Televisions Real Crowd-Pullers

And it may take an Annu Kapoor or a Sonu Nigam to whip up a committed fan following; but who whips up the crowds for the programme? Er, Gopal Mandal, actually. Of Mandal Media, to be even more precise.

Mandal who, you may well ask. Although not a celebrity, he can boast of pulling a sizeable crowd in the Capital at any time and place he chooses. Any film or television serial that requires a crowd scene, Mandals team is there with the right type of people. This is a serious boast from Dilwala Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Army or Janta ki Adalat, Mandal has arranged crowds for a variety of films and serials. And just to reiterate the truism that real life is sometimes stranger than reel life, he can even muster up crowds for political rallies and public gatherings.

 

There are other non-celebrities who can claim to draw a crowd at will, even if not on quite as grand a scale. Rajnish Satija of Aastha Vision, for instance, downed shutters on his sharebroking firm two years ago to enter this business full-time. Satija arranged for the masses populating the game shows Khel Khel Mein and Hit Hit Hurray and has also roped in people for the party sequences of several serials. Then there are the young and upcoming market researchers Pramod Radhakrishnan and Pradeep Krishnamurti whose business has taken this interesting diversion.

The genre of game shows and interactive programmes on television has been growing steadily. So it shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone that it has given rise to a whole new area of enterprise catering to this segment. The official term is audience coordination. The job is not simple it is time-consuming and calls for a high degree of organisation. So most directors and producers prefer to get on with the business of making the film or serial involved and hand this task to an outside agency. Radhakrishnan, whos just signed on to do the audience coordination for television producer TV 18s Hit Hit Hurray, points out: Audience coordination is not simply a question of arranging for the crowds. From picking up the people, dropping them back home, ensuring that they are well-behaved on the sets there is a lot involved.

So it makes more sense for producers to give the contract to professionals.

As of now, both Radhakrishnan and Satija admit that the business has not been very lucrative for the younger freelance coordinators. When budgets are drawn up, audience coordinating although an integral aspect of producing the show usually gets the lowest priority. The big guys like Mandal, however, charge anything between Rs 100 to Rs 200 per person they arrange, with special schemes such as discounts for 13-episode contracts. Mandal, who has been on the job for seven years, justifies his high rates: After all I have

to pay the salaries of the 22 people I employ.

Mandals set-up extends over 10 states across the country. I can arrange crowds anywhere in North India extending up to Nepal, he boasts. Mandal has just finished arranging the crowds for Close Up Antakshris Nepal edition. Among his assignments on hand now are a childrens show for Doordarshan where he has to arrange for bunches of tiny tots, Mani Ratnams latest film and a film for ABCL.

The modus operandi for arranging crowds has also had to change over the years. In the babyhood of game and chat shows, if there was a crowd to be arranged, the director would simply tell his friends and his friends friends to come along for the shoot. Not only would it be an interesting experience, you could also see yourself on TV. The furthest it went would be programmes which contained a segment for viewers to write in with replies. These addresses were noted down and participants called.

But now, as Satija explains, most of the Capitals crowds have become bored with the experience. The novelty has worn off, and a fair number of people must have seen themselves on TV by now. Aspects of film and video production that they wouldnt have paid heed to earlier sitting still while the shoot is in progress, patiently waiting out delays, ignoring the strong lights have now become deterrents to participation. Producers now also realise that finding friends for the vast number of shows on air is clearly an impossible task for even the most popular of persons.

Colleges are a prime hunting ground, but usually only good for filmi countdowns and whacky game shows such as Born Lucky. For shows that require a mixed gathering the telephone directory is the best bet.

Says New Delhi Televisions Namrata Gupta, who is the audience coordinator for the programme Question Time on BBC, We compile a database from the telephone directory, then send out forms which find out the occupation, status, religion, etc of the individual and then shortlist the applicants accordingly.

NDTV, besides Doordarshan of course, is perhaps the only production outfit which has a full-fledged Audience Research Cell. Although it produces only one programme, Question Time, that requires a crowd, it has decided to arrange for the audiences on its own. As Gupta explains, It gives us the flexibility to be selective. She continues, Question Time demands an educated, English-speaking audience which can ask intelligent questions of the panel. Hence she goes through a painstaking process of identifying the correct crowd for the programme.

Fortunately for Satija, Mandal and Radhakrishnan, NDTV is an exception. Increasingly, producers are relying on freelance coordinators. And newer pastures for innovative entrepreneurs are opening up by the day. Satija, for instance, has just finished arranging a crowd for a corporate film for GE Plastics for which he summoned up hundreds of young business executives. Talk about crowding in on the scene.

Filmmakers and TV producers rely on non-celebrities to pull the crowds to their shows.