“In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”, said the famous painter Andy Warhol in the year 1968. Today, more than 40 years later, he could not have been truer.
Today, with the proliferation of media and every channel having its own set of reality shows, almost everyone is trying his/her luck to get their 15 minutes or even 15 seconds of fame by coming on screen.
There is a plethora of options to choose from in terms of genre, in terms of programmes in one’s selected genre and in terms of channel for that genre. So if one is the adventurous type, then there are shows like ‘Roadies’ on MTV or ‘Iss Jungle se Mujhe Bachao’ on Sony. If one feels that he/she has the potential to be the next Lata Mangeshkar or Kishore Kumar, then there are shows like’ Indian Idol’,’ Sa Re Ga Ma’ and a number of other such singing shows. For people who think that they can shake a leg well, there are choices like ‘Dance India Dance’ and ‘Boogie Woogie’. If one enjoys the company and flirting of a large number of people of the opposite sex, then there is ‘Splitsvilla’ on MTV. For people looking for a fun yet adventurous date, the show is Dare to Date on V, for strategists and people who love mind games, there is The Player on V. Girls wanting to experience the glamour world have the option of ‘Get Gorgeous’ on V. Women who are keen to get married through a show by meeting the guy and his mother, there is The Perfect Bride on Star Plus, whereas for others who would like to get married to a celebrity, there is always a Swayamavar on NDTV Imagine happening for them. For the bullies, there is Dadagiri and for celebrities looking to change their lifestyle, there is ‘The Big Switch’.
As can be seen from a number of examples above, there is no shortage of opportunities. One just needs to decide on which genre and which programme does one want to make a mark for himself. A lot of them have even devised ways to hold the camera to them a little more longer – be it abusing at the drop of a hat, breaking into fights and arguments, flirting or doing something completey absurd and hilarious.
With all of this happening at such a frenetic pace all around us, what is surprising is that while people who do not end up in the finals or become winners are forgotten very soon, but in most cases, even the finalists and winners are nowhere to be seen as soon as the show gets over. Few examples that come to mind are the winners of Indian Idol 2 and 3 (have even forgotten their names), Rahul Roy from Big Boss, Salman (winner of last year’s Dance India Dance). The list is longer than that. What is worse is that even after being victorious, a large number of them are still struggling to manage to get a stable foothold in the big bad world of entertainment.
The big question that comes to my mind is that is this quest and run for the 15 minutes of fame worth it all, if after that one cannot sustain oneself and one does not even know what what hit him after feeling that everything was going right for him and the entire world had become his oyster? Would conclude with this thought.
