New Delhi, September 09: On the Job, MTV
Saturday, 7 pm
Rating ***
Who’s in it? MTV VJ Nikhil Chinappa and a host of successful celeb professionals like Bharat Dabholkar, spirit maestro Shatbi Basu, artist and sculptor Arzan Khambatta, fillmaker Anurag Basu, car designer Dilip Chabbria, fashion designers Neeta Lulla and Vikram Phadnis, DJ Akbar Sami and others.

The story so far: Cashing in on the rising wave of working students, MTV is living up to its youth channel status by constructively channelising scattered energies into real job experiences. It gives random youngsters opportunities to try out different careers on various projects on television as interns. The thrust is on alternate careers like flair bartending, deejaying, TV journalism, advertising, production designing, aeronautical engineering, filmmaking, photography, animation and radio production. Six random yobies (young people for MTV) are chosen and given tasks. The winning three get an internship with an expert or firm in the field.

What’s hot? The show’s pace is quick, packaged with fun in the one-hour slot where the contestants battle to come up with the right style of mixing the perfect drink or agreeing on that perfect selling point. It’s a look into the quintessential intern, like the one who was very jittery in a recent episode. The participant stammered when asked to correct the diction of Suresh Babu of Kya Aap Close-up Kartein Hain fame. And for the viewers, the slick and clueless MTV generation, it’s an eye-opener.

What’s not? I might be out on a limb here, but some of the participants in the shows appear to be vignettes on a show. Bits and pieces of some of the intern-mentor clips appear to be rehearsed and scripted, leaving a doubt whether the show is for real or an excuse at reality. For instance, the tutorial on DJs had Sami teaching a girl student the right technique of scratching a LP. The others read it as nepotism for the pretty girl who almost won; the whole episode seemed soap opera-esque.

Should you be watching it? For a channel that plaudits Orkut even post the human tragedy, it’s one of those serious shows that might end up teaching you a thing or two about a profession. So for a basic working knowledge, it’s worth a dekko.