Crowning the Bihu Queen: Engendering a rural sensibility through reality television | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Indian Theatre Journal
  4. Volume 6, Issue 1
  5. Article
Reality Television in South Asia: Performance, Negotiation, Imagination
  • ISSN: 2059-0660
  • E-ISSN: 2059-0679

Abstract

This article focuses on reality television shows featuring solo female Bihu performance: the music and dance form associated with the Assamese New Year’s festival. These shows cultivate a sense of ‘reality’ by incorporating scenes of finalists on location in their homes. Often depicting hardworking village girls conducting daily chores, these scenes narrate the journey from anonymity to celebrity stardom, highlighting the ability of contestants to embody certain idealized values associated with Assamese womanhood. While judges began embedding these values into Bihu stage competitions in the early 1980s, the scrutiny of individual contestants by celebrity judges has increased since the advent of reality TV Bihu shows in the early 2000s. The success female contestants are able to achieve depends, in part, on their ability to convincingly portray a ‘rural’ sensibility while maintaining an air of respectability, both as part of Bihu performance and during question-and-answer sessions. Drawing on the author’s experience as a guest judge in two seasons of (‘Bihu Queen’), as well as on interviews with judges, producers, hosts, contestants and session musicians, the article examines how female performers navigate neo-liberal models of competitive performance while maintaining values and beliefs associated with collective ritual performance.

© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00026_1
2022-08-01
2024-04-27
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abu-Lughod, Lila. ( 2005), Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt, Chicago:: University of Chicago Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Barker, George M.. ( 1881), A Tea Planter’s Life in Assam, Calcutta:: Thacker, Spink & Co;.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. ‘ Bihu Rānī. ’ ( 2015), Bihu Rānī, Season 6 (31 March, India:: DY365;).
     [Google Scholar]
  4. ‘ Bihu Rānī Finalist Special Episode. ’ ( 2011), Bihu Rānī, Season 2 (April, India:: DY365;).
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Butler, Major John. ( 1855), Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam, during a Residence of Fourteen Years, London:: Smith, Elder, and Co;.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Chakravorty, Pallabi. ( 2017), This Is How We Dance Now! Performance in the Age of Bollywood and Reality Shows, New Delhi:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Chavda, Mrunal. ( 2019;), ‘ Performing Garba (the clap dance): Choreographic and commercial changes. ’, Dance Chronicle, 42:1, pp. 78–101.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Couldry, Nick. ( 2008;), ‘ Reality TV, or the secret theater of neoliberalism. ’, Review of Education Pedagogy and Cultural Studies Pedagogy, 30:3, pp. 3–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Dalzell, Victoria. ( 2017;), ‘ Freedom, margins, and music: Performance as development discourse in Nepal. ’, Asian Music, 48:2, pp. 111–49.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Deka, Meeta. ( 2013), Women’s Agency and Social Change: Assam and Beyond, Los Angeles, CA:: Sage Publications;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Duke, Jennifer C.,, MacMonegle, Anna J.,, Nonnemaker, James M.,, Farrelly, Matthew C.,, Delahanty, Janine C.,, Zhao, Xiaoquan,, Smith, Alexandria A.,, Rao, Pamela, and Allen, Jane A.. ( 2019;), ‘ Impact of the real cost media campaign on youth smoking initiation. ’, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 57:5, pp. 645–51.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Goswami, Prafulladatta. ( [1988] 2003), Bohag Bihu of Assam and Bihu Songs, Guwahati:: Publication Board Assam;.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Hardy, Kathryn C.. ( 2010;), ‘ Mediating Bhojpuriya: Migration, circulation, and Bhojpuri cinema. ’, South Asian Popular Culture, 8:3, pp. 231–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Hendershot, Heather. ( 2004;), ‘ Belabored reality: Making it work on The Simple Life and Project Runway. ’, in S. Murray, and L. Ouellette. (eds), Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture, New York:: NYU Press;, pp. 243–59.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Kar, Bodhisattva. ( 2008;), ‘ Incredible stories in the time of credible histories: Colonial Assam and translations of vernacular geographies. ’, in P. Chatterjee, and R. Aquil. (eds), History in the Vernacular, New Delhi:: Permanent Black;, pp. 288–321.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Kheshgi, Rehanna L.. ( 2011;), ‘ Video example 1 Bonti Hazarika DY Bihu Rani 2011. ’, YouTube , https://youtu.be/l7FZGLJl154. Accessed 10 May 2022.
  17. Kheshgi, Rehanna. ( 2017;), ‘ Navigating generational frictions through Bihu festival performance in Assam, India. ’, MUSICultures, 44:1, pp. 48–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Kheshgi, Rehanna. ( forthcoming 2023;), ‘ Performing youthful desires: Bihu festival music and dance in Assam, India. ’, in S. Morelli, and Z. Sherinian. (eds), Music and Dance as Everyday South Asia, Bloomington, IN:: Indiana University Press;, n.pag.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Kraidy, Marwan M., and Sender, Katherine. (eds) ( 2010), The Politics of Reality Television: Global Perspectives, London:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Kumar, Shanti. ( 2005), Gandhi Meets Primetime: Globalization and Nationalism in Indian Television, Urbana, IL:: University of Illinois Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Mankekar, Purnima. ( 1999), Screening Culture, Viewing Politics: An Ethnography of Television, Womanhood, and Nation in Postcolonial India, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Prévôt, Nicolas. ( 2014;), ‘ The “Bison Horn” Muria: Making it “more tribal” for a folk dance competition in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. ’, Asian Ethnology, 73:1&2, pp. 201–31.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Punathambekar, Aswin. ( 2010;), ‘ Reality television and the making of mobile publics: The case of Indian Idol. ’, in M. Kraidy, and K. Sender. (eds), The Politics of Reality Television: Global Perspectives, London:: Routledge;, pp. 140–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Ramaswamy, Sumathi. ( 2010), The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Robinson, William. ( 1841), A Descriptive Account of Asam: With a Sketch of the Local Geography, and a Concise History of the Tea-Plant of Asam, to Which Is Added, a Short Account of the Neighbouring Tribes, Calcutta:: Ostell and Lepage;.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Rudisill, Kristen. ( 2009;), ‘ My school rocks! Dancing Disney’s High School Musical in India. ’, Studies in Musical Theatre, 3:3, pp. 253–71.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Schreffler, Gibb. ( 2014;), ‘ “It’s our culture”: Dynamics of the revival and reemergence of Punjabi Jhummar. ’, Asian Music, 45:1, pp. 34–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Sinha, Mrinalini. ( 2007;), ‘ Nations in an imperial crucible. ’, in P. Levine. (ed.), Gender and Empire, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 181–202.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Soneji, Devesh. ( 2012), Unfinished Gestures: Devadāsīs, Memory, and Modernity in South India, Chicago:: University of Chicago Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Srinivasan, Priya. ( 2012), Sweating Saris: Indian Dance as Transnational Labor, Philadelphia, PA:: Temple University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Stahl, Matt. ( 2013), Unfree Masters: Recording Artists and the Politics of Work, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Thompson, Eric. ( 2020;), ‘ Urban annexation of the rural: Kebun culture in Malaysia. ’, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 41:1, pp. 136–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Turner, Graeme. ( 2004), Understanding Celebrity, London:: SAGE;.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Weidman, Amanda. ( 2012;), ‘ The ethnographer as apprentice: Embodying sociomusical knowledge in South India. ’, Anthropology and Humanism, 37:2, pp. 214–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Kheshgi, Rehanna. ( 2022;), ‘ Crowning the Bihu Queen: Engendering a rural sensibility through reality television. ’, Indian Theatre Journal, 6:1, pp. 41–58, https://doi.org/10.1386/itj_00026_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00026_1
Loading
Crowning the Bihu Queen: Engendering a rural sensibility through reality television
Indian Theatre Journal 6, 41 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1386/itj_00026_1
/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00026_1
/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00026_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Assam; competition; dance; femininity; folk; gender; music; rural

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error