We have just finished watching the Intel Sports Inventor competition on Neo Cricket.
What a tremendous and unforgettable experience it was to be part of the show.
I will always remember Jan 6th 2010 as one of the happiest days in my life.
When Manish Agrawal (who was also one of the contestants), my dad and me set off from Pune at 6:30 AM that day I was quite apprehensive on how the show would go and if I would be able to present my ideas properly. We reached Mumbai and then managed to get lost. Somehow after a lot asking around and directions from the Neo Cricket crew we reached the Neo cricket guesthouse.
It was such a pleasure to meet the other three contestants. There was Ram Babu who has been working on his idea (in parallel with his job) for the past five years, a young and confident lad from Delhi called Ankur and a jovial and interesting inventor from Nagpur , Manish Sahu.Manish Agrawal works in Pune and in fact stays just next door to my place.
Over a few cups of tea we talked about cricket, football, TV broadcasting rights, players , commentors, the general state of the game and of course about technology and our inventions. There was also the gripping Australia-Pakistan test as well that we were keeping tab of.
After an hour or so we traveled to Bandra to the set where the shooting was to take place. The first thing that struck us was the sheer beauty and magnitude of the set. We were all expecting it to be a small scale affair in a studio but here we were at an amphitheatre that was capable of seating a sizeable audience. It looked quite daunting. But luckily there were people from the Neo crew like Aayush and Aditya(he supports Chelsea, but still a great guy) who kept our morale high.
I also met RK (who hosts programs like “Dial C for Cricket” and “Extra Cover” on Neo Cricket ) and had quite an interesting conversation with him. He turned out to be a die hard Manchester United fan so obviously there was some friendly banter which infact continued even on the program.
We then had lunch in a small cabin and the conversations on sports continued. I learnt that quite a few of the folks at Neo have been state level players themselves in tennis, badminton etc. and was also really happy to see that they followed and were very knowledgeable in a lot of sports apart from cricket.
We then proceeded to the set again where there was to be a dry run on how things were to go in the program. It was here that I realized as to what goes into making a TV program and was probably the most exciting part of the day. For someone who watches a good amount of TV it was fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes. The crew at Neo Cricket who were making the program struck me as highly creative, talented and focused.
You got the feeling that every second was valuable and the team was doing it’s best to be completely prepared. The team on the whole is very young and seemed very dynamic and vibrant. The word that best described them was ‘all business, no nonsense’.
The hosts RK and Archana looked so confident and cool it front of camera,it was as easy as breathing for them.
I’ve never seen any other TV crew before but having worked for 8 years in the service industry I think I can see sense when a team is enthusiastic and really believes in what it is doing. I think that was there for all to see.
Once we were done with the rehearsals the crew had arranged a few snacks and tea for us. While we were having our tea the person directing the show (I think his name was Rajvinder and his team) came to check if everything was okay and gave us a pep talk. There were a few glitches with the wardrobe but again Aayush was there to help us out.
It was nearly time for the shoot and the five of us could not bear the tension any more so we went back to the set and sat amongst the audience. We saw that there were people like Ayaz Memon, Marvin Attapatu , Akaash Chopra etc. in the audience and the butterflies in the tummy began to flutter a little bit more frantically.
Once the show started all the anxiety and nervousness went out of the window and the whole experience became highly enjoyable. The judges (Mr.Javagal Srinath and Mr.Prakash Bagri) were highly supportive and appreciative of our ideas.
Luckily, all 5 of us were able to explain our ideas quite well.
The show was executed really well (as I said I am a complete novice in TV production etc. but as an outsider you got the feeling that things went well).
Post the show it was really nice to see that fellow contestants as well folks from Neo (like Ayush and Aditya) were very supportive of the guys who did not win.
I think all 5 ideas were brilliant in their own right.
The evening ended with a wonderful party that Neo had organized for all the people involved with the show.Unfortunatley I couldn’t stay long as I had to be at work by 10 AM in Pune. :( .But since I had already had so much fun the whole day it really did not matter.
A special mention to Aayush who really helped bring my ideas to the fore during the shooting in Pune and for also guiding and helping us out during the shooting that day.
I do feel that the show should be continued and as I said in the post show interview “the next big invention in sports is definitely coming from India” and a program like this would help in the search for this invention.
