Indian Idol

I was a fan of the first series of Indian Idol, I guess about 5-6 years ago.  The singers were young fresh and as yet uncorrupted.  Talented too.   It was great to see Dharavi boy,  Abhijeet Sawant win it.  Abhijeet is back as one of the hosts on the current Indian Idol.  I am sure he could have done ok if they had given him a chance.  But no,  they (the producers) got nervous and felt they needed the experienced Hussein Kanjranwall (or whatever the last name is!) to co-host.  How I wish they had gotten rid of Anu Malik. I have hated him from the first series and they keep repeating him as a judge.  Did  any of you saw the patronising crudeness shown toward a mentally-challenged contestant in the qualifying rounds?  It was incredible insensitivity shown by all concerned.  It was about all I could handle of Indian Idol this year, so far.  I never liked the show very  much after the first series.  I guess this one is the 5th.  The singers were chosen more for presentation and the style, oh-so-filmi, with the occassional good singer.  The one novelty this year is the presence among the finalists of a traditional Rajasthani singer. I did see when he received a big round of applause when he said something like “mujhe folk se rock banna chahiaye”.  At least he doesn’t seem the slightest bit embarassed wearing his pagri (turban) on the show, although he probably throws it off and gets back into t shirt and jeans as soon as the filming is over.  If I am able to I will catch the show this weekend when Asha Bhosle is a guest judge.  I have seen her guest judge before and she gives some very interesting valuable advice to the contestants.   Unfortunately one of my favorite tv shows Sa re ga ma pa has been going the same filmi phoney rock direction too.  Himesh Reshamayya judging? I wish I were kidding.  The rest almost as bad, Adesh,  Ismail, Pritam, etc.  Big egos on little heads.   Some real class judging on some of these shows- Shankar Mahadevan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sunidi Chauhan (bullied by Anu).  The ultimate in compering- the one and only Sonu Nigam.    Bring them back along with emphasis on good singing like it used to be.                                                              I personally thought the singers in the finals of  sa re ga ma pa 2007 were about the best I had ever seen, Raja Hassan,  Amanat Ali, and the winner Aneek Dhar were just fantastic.  Have a look on Youtube.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Time to update! I caught I.I. last night on tv and heard some fantastic singing.  I was really surprised.  Now I guess I am hooked.  Arpita from Kolkata was eliminated after a stunning performance.  It is , after all, audience voting.  A woefully pathetic 19 year old from Mumbai, Tia, made it through.   There was a preview of the contestants being coached by Asha Bhosle in preparation for next weeks R.d. Burman round. That should be fun.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    pleasant surprise.. It was on tv last night!    Asha Bhosle was just brilliant.  Her comments to the contestants when they met her one on one in preparation for the show and sang acapella what the r.d. song they were going to sing were a masterclass in playback singing.  Some of the singers were amazing, Sreeram from Hyderabad, and was it Nilesh? He was so brilliant that Asha made a comparison with Rafi which was overwhelming for this kid.  It was a touching moment as was when asha speaking with 2 or 3 of the musicians who had been part of  r.d.’s original orchestra said that she felt the spirit of r.d. there.  She also mimiced didi (lata) to perfection.  Unfortunately 19 yr.old Tia was just terrible and was quite upset with the judges’ comments. How could they say anything else? How she made it this far is astonishing.  Also, Swaroop khan, the turbaned manganiyar singer out of his comfort zone perhaps was not good.

Update (july 5):  Did any of you see the qawali round last weekend?  it was interesting, mainly because of an extraordinary performance by one of the favorites,  Sreeram from Hyderabad   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu_x4N1rzww.  Again, tia was just terrible.  she remains as some kind of side interest for the producers who i am convinced decide on eliminations. It is difficult to believe that the stated method of public voting is not manipulated here.         here is an incredible video of Sreeram from the telegu sa re ga ma pa which i guess he won a year or two ago:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MGifxRezVo&feature=related