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Dance reality shows like Jhalak Dikhlaja and Nach Baliye featured celebs like Urmila Matondkar and Isha Koppikar respectively. Both the actresses have received a very cold response to their releases at the box-office in recent times,
but then the shows helped them to be recognized as some of the great exponents of dance.

Another trend that has been observed lately on the erstwhile 'idiot box' is that some celebs are making a comeback in terms of fame by participating in reality shows. In Jhoom India, a reality show on Sahara Television, we found Sekhar Suman and Vinod Rathod as participants. Sekhar Suman, a popular face on television at one point of time, and Rathod, a leading Bollywood playback singer in the early 1990s, seemed to make an impact on the audience by projecting their singing capabilities.

Dhoom Macha De, a show on NDTV Imagine, is presently featuring singers like Baba Sehgal, Jaspinder Narula, Sapna Awasthi, Sunita Rao, and many more, as participants. All of them were great singing sensations of the country at one point of time. But then they are some names who have been non-existent on the entertainment radar for years. There is every possibility then that the platform provided to them by the above said channel will herald a new lease of life to their almost 'extinct' careers.

The trend seems to be working well for the channels too. Anupama Mandloi, Senior Creative Director of Star Plus, states in this context, "Viewers have an association with celebrities. After a hiatus, when a celeb resurfaces, people’s curiosity is aroused. And this logic is not restricted to Bollywood actors only. Also, some of these faces are cast for their easy reliability and recognition."³

She further makes a mention about the budget involved in making celebrities a part of reality shows and the strategy to be adopted in order to make a show stand out of the ever increasing clutter, as she opines, "Contemporary celebrities are used across various shows and are omnipresent. Budgets also come into play. Ultimately, the idea is to create an interesting mix of personalities from the old, new, niche and different fields."⁴

Concluded.

3 "Comeback Celebs!", op.cit.
4 Ibid.

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