Reality TV helps experiment

TV actor Ali Asgar, who shares screen space with Abhishek Bachchan in game show National Bingo Night, clarifies that he is not the host of the show. He says he is more like an entertaining element who comes on stage in various avatars.

"I can't really define my role in Bingo. I'm not really a host I am more of a entertainment element. You will see me interacting with the host and with the audience. I have been termed as Bingo Buddy by Abhishek Bachchan," Ali said.

"Bachchans are the first family of Indian cinema. I have been fortunate to work with Amitabh ji, Ashwarya and now Abhishek too. It gives me a high to be associated with them."

Ali says Abhishek never throws any tantrums on the sets. "Abhishek is a gem of a person, very down to earth. I did not have any attitude problems working with him. I feel comfortable working as he gives me freedom to share the stage. Not many actors are willing to do that," he said.

Commenting on the format of the show, Ali said: "Every individual's life has become stressful. Even while asleep we are stressed. The concept of the show is very relaxing and entertaining. We have tried to make it a task for everybody who wants to play. May that be the contestants, the studio audience or the audience sitting at home. Everybody can be a part of the show and they don't have to take much pain. It is total paisa vasool show."

The actor, who became a known name by working in soaps like Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, feels reality shows give more space and freedom to an actor to experiment.

"After Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii I tried to explore my dimensions. I gained popularity from fiction shows, but I have realised reality shows give a lot of freedom. We don't have to be calculating and it is more fun. Winning Comedy Circus acted as a benchmark to showcase the funny side of my personality," he said.

Ali is currently doing National Bingo Night, comedy show FIR and Farah Khan's movie Tees Maar Khan.

Bingo: Abhishek pips Salman, Akshay in debut TRP war

Amitabh Bachchan wouldn’t mind losing this one. His son, Abhishek, who made his television debut on Colors, has managed the highest television viewership rating for any celebrity show with National Bingo Night.

The show has got a rating of 5.1, much more than the first episode of Bigg Boss (also on Colors a couple of months earlier) that the senior Bachchan hosted. In the process, Abhishek has outperformed the other celebrities as well — Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, et al. The ratings have been given by TV rating agency TAM Media Research.

But, the jury is out on whether National Bingo Night will be able to sustain its ratings. Experts feel weeks of hype created around the show has helped the initial rating. Also, the illustrious father can claim some credit. Amitabh Bachchan was the first participant at the show and came up with one of his best performances.

Celebrity	Programme	Year	TVR
Abhishek Bachchan	National Bingo Night	2010	5.1
Amitabh Bachchan	Bigg Boss 3	2009	4.6
Shah Rukh Khan	Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain	2008	4.6
Akshay Kumar	Khatron Ke Khiladi 2	2009	4.4
Rakhi Sawant	Rakhi Ka Swayamvar	2009	4.1
Shilpa Shetty	Bigg Boss 2	2008	2.5
Salman Khan	Das Ka Dum	2009	2.2

Amitabh also promoted the show big time during the finale of Bigg Boss 3. Big B called his son from the TV studio and asked him what classes he was organising. That’s how the viewers were introduced to the show after almost a month’s promotion running across the out-of-home media talking about ‘Abhishek’s Aarami Classes’.

“With the success of Paa, the father-son duo have been top of the mind for audiences. This has helped the show’s ratings. Colors has done a smart thing by capitalising on the show at the right time. Also the format is new. All these factors have helped in record ratings,” said Shubha George, MD, MediaEdge.

The show is based on an international format called Bingo and owned by Fox Television Studio. Here, not just the studio contestants, but also the studio audiences and television viewers can play. While the contestant plays in-studio games based on game ball numbers, the studio audiences predict the numbers and try to match these with their tickets. No special skills are required to bag prizes.

Ashvini Yardi, Programming Head, Colors, said: “There was a huge wave of interest amongst the viewers to play the game of Bingo with Abhishek. The format of the show is so simple, the ease with which Abhishek conducts the game and the Saturday 9 pm time slot is all so perfect, that it gives the entire family a chance to sit and play together, enjoy and win prizes.”

Talking point with manish goel

The small screen star makes a comeback as a reality show host on Star Plus’ Mahayatra

Your show Mahayatra is positioned as a very different reality show. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Mahayatra has a very unique concept in that unlike most other reality shows, there is no singing or dancing or comedy, certainly no judges and SMS voting. It is based on the mythological tale of the ideal son Shravan, who was taking his parents on a pilgrimage of the four holy centres of Puri, Rameswaram, Dwarka and Badrinath — the four dhams— before his life, and mission, were cut short by King Dashratha. We’re trying to reignite that kind of filial devotion. We have on our show four young people who’ve sworn to take their parents on this pilgrimage and we’ll be following their trials and tribulations.

If there are no judges and no SMS voting, who decides which contestant stays and which one leaves? Where does the drama come in?
Since this is a pilgrimage-based show, we’ve literally left things to God. Before arriving at any of the four dhams, the contestants have to pass a number of difficult tests and solve many problems. We give them many chances, but ultimately, we leave it to destiny. The person who’s left behind or fails to complete the tasks, will have to leave the show. As for the drama, these are very real people who’re uninhibited in front of the camera. They’re not afraid to show their real emotions and if they feel like singing or dancing or crying, they’ll do just that.