Money or Fame - Either should be your middle name

Starvation is a slow poison. In every form it has a killer effect. But what are we starving of; as a person, as a society, as a generation? It has to be either fame/recognition or money or a combination of both... it’s an unusual malaise, we can never be satisfied with whatever we have, no matter how much or how little it actually is. Alternatively it’s also a stark contrast that we actually stoop down to base levels just to satiate these desires. This craving for money and recognition really brings out the worst in us, and it sometimes becomes most apparent when our hunger is not satiated.

Taking the example of Reality shows can explain this better I guess. All the high TRP shows these days seem to be the reality contests; I don’t have the details whether their TRP is higher than Saas-bahu soaps but should be close. Now every channel has its own version - Indian Idol/Sa Re Ga Ma Pa/VOI... what have you. I don’t have any problems with Talent Hunts as long as the contestants are judged solely on the basis of their singing talents by eminent person in the field of music ala the erstwhile Sa Re Ga Ma or Meri Awaz Suno. The contest was a knockout format and the judges were the very best names in the music industry, most of them institutions by themselves. Hence these contests have produced singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala, Manpreet Kaur and Vishal (Vishal-Shekhar) among others. But somehow these shows could not capture the masses, so they were altered and the final judgment was always in the hands of the audience. The quest for quality gets lost amidst the din of TRP and revenue.

So what we have today is a set of programs which have judges for the sake of having them only, the ultimate trigger to eliminate or elevate a participant lies with the viewers. The rationale being, let the people choose for themselves who they want to hear...so that the winner starts of with a solid footing in the industry and a good fan base to boot. A wise thought, must say but the caveat is that of participant’s ability of buying into the public. Mind you at stake is instant stardom and a lot of moolah, so the idea seems to have spread like wildfire. A massive TRP and starry hopefuls apart, there had always been snide rumors of insider voting was doing rounds.

All this came out in the forefront in one of the shows last week, when one of the participant's father openly challenged his daughter's total vote count by stating that he and his partners (in crime) had sent in nearly double that number of votes from computers set up across the country and by running up a huge mobile phone bill. A very sad story which led to one of the judges commenting and requesting people to let a music contest remain that itself and not turn that to a business proposition....

All this and more brings me to my original question (and many more). Why does one have to do this? Is it for the instant passport to fame? Is fame really that important? Well probably there will be certain things that I will never be able to fathom. But what I do fear is the impression on the future generation's mind that a father/guardian is making -
MONEY CAN BUY ANYTHING....
MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING IT IS THE ONLY THING
IF YOU ARE NOT FAMOUS YOU ARE A LOSER.




Fame, (fame) makes a man take things over
Fame, (fame) lets him loose, hard to swallow
Fame, (fame) puts you there where things are hollow
Fame (fame).....


Fame, nien! Its mine! Is just his line
To bind your time, it drives you to, crime
Fame (fame)......

From Fame - By David Bowie