Falak pakad ke utho, aur hawa pakad ke chalo, –2 Tum chalo, to hindustan chale –4
Hold the sky to stand, and walk with the wind in your hands, Be the front-runner; because when you walk, Hindustan (India) walks with you.
(translation from www.projectbee.wordpress.com)
The punch line of the Lead India anthem written by Gulzar conveys a simple message-Stop complaining and be the change. With this in mind the Times of India group launched a television initiative to provide a platform to leaders for a new India. Even the logo of Lead India is inspired by the famous Dandi March statue. Instead of Gandhi , this march is being led by you-the new leader.
“On August 15, we embarked on an ambitious journey — a unique talent search which has the potential to make a huge difference to India. We began a hunt to identify new leaders for a new India, men and women with the vision and ability to empower India with the kind of political leadership that is so conspicuous by its absence.”-www.lead.timesofindia.com
With the idea of using the television as a springboard to public life, the organizers received 34,000 applications ranging from absurd to simple to revolutionary. An example “Being one of the three candidates contesting for that one post, The college presidency was a thrilling experience.As soon as I came to throne the dress code was simply extinct and all of us happy in our jeans and Ts”.
After a selection process consisting of discussions, personal interviews, public debates evaluation by eminent judges and sms voting 8 people were selected: Devang Nanavati (Ahmedabad), Rajendra Misra (Bangalore), Sanjiv Kaura (Delhi), Soumya Mishra (Hyderabad), Dipayan Dey (Kolkata), Abha Singh (Lucknow), Ujjwal Banerjee (Mumbai) and Ranjit Gadgil (Pune).
The show, as is the nature of reality shows, never lacked on the glam quotient. Its ambassadors included Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bacchan, Priyanka Chopra, Sunil Mittal and Javed Akhtar. There were also celebrity mentors assigned to each of the contestants which included Narayana Murthy, KV Kamath, Rahul Bajaj, Geet Sethi, Raj Babbar and Usha Utthup. The Anchor of 10 episode series was Anupam Kher who kicked off proceedings by announcing that “This is not a show about singing or dancing. It's about the future of India.” Lastly, there was the jury consisting of “ trendsetting cop Kiran Bedi, commercially and critically acclaimed writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar and senior TOI editor Vikas Singh.”
The eventual winner was RK Misra, an iitian and a serial entrepreneur. He founded and acquired three technology businesses, raised venture funds and made successful exits. In late 2005, he took time off from corporate life to advise entrepreneurs, invest as an Angel Investor and work in Public Policy Domain with various government and industry organizations. In one of the episodes he spoke about his efforts to improve Bangalore’s roads. “I would go to meetings with bureaucrats where they would quote some reports about the state of some road. And I would show them photos taken the same day which painted a totally different picture.”
‘‘Good people don’t want to join politics’’ is an oft-heard lament. This effort has to be lauded as a step in the right direction but can a reality show maketh a leader? Is sms voting same as voting? Is signing email petitions same as rallying? Is leading India same as Leading bharat? And is watching TV same as Dandi march? That is for us to ponder over.