How real is the studio audience in reality shows like Saregamapa?
It is a wonderful feeling on reality singing shows - when a singer puts in a mesmerizing performance - so mesmerizing that the entire studio audience is moved - and it begins its chants of “once more”. We did see that a lot on last year’s Saregamapa. So, how real was this studio audience’s reactions?
For those who don’t know - the entire studio audience is a “paid” one. These people are “professional” studio participants who get paid for sitting and cheering during the entire shoot. And it happens not just with Saregamapa, but with almost all reality shows across Indian television - including Junoon, Voice of India, K for Kishore and the likes.
It’s not an easy task being a professional studio participant. These people keep moving from one studio to another, moving across the city - being in time for the schedules shoot. They have to spend anything between 9-12 hours sitting in a boring studio - and keep cheering when the directors demand them. They are handed out posters, banners, flags by the producers - and they are asked to keep cheering or dancing, when the cameras move to them. For all the hard-work, a lady (who would be asked to dress up in a “western outfit”) would get something around $5, and a men could get a little lesser than that. Plus a mid-time snack thrown in.
But the timings are pretty tough. Shoots sometimes end at 2 in the morning. And by then the Mumbai local trains would have stopped running. They would manage to get home only by day-break. And by afternoon, they have to be on their way to another studio for another shoot.
So why do reality show producers opt for a paid audience instead of an interested audience? One, who has the time in Mumbai to waste in a 12-hour shoot? Two, paid audiences have their own advantages. They can be asked to do anything - and they would follow instructions - unlike a genuine audience who might get bored midway, heckle or boo. Remember the girl who kissed Aditya Narayan last season? According to a leading American newspaper - she was offered an additional $25 to do that. And it ended up with chaos in her family.
The studio-audience works best for reality shows which have inbuilt fake dramas in it - like the mock-fights and sob stories. Now, with a paid audience, you would know that the news won’t leak out that all that was happening was just acting.
The studio audience is used to its maximum effect by long-time producer Gajjendra Sinngh who now runs the Junoon show on NDTV. Watch it and you’ll see how the audience suddenly works out a Mexican wave - quite comical. Sometimes, the studio audience doesn’t even exist. Like in the case of last week’s Raja’s performance of Maahiya on Saregamapa. It was just that the audience clips were edited in.
That brings us to the “once more” chants that one heard so often during Raja’s performances in Saregamapa. Were the chants manipulated? Or did Raja manage to really move even the “paid” audience. I wouldn’t know. But except for the Independence day special on Saregamapa - where a load of kids were brought in from schools, everytime else the audience wasn’t as real as we had thought.
Posts
hey Bhagwan ,they r just playing with our emotions…budhhu banahe hey logonko….audience ko dikhana bhi kya zaroori hey ???? kuch voice record karke sunadete ,bash….thank u Manish ji ,for unveiling the situations…
The world seemed so much better before this article
THNX for the story and when the drunk girl kissed emraan was that fixed too
manish ji , mere kids aksar yeh sawaal poochte the ki ye audience kaise arrange hote hain , aaj mujhe iska bhi answar mil gaya.bahut achhi jankari di aapne.
OMG……… this is the fact behind the audience. Jab mai saredrama 2009 curtin eraser thekh rahi thi to kuch ladkiyan same thi jo 2007 me bhi as an audience thi.I was surprised , how the same girls be present in the audience this time also .! to uske piche yeh bat hain!!! channels wale logonko budhu bana rahe hain!!!!! THANK you V.M. RHB !!!!
thanks for enlighting all of us with these facts…
i kind of knew that the audience gets paid , but dint know that there actually professional guys!!
its sure is a tough job running around studios!!!
but…
people who are shown as family… are they real family members or they are also paid actors????
I knew that these people get paid….but I didn’t know that they have such a tough life….I feel really bad for them
One more thing I have noticed on SRGPM is that….they always play one recorded sound of someone laughing…I have heard that many times.
wow… things are really crazy in Mumbai. Sad to know how everything works there.
But here for US Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2008, they had advertisements all over the TV letting people know that the shoot for SRGMP will start in Dallas and they are more then welcome to be part of audience. It was first come first basis.
I was thinking of going but since they were shooting in another city too far from me, I dropped the idea.
U know another thing, my sister and my friend both of whom produces and directs TV reality shows in Hyderabad, they do call real audiences. So all is not bad everyone in the world. There are some genuine and real people too …
But I guess Mumbai probably works in different way
Had never really thought much about this aspect of reality television. It really feels bad but hardly surprising. I work in the marketing department and have attended discussions where we were approached by the enthusiastic sales team of a leading music channel for their reality show ( think hero honda
)… they offered participants for us to sponsor, which would be customized to go with our brand image. They were quite willing to negotiate on the level which the “sponsored” participant was to reach.
Sadly its all same everywhere, from news channels to these so called “reality shows” .
Thankfully its Raja’s soulful voice which is still pure . God bless you Raja
Vineet, does that mean - let’s say Hero Honda offers you a singer to sponsor- for example Sumedha is sponsored by Company X - do they give a guarantee that Sumedha will reach the last 4?
Isn’t this shocking?
Thabhi tho, Srgmp07 me mujhe kayi baar same chehere nazar aate the,mujhe hamesha yehi doubt aatha tha ki kahi producers hi inlogon ko arrange tho nahi karte,Aaj meri doubt clear hogaya,I really pity them.
Thanks for the article Manish ji,
Manish ji,
Mujhe tho pata nahi ki ye blog kab shuru hua tha magar Archives me July 2007 - July 2008, Dekh ke bohath khushi horaha hai, Kahi is ka bhi anniversary tho nahi,
Yes, when the ist anniversary of this site??? Forum started on oct 1st, right?
But how abt the man with the orange hair
He was Raja’s family member right
so he can’t be fake or can he
No Shaharyar he was not fake, he was one of the real uncles of Raja, We’d also seen Raja’s mom for many times right.
So must be one or two family members are allowed with the contestants.
Hi Manish, I wont be able to speak about Saregamapa as I did not interact with the Zee sales team and have no first hand experience on the same. But for the reality show I talked about, they offered to customize the attire, behaviour, lingo and the level to which a particular contestant could reach, based on the sponsorship amount.
Padma - thinking of you.
Ok TNX Lavanya
I was thinking the same
omg…thingsss in Mumbai..seeemedddd to be sooo messseddd up…people willl do anythinggg for moneyyy….its reallly reallly sadddd….