Well yes... I am talking about Baichung Bhutia who became another reality TV star from the "far corner of the country"! His winning the competition (Jhalak Dikhlaja) did not come as a surprise to many of us. Rather it was more like a rerun of the Tamang or Sourabhee episodes from Indian Idol!
In the first few performances, Baichung or "not my Baichung" (as one of the judges puts it), could not move to save his life!! The "chance pe dance kar le" sequence was more of a skin show than skills! Yes of course, Baichung did show off his little foot-balling skills at the end of the dance sequence which strictly speaking hardly qualified him as a dancer. It was much later in the competition that he actually learned to move (thanks to Sonia Jaffer!!). He gradually moved from a footballer learning the ABC's of dance to Vairabhi's and Saroj Khan's favourite soccer star who can actually dance! The journey was quite dramatic like any other reality TV shows. And the crowd (including myself, ahem!) was glued to the TV set or computer screen (in my case!!) every time this soccer star showed his foot-work on the dance floor! For most of us, it was more like an amusement... Believe me, I did not watch the shows because he was a good dancer but… just because of the mere amusement of watching Baichung trying to tune into and synchronise with the sensational Sonia with whom he shared an awesome chemistry (wonder what Madhuri would say about this...).
Baichung (am not talking about Sonia) actually showed some 'real' footwork with his samba, which was actually good. There was energy and, his body language improved much. And by the end of the show (31st May 2009) that is after some more dance sequences, Baichung had learned to dance... Watch the last episode and you will know what I meant (one of my friends messaged me saying that she was impressed by his improvement in the field!).
Anyway Baichung won! Though the judges decided that Gauhar was a better dancer, the public voted Baichung as the best…
All the same, the plot was quite predictable from the beginning of the competition even with all the dramatic twists and turns! But what more could have gotten the perfect 10, if not for the lesser known Football star from the “exotic corner of the country” winning the title! Baichung’s storyline reminds you of Amit Paul, Debojit and Sourabhee! Baichung (like I had told some of my friends) had everything going his way: an Indian soccer star! The soccer star had all the elements of a good masala flick… rags to riches story, the only Indian soccer star (not that soccer is a one man game!!), Soccer, the underdog element, anthropological features and nativity, exoticism and the list goes on… But this ‘cute’ footballer with an “always smiling and supportive wife” stole the hearts of all the young girls with rosy dreams… Added to that, the in-time controversy with Mohan Bagan gave him the much needed publicity (I wonder if his stint with the English second division side FC Bury got him as many fan following as it did after this show).
Nevertheless, it is quite interesting to note that since the last three four years the “Stars” from the far corner are making their presence felt! Whether they deserved it or not is not the question here… but the attention the region and the people from the region has received in these last few years makes me wonder if this would actually help in bringing the region closer to the mainstream or strain the relations further.
Another (Real) NE Star!!
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by The Third Realm , on Monday, June 08, 2009
I have never felt the need to respond to any of the blog messages that were innundating my mailbox till now but the post I read just now raises serious questions. Sanjeeta, do you really think we can reduce everything to such a bizzare level where the so-called divide between the North-East and the rest of India becomes such a huge issue? After all, it is not akin to the process of anthology-making. Popular opinion matters a lot in this particular case. I am sure it is a great topic for research in a "liberal" place like the University of Hyderabad but it lacks all notions of practical sense. If it has missed your attention I would like to point out that there are serious technical problems that undermine whatever you have been saying. Though you use many euphemistic terms like "far" and "exotic" ("corner of the country"), you hardly spell it out that you are referring to the North-East. Are you not guilty of reinforcing those very old stereotypes that you have sought to dismiss in the first place? Secondly, since when have the Bhutanese started to believe that they are part of the North-Eastern "corner" of India? Would Baichung Bhutia be happy to accept the sort of pigeon-hole you are trying to put him into? You are pushing all these things from the viewpoint of your own value-judgements. I mean, what is so special about his winning the race? One or the other rat had to win it. Baichung Bhutia has won it... so be it! Is there any compulsion that we view it as a special case? Amit Paul, Debojit and Sourabhee... so what if it is a continuation of a specific trend? I think it is a remarkable turn over and we should be happy for it. I am the last person to believe that the rest of India votes for them because they are "exotic". I am of the calculated opinion that this is exactly the sort of attitude that does more damage than render any help. It is very easy to claim victimization but when certain things become acceptable they become so because they are "exotic". This is what postcolonialism has reduced us to. We can't see beyond the likes of Edward Said and Homi Bhaba. There is always a distinction between theory and practice. Nobody seems to understand or accept this fact. When I present this fact I become an enemy, a traitor to the cause of the North-East; because I am supposed to claim victimhood and not rejoice in our achievement. For that amounts to complicity with imperialistic government policies. It is time we rethought our strategies!!!
by The Third Realm , on Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Well, I confess I made a grave mistake in my earlier post. I had written Baichung Bhutia is Bhutanese instead of Sikkimese. The error does not topple the premise of my argument (sceptics and detractors may replace the term "argument" with "tirade").
by Nao! , on Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Hmmm... I am glad you did buzz finally ;)
There are too many questions here... and all because I made a technical mistake: I took it for granted that you guys must have been following all these reality TV Shows and the discussions which revolves around the voting system! But from what I can see and 'read', I should have set the context before going into the discussion...
Anyway here's my answer to all your questions!
The whole idea of this exercise was neither to affirm to the stereotype that the region already is nor to underestimate the capabilities of the public in their judgments. You got me wrong here…
In fact, I am very happy that the region is gaining some attention and the talents from the region is being appreciated and recognized in the mainstream. It is never too late. But what I am worried about is the politics which are played in these shows and the impact that these politics have on the masses. The general impression that these marketing strategies and the on-screen politics have brought about on the people. Even though these shows try to project an all inclusive India image, one can see how this divide of the mainstream and the periphery is being exploited in order to popularize these shows. This has been played upon in different cases… be it between the region and the mainstream, north and south India, or anything that you can name!
One of the most recent examples which is more relevant to my post here that I can give you is the Prashant Tamang and Amit Paul episode in Indian Idol! Although Paul, from Shillong, was a better performer and was more versatile than the Nepali Army men from Darjeeling (please consider the names) lost in the finals of the show. It was obvious that most of the votes for Tamang came from the region owing to several reasons which we all know! This was not taken in a good spirit… Some of the contestants pointed out that this was not fair. Their argument was that the people from the region had voted out of their allegiance towards their community people and not considering the talents of the competitors! Whether this (voting to show allegiance and solidarity) is the case or not is not for me to decide but this is what has happened. Another instance which really troubled me was an episode from another Reality TV show. In this show, a participant from the region was told on his face that he had reached a certain level in the competition just because of the fact that he belonged to a region where people vote to show solidarity and not to promote real talents. It is interesting to note here that the wife of the competitor sprang to his defense and… she asked, “if the region did not belong to India?” To add to this sad episode, the scene was telecast over and over again to promote the show! As expected this participant won the title! to be contd...
by Nao! , on Sunday, June 14, 2009
And then behind the scenes… people have seen how the campaigning for these participants has come about: Ministers, clubs and organizations paying people to blindly vote for their participants without actually considering their talents.
All these have only contributed to the uneasiness that have prevailed for ages on both sides. This whole voting system has only affirmed to the stereotype of the region being a strictly exclusive one and community centric in all their dealings! (Consider my first example here.) There is no doubt that there is promotion of talents and the Television contents have improved over the last few years… but think of the image of the region that has been projected.
I am not saying that the whole of the India voted for Baichung because he looks exotic and is a footballer but what I meant was he had all the elements going right for him! And one of the elements was that he belonged to the region and looks so! Of course in his case the controversy with Mohan Bagan and other controversies helped but this element definitely played a major role.
As for my choice of words, Amit I meant the post to be sarcastic! I have used the words specifically used in these shows by the ‘host’ and the ‘judges’ to describe the region! This is the reason why the word “real” is in brackets! Also I guess I should have put the words in italics or quotes but I thought since the title itself is sarcastic I would not need to follow the MLA or Chicago convention here!
by fanatic , on Monday, June 29, 2009
bhutia did have the luck of the devil... from the underdog to the winner...a movie just might be made on this!!!people do vote coz a guy is cute or belongs to a particular community... a case in point - debojit. but was it so with bhutia?? i mean the judges n the public didnt flirt with him n vote for him only coz he was cute but because he was already a star... a football star... n his progress on the dance floor was phenomenal while the others already belonged to the field of show business or else they didnt make that much progress. so if it was up to me i also would have voted for him. other factors do come into play but only up to a certain extent. one can not say that it was coz of this or that, that he won.