Singer Sonu Nigam, who has previously judged many reality shows such as Indian Idol and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, opened up about the trend of showcasing contestant’s sad experiences at life on these shows and called them “sob stories.”
According to him, these sob stories could be irksome for some but entertaining for others. However, he firmly believes that they mostly do work in grabbing attention of the viewers that is why they have become so common on the reality TV shows.
A few days ago, the first winner of the Indian Idol show, Abhijeet Sawant, talked critically of the latest season of the show for highlighting contestants backstories more than their singing abilities. Sonu, however, disagrees and said that those stories can work in favour of the show. While talking talking to a leading daily, he said:
“If they weren’t working (sob stories), it would not be happening so often on reality shows. In the deepest corner of my heart, I feel sob stories are working. It is a marketing thing, and people are not fools. Their hearts are in the right place. I also feel that the contestants in reality shows are extremely talented. They are ‘dhurandhars’.”
“Secondly, the definition of entertainment varies from person to person. Recently, I was watching a Korean film and I connected with it because it reminded me of my struggles, but it could be boring for someone else. Who am I to comment on the music reality shows? They are doing well, getting good viewership and the singers are phenomenal,” he added.
