Abused, No Water or Toilet: Harrowing Account of a Man Who Wanted to be 'Indian Idol'

On the surface, what makes any reality show an intriguing watch is the participants. With their humble backgrounds, they are ready to brave it all to showcase their talents on national television.

The glitz and the glamour surrounding the show gets the audiences hooked for months and they push buttons on their cell phones to save their favourite contestants from getting eliminated.

What reality shows also bring is unending queues of thousands of aspirants and the ill-treatment that happen on the venues that don't meet the eye of the viewer.

A Twitter user who goes by the handle @nofreecopies sheds light on his traumatic auditioning experience at the Indian Idol 2012 edition and narrates how the show is a "perfect platform to destroy your dreams as opposed to its common perception as a breeding ground for talent."

In a long Twitter thread, Nishant Kaushik, who auditioned for the popular singing reality show 6 years ago, alleges how in the long hours of waiting in the queues, the aspiring singers were allegedly ill-treated and abused during the course of auditions.

Brief, nonchalant thread about my auditioning experience at Indian Idol 2012 and why I think it is a perfect platform to destroy your dreams as opposed to its common perception as a breeding ground for talent.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

May. Mumbai. I rocked up at the venue more out of casual interest. On joining a queue 2 km long I noticed enthusiasts who had arrived there as though their lives depended on them. Some with their mothers holding Prasad, other rebels who had braved odds and traveled alone.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

I joined the queue at 7 AM. There were people who had arrived at 5 AM. Others who had camped overnight. False notion that early arrival = early audition. No one from the crew to dispel such notions. Gate opens 1 PM.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

While the queues are a part and parcel of every reality show that has ever existed, Kaushik alleges how there were no accessible toilets or food stalls or drinking water taps for contestants as they waited for their turns.

In those long hours of waiting, no accessible toilets or food stalls or drinking water taps. If you step out in search, you risk losing the queue which you'd then have to rejoin. Anyway at 1 pm the long wait ended right? Wrong.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

Kaushik, in his Twitter thread, also narrates about a volunteer who was promised an 'early audition' if he grabbed the then previous year's winner Shriram's feet mid-performance and shouted: "I wanna be Indian Idol!"

At 1 PM we were herded toward a stage on the school ground where the previous year's winner Shriram was lip syncing to Desi Boyz. A volunteer amongst us was sought to go and grab Shriram's feet mid-performance and shout "I wanna be Indian Idol!" Reward promised : early audition.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

But after several failed takes and attempts when the volunteer insisted that he couldn't do it anymore, he was abused and threatened by the assistants on sets, alleges Kaushik.

Sure enough, one aspirant fell to the bait. Fell at Shriram's feet. Dozens of retakes demanded by the director. When the aspirant said he couldn't do any more retakes, assistants on the set abused him and threatened to have him off the auditions if he didn't comply. He complied.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

But he wasn't the only one who was abused during the audition.

Hours passed by. At around 8 PM, we were finally given badges and ushered in. no auditions yet. We were taken to the basketball court where for hours at stretch we were made to scream "We LOVE INDIAN IDOL!" right before our voices were supposedly going to be tested.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

At this point one of the aspirants lost his shit and stood up, demanding to see where the auditions were happening, to see the judges. One of the crew members charged up to him and slapped him. In front of thousands of people. SLAPPED.A.CONTESTANT. Yes this happened.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

A scuffle followed. Crew members rescued their colleague who was assaulted, by dragging the contestant along the floor and evicting him from the room. Late into the night, we finally arrived in a corridor that had a line of rooms hosting the auditions.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

Kaushik then goes on to talk about the 'random selection' of contestants waiting in the queue by the crew in the judge's absence. There were giggles and the naive singers who 'sang horribly' were directed to the only room that had a camera inside it. But it didn't stop there. They were mocked by the actual judges, adds Kaushik.

(Take a moment to reflect that by the time of the first round of audition some of us had been standing at that venue for almost 24 hours). Crew walked past us, randomly picking some of us to sing a couple of lines. Just like that, in the corridor, with no judges present.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

The naive thought this was a smart way to quicken the filtering process of worthy contestants. The smartass crew knew better. They giggled at the contestants who sang horribly, and directed them to the only room that had a camera inside it. The rest of us got non-camera rooms.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

The med rep with that broken slipper I told you about sang atrociously. Through a half-open door of the room with the camera, I overheard his "auditioning". A painfully bad rendition of "Likhe jo khat tujhe", to which the judges kept going "wah wah! now try a higher pitch?"

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

That mockery went on. The judges relished that fellow's naivety, asking him to keep taking a pitch "higher and louder" till his voice turned into frail shrieks that sent them into peals of laughter. He came out in tears. Elsewhere in the corridor we heard of contestants fainting.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

And surprisingly, when Kaushik crashed out of the round 3, he was rather relieved.

I crashed out in Round 3 of the auditions close to midnight, and was nearly relieved when it happened. But I went home satisfied that I got a taste of a show that on TV had always appeared alluring. Shocked as I was by its reality, I was a wiser man by the end of the day.

— Nishant Kaushik (@nofreecopies) August 20, 2018

Summarising his entire experience, Kaushik writes, "My summarized observation of Indian Idol was that it decorates and recognizes maybe 10 or less, very worthy participants annually. But en route it quashes a million people's hearts by disrespecting them, ridiculing and abusing them, denying them a conducive atmosphere to contest."

"Not to mention the labourers who were hired to install and then disassemble the equipment at the venue. I don't even have the heart to mention how we were witness to the abuses they were being subjected to by the present staff."

"True talent is rare. But every aspiring artist's pride stems from the encouragement it gets from its colleagues and friends and mohallawallahs and family. In those little nooks and crannies, each of them is a "star". Reality shows have no right to disrespect that. "

These are some of the few excerpts from Kaushik's Twitter feed. To read the entire thread, click here.