This is Part 3 of a series, here are Part 1 & 2.

The Roadies 6.0 cast had an interesting set of characters. You had the bullies Sandeep, Bobby, Roop and the first ever Sardar Roadie – Pradeep. Then you had Palak who was in a class by herself – brave yes, but with overwhelming tendencies to carp, bicker and fight physically. And she could talk – oh how she could talk. On and on and on and on – made you want to plug your ears up permanently.

Samrat, who looked like an Army kid, and seemed level-headed at the beginning of the show, seemed to lose much of his cool and his stature, when he assumed the role of Palak’s mu-bola bhai. And since Palak is the gal you love to hate, Samrat became persona-non-grata and had to bow out of the show, once Nauman, Sufi and Natasha got their act together. Sufi, the one with the temper (during the auditions) seemed one of the more capable Roadies, but was eliminated in the first episode itself. He came back, but got injured and wasn’t able to perform.

You also had the independent minded and the outliers. Kiri had been trying to get on the Roadies for the last couple of seasons, following the Roadies crew around their audition tour. And they finally made him a Roadie – whether impressed by his sheer tenacity or the wish to get rid of him once and for all. Delicate looking Suzanna Mukherjee a Russian-Bengali mix, didn’t mix with the bullies but she didn’t fit into any other groups either. And then there was Devarshi, the obligatory clown. He appears to live in a diffused reality which is very pro-himself. He is the star of his own reality. And no one else really shares that reality (or that notion).

Another girl who kept out of the groups was Natasha. Emotions held tightly in check, she lasted quite a while and gave most tasks her best shot. There was also Paulomi from Kolkata. Kooky and eccentric and with a penchant for lots of make-up, she made it to the final 3, because she wasn’t considered a serious contender, and then she managed some tasks quite easily, contrary to expectations.

And then there were Nauman and Tamanna who seemed to strike up a friendship or so it seemed. Tamanna who was protected by Nauman from Palak’s physical blows, earned Palak’s ire. And because she didn’t socialize with the others, was treated with quite a bit of undeserving contempt and voted out midway.

Now this is a varied mix of kids (Paulomi was the oldest at 25) , but there were very few of them that you could countenance as winner. Note that in a Reality show one backs the competitor that one deems worthy. And how do we make our minds about that worthiness ? We track their performances in their episodes and watch how they react to different situations. There was Nauman, and Sufi. Kiri and Natasha were borderline choices but you couldn’t really be enthused about anyone.

Contrary to expectations, and because you think the unlikeable folks will get voted out sooner than later, Palak stuck it out till the very end – she made the final 3. And the makers of Roadies hadn’t anticipated that, because Raghu and Rajiv came by and tried to man-handle the show into getting some actually likeable folks in there. So in came Sufi and Kiri. Sufi failed to do his task adequately. And Kiri beat both Palak and Nauman to earn a spot in the top 2. Rajiv and Raghu again maro-ed an entry, and exhorted Kiri to do the right thing (yeah, right !). Because here’s the deal – you have 2 potential competitiors, one a guy, who’s probably stronger than you, and another a girl, whom you’ve a greater chance of defeating in a task. Who would you pick ? Kiri, when not under duress, would probably have picked Palak. But with the bald twins spouting righteous-speak at him, he picked Nauman and was defeated. Oh well.

Next : What went wrong ?