MTV Roadies 9, Hyderabad auditions; The complete story!

So here it is!! I haven’t rushed into posting this one ‘cos I didn’t want to miss on the minutest of details.

It all started off with a call on Monday, Oct 10th '11 from an MTV representative. MTV India wanted me to be its official blogger from Hyderabad. The Roadies 9 Hyderabad auditions were to be held in the city the next day itself! The opportunity came through, thanks to Blogadda. I was surprised I was picked from Hyderabad, considering there isn't a dearth of good bloggers from Hyderabad. Lekin hum bhi kisi se kum nahin :D.. 

11-10-11-- Fancy date for the Auditions eh! :D

I reached Satya Sai Nigamam; the venue for the Auditions. I've been there before. That was where I was first mightily confused if what happened was Crush, Infatuation or Love!! It was exhilarating already at the venue and that tiny little trip down the memory lane added to the excitement :D

The participants' queue extended to about 200 meters outside the gate at 10:30 in the morning. A lot of them apparently stayed there the entire night so they could be early birds in the queue! These many wannabe Roadies-- wow!! 

Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait for a minute outside the gate. I called Gayatri and she was kind enough to come out and take me in. The gates shut behind me, with all the wannabes trying to comprehend what just happened! She handed me a tag, which would give  me unlimited access to any place in the venue! Exciting, ain't it!

Blaring music, electrifying atmosphere and a lot of noise guided me to the auditorium. The auditorium wasn't full. It was half full with about 1000-1200 people already in there. I met a few participants, spoke to them. To most, becoming a Roadies was the only ambition!

Term them as fanatics, die-hard followers or whatever, I got to see a lot of grit, foolishness, determination and hope in the eyes of many!

This photograph was taken at 10:30, a few minutes after I entered the auditorium. Amongst a lot of interesting characters was this guy, a masked wannabe! :D

Bhavisha Choudhary shows her Questionnaire 

Vidyabhushan gestures, with belief that he will be picked this time. He's a regular. We saw him in the Roadies 8 auditions and this time, he's attended the auditions at every venue this year with great hopes to become a Roadie this season.

 Adding to the already Soaring temperatures! Amazing music, dance performances, and the tense atmosphere reverberating with a million thoughts, all whispering the same line 'Make me a Roadie'!!

Talking to Pritam from Hyderabad and Ahmed from Bengaluru. Tense faces!

Ok, here's something that'll excite you! Why dontcha guess why everyone in the pic's so excited? :D

Why's everyone on their toes? Guess!

10 girls were asked to come on stage to dance and 25-30 of them ran towards the stage. 10 of them were picked to act Munnis, Sheelas and Jalebi Bais!! (Click Hyperlinks to watch them groove to the music)

 OoOoooomph Factor!! |_0-0_|

 Guys were up for the challenge! They stormed the stage right after The Jalebi Sheelas left stage. Watch them perform Amplifier, Urvasi Urvasi and the super famous Nagin dance :D.. I call them Munnas and Shails!! :D

 Udit, assessing the wannabes in the Group Discussion Room. A very cOoL head. He gave ample time to everyone to voice their opinion. Interesting fact about Group Discussions-- Contrary to the common notion that group discussions are filled with utter chaos and directionless arguments, all the GD sessions I was a part of, gave everyone a chance.

Nishant, one of the many Roadie wannabes in the GD room, tried to become the boss in the room. He was determined, like his expression shows. Spoke some sense and a lot of non-sense!! :D....He claims he was an Asst. Manager HR in an organization though he doesn't have good degrees. He quit that job to attend the Roadies auditions!! Is there a thin line between Insanity and trying to become a true Roadie? --- Views?

 Does Gymming make people dumb? -- That was the topic and a few folks from both sides of support, some neutral, jumped off their chairs to get into an argument. Will this lead to  a fight?

And it did!! A few more joined and fists met fists, eyes met eyes, words clashed until the moderator felt the situation going off limits! Bang! The sound startled the contestants, the moderator's palm on the table showed them the door and they had to leave for their misbehaviour. Awesome! That fortified the fact and assured me that ROADIES isn't ROWDIES!!

 Beat this! The topic here was 'What's more desirable in today's leaders- Youth or Experience?" A lot of opinions poured, most stammered. One stood out. She said 'Rajiv gandhi, Sonia's son is an idol. She paused and then said Rajiv? Gandhi? Who Gandhi? Which Gandhi? -- Blondes do exist!! She sure was the reason to break the tension in the air. Everyone burst into laughter and it was worth the wait :D.. Roadies rocks \m/0_0\m/

"Where's the Hyderabadi flavour, Udit?"-- To which he replied "Make that 2. Where's the Hyderabadi Flavour, RoHiT?".. Speechless!!... Kidhar toh bhi gaye yaaron Hyderabad ke potte?  Izzat ku pinde mein mila diye :(

Was I shaking my head that vigourously? :O

Knock knock, Suzie.. Snap out of the dream! Interacting with Suzie and Rishabh, moderators in another GD session. This time, the air in the room was filled with Hyderabadi Hindi. Kaiku, aisich, bolroon, sunroon, tumich kahe were the few commonly used words, I could make note of. Made me Happy!! \:D/

 Aaaaand the trio arrives!! The crowd goes mad! about 1500 folks rush to the front rows and cramp into each other so they can get a glimpse of the bad men! Below: Rajiv, Rannvijay and Raghu striking a pose for the shutterbugs. Watch the video here.

The trio sent a very clear message across. They stressed on the point that they're here to select and not to reject. Infact, that is what they do at every venue, every year! The message was well received by the crowd. Just like the serpent sways to the tune of the charmer, the crowd went into a hypnotic state for a long time! Girls gaga over Rannvijay and his look in his new movie Mod.

Rajiv surprised the crowd by talking in Telugu. Not many know that Rajiv and Raghu are Telugites and are from Andhra Pradesh. Both of them graduated from the Osmania University in Hyderabad. Aisich rehna boltoon. Kiraak baat kiya telugu mein. Logaan paagal ho gaye samjho!

\m/0_0\m/

Questions asked and answered. The trio were very cool and took time off their schedule to answer every question put forth. Raghu and Rajiv aren't really the bad men, people think they are! Raghu spoke about the inception of the show and how it has progressed over these years and how they intend to tackle competition from other shows.

Ermm-- about competition, there wasn't much explanation. All he said was, there isn't another show as unique as this which captures the viewer's attention. Competition isn't a factor!... ---- True/False, People?

Oh and the discussion in the below picture wasn't actually an intense conversation at all, though it looks like one :P

How'd I miss mentioning Bani! She sat there, silent, sipping on her coffee from Barista. Not a word. Any other girl and those tattoos would have been  grave mistakes. But they were perfect on Bani. She's a total attention grabber. My eyes seemed to have a brain of their own for about 15 minutes! She was such a doll.. Great luck, girl.

After spending 8 continuous hours amidst the Roadies atmosphere, I went home with tons of intercepted thoughts and hopes. There were those who wanted to become Roadies, just for the heck of it. There were those who wanted to become Roadies so they can become famous too.  Some, so they can go abroad. This time, to America.

Some wanted to become Roadies because they believed they were destined to become Roadies. No wonder all relentless attitude of many contestants. Years of failure. They audition at every venue, consecutive years, only to be rejected each year. 

Reinforcing their hopes and confidence, they come back, to audition the next season. I do not understand the driving factor. To each his own. But the journey is definitely worth the ride. You're screwed. You screw. You make friends. You make enemies.

May be it's worth the effort. To experience all of that was crazy. I can go on.. and on ... AND ON!! This post will only get longer... and longer... AND LONGER.... We are all Roadies within ourselves. We ride our lives. Give it a direction.

But for few, to become a Roadie is the ultimate experience. Cheers to that!!

Signing off on that note, with a basket full of 'Thank You' post-its to Blogadda and MTV Roadies.

~~Peace

R.o.H.i.T....