New Delhi: Like crack addicts, the MTV Roadies auditions have pulled in their esoteric mix of sociopaths, rap artistes, sensible women athletes, homeopath doctors and publicity-craving stage actors for the highly popular audition video cuts that hit the television screens on January 7 and were fast gaining traction on YouTube.
The usual crowd of the slightly deranged, practical and wannabe-celebrities sweated out the personal interviews with hosts Raghu Ram, Rajiv Lakshman and Rannvijay Singha - himself an ex-Roadie from the first season of the reality TV show.
The Roadies Auditions are as much, if not more popular than the series for their sheer entertainment value. There is perhaps a certain voyeuristic pleasure in seeing an idiot being put down by the dreaded hosts. They are known to make grown men cry.
But their fearsome reputation has perhaps forced a slight change of tack in the present series. This time, they appear more approachable, less hard on the candidates with better control on their tempers. The good cop, bad cop routine continues until further notice.
Self-derision has been a big part of the show. Whether it is Raghu challenging a contestant to punch him in the stomach and later cringing when he does, or making a candidate expand the acronym TRP to prove, therefore, in a round-about way, that they are not in that game; Roadies has always been a niche obsession.
What makes the Roadies auditions so entertaining?
The auditions are edited well, to start with. A 50-minute boring interview is cut to four minutes of nail-biting drama and intrigue as candidate after candidate expose their scabs to the judges to pick at. "If you have got something to hide, we will dig it out," the grim promise hovers heavily as the auditions travel to the cities in search of the perfect candidate for reality television.
"That could have been me." This psychology is the USP of the show. The crowd is necessarily young, hip and urban. There are the token suburban contestants, but they rarely stick it out to the end. Where once laughably-transparent attempts at appearing 'cool' would have met with stone-faced resistance from the trio, they are content to let contestants go this season with a slap on the wrist. Or a humorous comeback. Raghu was even caught with an expression that looked suspiciously like a smile.
Let's dissect the Delhi auditions.
Giggling and brimming over with confidence was Pratima Dagar, a rollerskater from Haryana who has represented her district and state at the national level. The proud Jat girl was really doing fine until she stumbled into the abyss of logic explaining why women who wear short clothes invite unwanted male attention.
Many able contestants before her in the previous seasons have been crucified on this subject. After an outburst in Haryanvi, Pratima turned a tense moment into one to her advantage by making the three hosts dance with her.
Delhi boy Vivek Malhotra however had no such luck. Even before he claimed the stool to sit down, the so called-photographer rattled off in top speed about his life experiences. He has seen the world (read Europe and New Zealand). He does not want fame, no sir. He has trained in Finland (in tele-calling and the garments industry). And now he wants to be a Roadie. With systematic grilling out came the confession that he has no money, wants to be an actor and needs the platform for realising his dream.
But for the almost-18-year-old Geetika Budhiraja, the auditions were almost over before they started. Four days remained before she turned 18 and Geetika was about to be turned away by the judges as she was not of the legal age to compete in a reality show.
Homeopath doctor Shanky Vij is a story in himself. He appeared calm and ready to face any ammo that came his way. "Every person has two separate worlds – the personal and the professional," he said. He had achieved what he set out to achieve professionally and now he was looking for personal growth. Great logic, Shanky. But in 15 minutes he was sweating profusely and waving his Roadies form as a sign of peace and surrender as Raghu and Rajiv grilled him on what he meant by professional growth and why he masked his real feelings under a load of chicken feed in the form.
But the cream of the audition was undoubtedly Nipun. Sorry, Nipun – the perfect, as he preferred to call himself. Swearing he was different from any other (where have i heard that before?) Nipun had a groovy hair 'ishtyle', wore his belt all wrong and his armbands were something else.
In 10 minutes, Nipun was sitting with his hair dripping wet, parted in the middle, minus his armbands and his belt coiled like a harmless serpent on a table next to him, trying really hard to remember what the full form of TRP was. Pity, they don't teach these things at school.
The Delhi auditions have the Roadies style stamped on them. Screaming crowds, serpentine queues and a select, very select bunch of youngsters trying to make a career in television – the medium where the money is these days.
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