After much speculation and hysteria, the immensely popular show ,”Rakhi ka Swayamvar” finally came to an end with Indian actress Rakhi Sawant choosing Canadian based NRI Elesh Parujanwala as her groom to be.
The show needs no introduction. It was a reality show where the actress sought her life partner from 16 prospective grooms who were given tasks to try and woo her. From day of its launch ,the show was an instant success for NDTV Imagine, the channel on which it aired. The first episode saw a TRP of 4.5, the highest ever for Imagine. Ironically, though the show faced a lot of criticism, the TRPs of the show continued to increase. With Rakhi making comments like the comparison of her swayamvar to the mythological swayamvar of Sita in Ramayana, or wanting to be another mythological character Draupadi by wanting to marry all 16 of the contestants, the show was accused of making a mockery of the Indian institution of marriage, the Indian traditions and being just a publicity gimmick. The show however continued its successful run and the closing episode of the show broke all records, with a TRP of 6.3, the highest in any of the other nonfiction shows airing on TV. On the final day of the show, the euphoria gripping the nation was evident from the fact that Rakhi Sawant became trending topic no. 8 on twitter that night.
So why does a show that is so widely criticized gain such unprecedented success, and an audience of over 30 million viewers? It can largely be attributed to an Indian’s love for high drama content. The channel played well on it, and the show was filled with same.
The show was launched with the aim of finding a suitable groom for Rakhi, who would, to quote her, “love and take care of her and share her joys and sorrows”. She was looking for a companion who would be warm, affectionate, and respect her as a woman. The tasks given out judged the contestants on anything but these. To prove their mettle, the contestants had to arm wrestle, climb walls, write love letters, compose songs, and even walk on burning coal. Would anyone explain how these tasks tested the contestants on their personality, character or talent? The tasks were only as dramatic, and as filmy as they can get, seemingly set more with the aim of entertaining the audiences, rather than testing the groom.
The show also had a section where Rakhi could vent out her frustrations, and her experiences and insights on the grooms. And with dialogues like, “ Maine zindagi mein bahut dukh uthaye hain”, “ mere ishwar ko maine hamesha apne se pehle rakha hai, mere ishwar hamesha mere saath hain”, “ main aaj itihaas rachoongi”, it can easily be fathomed the drama queen tried to be as melodramatic as possible, something the Indian audiences are known to love.
It can be argued that the show brought out a new face of women, empowered them and gave them an equal standing in the utmost important decision of choosing a life partner. But the show would then be designed to allow Rakhi to know, question and understand her hand seekers, and for them to do the same and then make the right choice. The contestants here more seemed like puppets driven by whims and fancies of Rakhi. The final was coherent in its dramatic content with the rest of the show, with three grooms bringing separate baraats, all rituals being carried out with all the three participants, Rakhi denying making a choice until all told her to do so, and the audience cheering her on. During the last moments of suspense, while Rakhi made up her mind, the grooms could more be thought of as items put on display waiting for the buyer.
An interesting question now is if the two will actually tie a knot. The show started with promises of Rakhi marrying the winner at the end of the show, but the two decided to settle in for an engagement, with Rakhi saying she feels they need more time off camera to know each other, and Elesh quoting financial reasons. So is the show actually just a publicity stunt with which Imagine struck gold? Rakhi incidentally did quote at a point that she had decided to go for Swayamvar –II. And with Rakhi in the driving seat, and the new mantra of Indian television where TRPs rule all decisions, it may be quite possible.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
- Of Reality and Reality shows!
- Game and Metagame: Part 2… Grinding, The Indian Education System, Quake III and World of Warcraft
- 3 Idiots – All is well! Really?
- Hiring in US, Firing in India by Indian IT
- Business of Movie Trailers
- Bookmark :
- Digg
- del.icio.us
- Stumbleupon
- Redit it
17 Responses to “Rakhi and her dramatic Swayamvar: What sells in Indian Television”
Subscribe!
Great post, and IMO should be read right alongside Sid’s previous post about reality shows. Maybe we are moving closer and closer towards the Truman show.
Great post Chandini, however, there are also marketing aspects to this
(1) With Saroj Khan teaching the grooms to dance and Neeta Lulla coming up with bridal wear, it was also a case of marketing and product placement in the show
(2) The drama content was heightened by Ravi Kissen and other television show actors – it was an opportunity to showcase the TV industry itself (with Juhi Parmar and others dancing to popular Bolly songs, ironically)
(3) TRPs, as you mentioned was 4.5, it is also the third highest for the first episode of any show this year , bettered only by “Sach Ka
Saamna” (4.6) and IPL (7.8). This shows that reality TV, especially ones that provide opportunities of voyeurism, sells.
(4) NDTV Imagine was at 7th position among all “family” entertainment channels before this show (1 – Colors, 2- Star TV 3- Zee 4- Sony TV
5- Star One 6 – Sahara One ahead of it with 8- Real breathing down itsneck, especially post “sarkar ki duniya”). However, with this show,
(and to some extent “Seeta and Geeta”), Imagine is at No5 now
As Abhiram said sometime – “big budget events like these aren’t the hegemony of the movie industry anymore, with the TV awards etc also pulling up in popularity and showcasing crossovers between different serials etc”
Great Article…
After a long time I will spare the Author with only a small note..
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090806/jsp/entertainment/story_11324287.jsp
Hear Elesh Puranjawala speak on his experiences
Very well written article, it will be nice to see its comparison with other shows like Sach Ka
Saamna!
Thank you Kaushik for pointing out these aspect of the show too. The show indeed in the end can be summed up as a gold pot for Imagine, Rakhi, and a lot of other associated people too.
Indeed a well written article. Good research.
Quite truly drama sells in the Indian market. Wonder if ever a ‘sane’ show would get such ratings.
well researched article..good to see that the author has very well taken in account the intricacies involved in the TRP business of the television world.
Looking forward to some more interesting posts by the author.
Good article. I wonder if the show gained such popularity due to the high drama content or simply because of the hilarious nature in which the male gender was being subjected to stupidities.
Oh but the author could have included a paragraph about the lovely fake family that Rakhi had with Gautami bhabhi and the HUGE Ram bhaiya. Still can’t forget the Ravi Kishen line (Hum Rakhi ko 1993 se jaante hain jab tum log school jaye karte the; it has been slightly modified). And everyday more television stars became her relatives. Awesome !
Can’t wait for the sequel Rakhi ka Affair with Manmohan Tiwari in the lead. Well I quite liked the guy. He spoke his dialogues with finesse at least.
(Add a postscript on the family, you will be endowed with Ba’s blessings).
@Utkras – wonderful comment man, you made my day
But why only Tiwari, even Mika and Abhishek can make entrances (not to forget Zayed Khan, whom Rakhi once claimed viewed her “with lust” on the sets of “Chura Liya Hain Tumne”
A second sequel can be – “Rakhi’s divorce with Elesh”. Here Rakhi would evoke 498-A stating Elesh beats her up. Elesh would claim she is having extra-marital affairs with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Ram Jethmalani would represent Rakhi. Katie Holmes and Anjelina Jolie look-alikes would deny the rumors. Rakhi would cry, Ram Bhaiya (even fatter, now looking like Yokozuna) would comfort her and Ravi Kissen would then say how they used to steal mangoes in their backyard when they were 5-year olds in 2000, but Rakhi, of excellent character, would scold him.
And thus the great Indian Tamasha would go on and on and on……..
Btw, can there be a prequel? What would the contents be?
@Utkras – great comment – kudos!!
@Gaurav – Thanks Man. Your appreciation is appreciated and solicited
@Kaushik – Same for you amigo. As for the second sequel the only part that seems realistic to me is Ram bhaiya looking like Yokuzuna.
Hmmm.. a prequel not a bad idea.
My idea is Rakhi ka Baap. The story goes back 20 or 25 or 30 (depending on how old Rakhi is) years and the central character is Rakhi’s mother. The show calls for 16 people who were friends of Rakhi’s Mom and the objective of the show is to figure out who Rakhi’s father is. The participants can be look alikes of Hindi film actors like Shatrughan Sinha (Khamosh!), Dev Anand (the perenially shaking guy), Amitabh Bachchan (Haii) etc.
(This is along the lines of Who is Cartman’s father in the Southpark series. Man it was hilarious)
They compete in tasks and every week the guy whom Rakhi’s mother doesnt want to make out with is eliminated. Every week in the “dil ki baat” part (I have worked out all intricacies) Rakhi’s mom would also disclose that the eliminated guy was the father of Ram or this one was the father of Ravi Kissen and the rest of the pieces of the family jigsaw would fit in. The winner is given the title of Rakhi ka Baap.
Of course in all this the best friend of Rakhi’s Mom is our current Ba who was younger in those days.She should also be the host of the show. It would be good to see a not so obese host as well.
Your idea for an alternate prequel or host ?
Oh just in case you forgot, the article was really good. This is all really about the article
http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20090808/1056/tnl-is-rakhi-ka-break-up-next-we-hope-no.html – Is Rakhi Ka Break-Up next? We hope not
http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20090804/388/ten-rakhi-sawant-makes-heads-turn-in-pak.html – Rakhi Sawant makes heads turn in Pakistan too
These are posts that turned up as late as today. However, we have strat.in have already done it, rather – Chandini has already done the post. Kudos
gr8 post
this is the truth abt Indian channels TRP’s
@utkras ur idea rocks too! .. never know maybe Star TV people had already started to make another SOUP from ur idea!
Gentlemen and ladies, here comes Neeru, oops Rakhi Sawant’s “real life story” (though I do not know what is her real and what is her reel-life anymore: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090823/jsp/7days/story_11396388.jsp
And here is her MySpace profile: http://www.myspace.com/rakhisawantrocks
BTW, this article is one of the reasons of my renewed interests in Ms. (?) Sawant’s life – what about you guys.
Chandini, planning another on her? I would eagerly wait for that Ma’am
Trust the lady to find new ways of staying in news, At her rate of generating media gossip, another article on her should be due soon!