenomenon is not only ensuring eyeballs for the show but also gave a fillip to the celeb’s otherwise 'finished' career. Viewers always have that 'curiosity factor' intact and, hence, the celebs belonging to the above said category do provide fodder to quench their curiosity. Viewers are inclined to know more about them, what are they doing presently, and also the reason why their careers took a plunge. The encouraging TRPs provide the much-needed mileage to the celebs in terms of garnering better career prospects for themselves.

Examples of celebs belonging to the above said category are not hard to seek. Sudesh Bhonsle, Bappi Lahiri, Urmila Matondkar, Isha Koppikar, Ravindra Jain, Amit Kumar, and many more. These celebs have gained popularity, business and recognition for themselves by being featured as judges in various reality shows. Both Sudesh Bhonsle and Bappi Lahiri have reportedly been very candid about accepting the fact that it was the reality show route that brought them renewed name and fame.

Sudesh Bhonsle observed, "Small screen is a popular medium and ever since I have become visible on it, my popularity has gone up. The exposure one gets on television is phenomenal. Earlier, people would just hear our names; now they know us. There’s a lot of money too."¹

Echoing Bhonsle’s observation, Bappi Lahiri said, "Earlier, I was popular, but today I’m a star. I don’t run for shows, it is the other way round. I also have a few offers for composing music and featuring in them as well. I’ll also be seen in advertisement, but I can’t disclose the name now."²

Both these celebs can be viewed now-a-days on the Sony Entertainment Television’s reality show, K for Kishore. Lahiri was earlier found to judge shows like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 on Zee TV.

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1 Kalla Avinash, "Comeback Celebs!", The Times of India (Times Life!), Page 3, February 3rd 2008.
2 Ibid.

* Contributed by -
Kisholoy Roy,
MBA (Marketing),
Content Editor, Infoedge Management Solutions.