CON Banega Karodpati????????????

The reality shows which has flooded the idiot –box in recent times has managed to keep its select band of viewers strapped to the seats. Whether its Little Champs which parades the talent of Kids to the variety of dance and talent shows showcasing team and individual events to the whimsical Big Boss which includes contestants who are in the news for all the wrong reasons.
The reality show which stormed into fame was Kaun Banega Karodpati? modeled on its western avatar- Who wants to be a millionaire?.
The show was meant to be a show stopper and one of its kind without the usual Cry baby Stuff , jealousy, business rivalries and the routine mundane stuff that accompany Saas bahu type serials.
People who were true aficionados of general knowledge were thrilled to match their skills and fill their vacant cells of their cerebellum with oodles of information that was hitherto unknown.
The organizers having struck the gold-mine went over board after TRP’s came down post the initial hurrah and turned to innovative techniques to keep the interest going. News leaked about the person who became the First Crorepati- Viz. Harsh Vardhan Nawathe.
If any of the readers can recollect some of the episodes featuring the eventual 1st winner- in one of the episode which revealed a murkier side. Harsh Nawathe took a opinion poll to seek an answer to the question to which he was clueless.
After mulling for a moment he surprisingly selected the option which the participants had given a measly 5% votes and MORE SURPRISE ..his option was Correct. Never ever a person who doesn’t know an answer would exercise his option like this!!Even when he won the 1- Crore Prize the celebrations were questionably restrained and muted. The Overall Joy and camaraderie of a true Winner was missing. Tongues started wagging and the Programme was slowly taken off the slot citing date problems for Bacchan. The winner too sulked and was not seen anywhere and the fixing angle gained momentum.
But the Current episodes have breached or surpassed all barriers of cheating.
One of the Contestant (obviously pre-selected one) claiming to be working for a Premier IT co, had no clue whatsoever about the Full Form of USB ( even Kids nowadays know this stands for Universal Serial Bus) she goes in for a opinion poll wins the round and leaves after garnering 25 lacs. A woman who had very limited access to information barely getting to read a newspaper through her own admissions surprisingly answered mind boggling questions and too quit after gaining 50 lacs. There were Several Participants who were easily recognisable from their traits/actions about their level of knowledge, yet received prize money in excess of 25 lacs. The organisers were clever enough to recruit some People who suffered early exits to prove that nothing was amiss.
The producer/presenter in tandem with the sponsors have chalked up a clever Plan which tries to play on the psyche of the viewers by selecting contestants from their own stables given adequate training on speaking etiquette and which revolves around Praising Bacchan every now and then for no rhyme or reason, wanting to chat with Aiahwarya Rai, and coming up with few anecdotes pertaining to Madhushala – a poem written by Senior Bachhan. Sometimes we all wonder whether there was any poet born other than Harivanshrai Bacchan??
Further Mr.Amitabh Bacchhan does, what he only can do best- ACTING .
Every Participant is given a Philip..a boost .Prodding .a false impression is created that the organizers caters even to people based in the lower rung/lower strata of society.
Siddhartha Basu is an entrepreneur in a true sense. It sure requires abundance of talent to fleece the innocent people without even raising an eye-lid of suspicion. But faulty Planning and lack of foresight has shred this amazing fool proof plan and set the cat amongst the pigeons.
The revenue generated through SMS’s sent by gullible viewers is astronomical.
Each SMS is charged at the rate of Rs.6/- to the sender.
Assuming there are only 100 entries from say 10 cities of some 20 districts and 20 states...

6(Rs/SMS) x 100(entries) x 10(cities) x 20(districts) x 20(states) = 6
x 100 x 10 x 20 x 20 = Rs.24,00,000

24 lakhs in 20 minutes.
(People trying for the 2 lakhs cash prize)
Imagine what if 1000 entries try out from 100 cities?

The figure simply grows by 2 more zeroes and yields a whopping 24 Crores!!!!

And it does not stop there...

In practice it could be another multiple of 100 or a multiple of 1000 on an average.

In that case it is 24 x 100crores earnings in just 20 minutes on every episode!!!

And the prize money: A mere 2 crore..
(and from whose pocket?)

And the best part of this calculation is just the SMS earning!!

We still have to account the revenue generated through advertisements.

A rough annual profit calculation goes like this:

2400 x 5 x 4) (episode/month) x 12 = 5,76,000 crores.

Let even 50% get dissolved in taxes and other payments, still you will be left with (which includes even the meagre 480 crores of prize money i.e.if every episode bags 2 crore prize)!

2,88,000-crores profit !!! (only from SMS)


Common on guys, at least do your homework and analysis properly before resorting to CONNING .
Eat only that much which you can digest and fool only those who can be conned.

Man with the Golden Voice- Jagjit Singh A Tribute

The man bestowed with the golden Voice –Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh passed away in serene calm on 10 Oct 2011. His age and his voice blossomed and radiated with every passing year akin to the Preserved Vintage Wine which gets matured in barrels.
In the 1970’s when Kishore Kumar/Mohd. Rafi reduced all competition to dust with their melodies Jagjit made his presence felt by belting out his first composition – Unforgettables in 1976.
Though the album made waves it did not translate into work for which he had to sing jingles in scores of advertisements to sustain his livelihood.
Singing in tandem with his wife Chitra he created his own select band of fans by composing songs which could be easily deciphered even by a layman with limited knowledge of Urdu and poetry.
Perhaps the greatest drawback was he could not raise his voice to a high pitch which incidentally worked in his favour in creating that soft and silky voice custom made for his trade mark Ghazals.
A car accident in 1990 killed his teen aged son Vivek which destroyed the singing career of his wife who seemingly lost her voice trying to cope up with the irrepairable loss. Jagjit went solo after a brief lull of around a year.
Any avid fan of his would vouch for the sudden change in the depth of jagjit’s Voice post 1990,which inculcated all the grief, gloom and the melancholy notes so effectively that it was relatively easy to identify the soul of a father who silently mourned for his dead son through the rendition of his songs.
One has to hear his ‘’Na chhiti na koi sandesh ‘’ and ‘’Kagaz ki kashti’’ and I bet it would be difficult to hold back the excess moisture breaking the contours of the eye lashes and cascading down the cheeks, as one could sense the overpowering grief let out in these classics.
It was always seen that he never showed any emotions and was a man of few words and was instrumental in organising concerts for charity as and when requested by scores of NGO’s.
While it would be difficult for his wife who has to continue the journey of Life without him his ardent fans hope that Jagjit Singh would have found solace after REUNITING with his beloved son.
The best compliment perhaps bestowed on him in 1989 was by the renowned Writer Khushwant Singh who said’’ He is a better singer than Mehdi Hassan and a better looker than Dilip Kumar.
As someone rightly said’’ God called Steve Jobs as he wanted an I- Pod and then had to call Jagjit Sngh to fill it up with his melodies.