In October 2007, I went to give the written test for a Bollywood quiz show on Filmy Channel, “Bollywood Ka Boss”…
The selection process started almost 4 months back when I sent a SMS to some special number and later got 9 questions, one after the another (did I mention that I got all the answers correct).
After few weeks, the organizers decided a cut-off and called approximately 9000 people from across India, to write the test at 16 test centers…
I reached the venue, i.e. Rang Sharda Auditorium, Bandra around 4:30 in the evening. There were already 500-600 people waiting to get the entry, I too waited outside for few minutes before they started the entry process…
In the meantime, I observed few fellow participants; the participant list included everyone from teenagers to senior citizens, from house makers to professionals like me. Some people came there, to support their children while some couples brought their kids along with them. I also listened to the conversations amongst few of them...
While standing outside, some were tensed while some were excited, by the thought of clearing the written test then try their luck and knowledge for the huge prize associated with the title “Bollywood Ka Boss”. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the prize money for the winner is Rs. 50 Lakhs; yes you heard it right its 50 Lakhs…
While standing outside, I saw one gentlemen taking out his laptop, the other guy with him was taking out the Reliance Data Card while the third one was just trying to remember the names of some of the Filmi websites. As soon the laptop started, the thinking man came up the idea to search on indiafm.com while other one suggested some other names. But the gentleman operating the machine opened Wikipedia.org and started searching something. I was simply amused to see such fantastic use of technology…
Looking around, I found people revising something from their registers and notebooks; I still can’t believe that people prepared notes for this contest. Even some people were reading Filmi magazines and newspapers like Screen…
People were also busy in discussing the cut-off scores, which would have decided one’s candidature for the written test and also about the pattern of the written test, which was yet to take place…
Once the entry was open, the mob was on fire. I’m using the word “mob” since everyone was so tired waiting outside and at the same time also excited, eager and in a hurry to get in that we all behaved like a mob… During this entry process, someone just asked the question, “Who was the actress in Hunterwali???” Few people tried hard remembering the name of the actress while few made wild guesses. One of the guys searched his book and was disappointed that he had wasted hundreds of rupee by buying that book… (FYI: Nadia was the actress in Hunterwali)…
While standing in the queue, one of the gentlemen gave an offer to the volunteers that if they allow him to enter then he’ll give them Rupees Fifty Thousand out of the prize money of Rupees Fifty Lakhs, which he’ll be winning soon…
After struggling for more than an hour, I finally got the entry into the auditorium. The scene inside the audi was no different from outside; here too, people who got the entry at the starting, were shouting at the volunteers and the organizers, everyone was asking the same set of questions: “What time the test will start?”, “What’s the pattern of the test?”, “How long will the test continue?”, “Where’s the washroom?” and the most common one was “Will the test be conducted today itself?”
Meanwhile, the guy sitting beside me shouted a slogan several times, “Filmy flop hai, Star Plus top hai…” (Filmy is a flop channel while Star Plus is at the top). Different people were shouting different kind of slogans…
Finally Boman Irani, who is the host of the show, entered the auditorium and then all those who were shouting, again started shouting but this time, in his praise. Few called him “Lucky Singh” while others called him “Dr. Asthana”…
After Boman left, the test finally started and I too completed it before time since I knew the answers of only, half of the questions. I knew that I’ll not be selected since it had been proved that there exist more ardent fans of Bollywood than me...
My best wishes to each and every participant of the show and I hope that this show becomes a HIT !!!
