In a world of reality shows, there are few TV shows which have been my favorite all these years. One of them is the “Indian Idol”.
I still remember the first few seasons when it was a new concept in India – reality show! – it was a fresh experience seeing “real” reactions of “real” contestants – watching them cry, watching them jump with joy – watching their journey from being an “aam aadmi” to become “celebrity”!
Actually at that time I didn’t even know that it’s a copy of “phoren shows” like the “American Idol” 🙂 – and now once I know and even have seen few seasons of the American counterpart – I have felt that although there are uncanny resemblances but still the Indian version differs a lot from its American counterpart – I guess mainly because of the difference in Music. (American Music vs Indian Music)
Now, I am not an expert in Music, so I will not go dissecting the similarities and differences here … rather, I will jump straightaway to the reason that triggered this post.
So – Sunday evening – they were showing Indian Idol on my american TV 🙂 , and its been a while since I have seen it – so I said why not?
Looks like it was the round just after the “audition round” where there were around 21-25 contestants and judges had to select 12-15 out of them. It must not be a hard task for the judges as most of the contestants seemed mediocre to me – some of them sounded better than the others, but we’ll see how it goes … there was one thing I’ll like to mention which irritated me was … many contestants when asked “why do you want to become Indian Idol” – were saying it will make “mummy papa” happy 🙂 … literally, that was the answer! (lol :), nothing wrong with it, I mean it is good thing to be thankful to your parents, but still it felt like if they were lacking the confidence needed or probably just not have a good reason to mutter … anyways, whatever!)
And there was nervousness! (which is understandable, but still) … like there was one girl who tried to leave the show just because she didn’t get time to prepare songs overnight … like it happens the usual drama in a reality show, judges called Abhijeet Sawant (winner of first Indian Idol, and who is also hosting the current season) who gave an emotional speech of how much difficult was it at his time to win a show like that… so any contestant who really wants to win has go through all the challenges… there is no shortcut!
Anyways, next came a fat girl on stage with someone (his dad?) holding her hand and who looked more nervous than anyone on the show so far! … wtf! … just watch this video first before reading any further
First see video#1 roughly starting from 4 minutes 15 seconds … and then go on to video#2 )
So, you have seen the video? right? if not, I will recommend first see the video then read the rest of the post.
Anyways … so I really thought she is too nervous, that is why someone is holding her hand. But then Smita told me probably she is blind, so probably someone from Indian Idol team just helped her to reach till stage.
Then before I could think any further, judges asked her to sing a song “Namak Ishq Ka” which I have never heard of…. and she started singing ….
Now … I really had a “Susan Boyle Moment” when she started singing … her voice has such an amazing folk touch … plus Indian folk music is something which I am personally very fond of, probably everyone is … I think she did an amazing performance … all the judges were visibly impressed … Anu Malik commented that sounded like she had the most “pakad” on the “surs” among all the contestants they had that day. Another thing he mentioned, which I felt too, was that she emphasized very correctly on correct words in a correct manner – woh kehte hain na ki dil ki awaaz dil se aa rahi thi – I was really impressed.
So, like any “front pankti darshak” I immediately told Smita – she is going to be the winner of this season.
The only thing which both me and Smita didn’t like about her (just a little) is the way she dissed at small towns … lol 🙂 … “chote shahar ke log … ek doosre ko kaatne mein lage rahte hain” … but that is all right I guess, the frustration comes in if you have talent and you don’t get chance.
Anyways, I see lot of potential in Meghna, so wish her best of luck … All the best to other contestants too which I have probably not heard too much, and who will give good challenge to Meghna.
That’s all I wanted to say in this post too 🙂 … all “Indian Idol” fans out there – fasten your seat belts and get ready for another exciting season of Indian Idol.
May the best contestant win!:)
Added later-
I’ll just like to mention another contestant – a boy called Sattar Khan – whom I first heard on facebook/youtube.
That boy looked like he just came out of the street … or rather (as he told) his village having no electricity or any other connection to “outside world”. I mean he even looked like he had no formal training for singing, no guidance .. probably even never been to so called “civilized world” – but he did sounded like he had lots of potential!
So, it was painful to see him going out today .. without any mention (there was no drama … yeah, first I complain about drama and when there is none I ask why?).
There are much more boys like him on streets of India who have so much potential on so many things – they all just need proper grooming and opportunity – I blogged about it once before too.
So I just hope Sattar Khan gets a good teacher who grooms his talent – and Sattar makes a comeback someday.
