The other day we went to the taping of a reality television show called “Lux Junoon Kuch Kar Dekha Hai." The format of the show is similar to that of the one and only American Idol. There is a host, three panels, and several contestants that get eliminated based upon votes that they receive (or do not receive) by fans.The studio that we went to was quite the drive outside of the main city. (I can’t exactly remember the name right now. All I know is that I was on the bus in the middle of traffic watching the normal cabs, auto rickshaw, and pedestrian madness that I have grown accustomed to, I fell asleep and when I woke up we were driving on a quite highway looking at lush vibrant green jungle. It was beautiful.
It sort of reminded me of the flowing hills in Hawai’i; filled with all the flourishing tropical plants that completely carpet the land for miles. However, it was a different kind of green. It was just sort of brighter and lighter, most likely from all of the healthy monsoon rain. Whatever it was and wherever we were it was beautiful.
When we arrived on set (which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere) we pulled into a parking lot that had make shift sets all around. It made me laugh because it looked exactly like Universal Studios…except there were dirt roads, and we weren’t walking through the streets of New York City… we were walking through the old streets of Bombay; complete with a “marble” temple at the end.
We entered the studio and it was beautiful. It had a very Asian look with elaborate columns and thrones for the host and judges. The group of contestants and dancers were practicing the opening song as we sat down.
Setting up took forever but when they were finally ready to film they started with the audience. We were handed Indian and Pakistani flags to wave as we cheered for the show that we knew nothing about. Even though everything was in Hindi it was so much fun!
The reason for the flags was because the contestants on the show were both from different parts of India and Pakistan. It was sort of the new concept for this season that the two nations are uniting. The singers were all wearing their countries colors. The Indian contestant wearing the orange would buddy it up with the contestant from Pakistan who was wearing a green scarf.
I found it quite comical as we sat there; a group of 19 mostly white American students on an Indian television show waving a green Pakistani flag.
The taping was long, the music was fun. We saw two songs taped, one Punjab sounding song with the high pitched fast paced ringing and a popular Bollywood song “Om Shanti Om.”
We got a little tired having to hear them several times but as soon as the camera came on we suddenly had a burst of energy, at least enough to sing and dance. We were there all day and left before taping was over….got on the bus for the long trek home and traveled back to our little cozy West End Hotel, next to Bombay Hospital, on New Marine Lines.
So the show airs on NDTV Friday night at 8:30. I just hope that I will be on TV waving the Pakistani flag. It would be amazing.
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