Outstanding performance is trouble for Judges
Last week, Deepa as usual did an outstanding job of covering the First Gala and the Result Show, despite her busy schedule, so once again kudos to her and many thanks! This week, I am back in the driver’s seat! Now, here’s a fact, we try and incorporate most of the conversations in the show – word for word – and that unfortunately takes a lot of time, because we cannot ad-lib when we are quoting, and since many of y’all stated that y’all wanted instant recaps, I have come up with a solution – we would add the judges comments later on… if y’all desire! But now let’s try a new format and see how feasible it is! So are y’all ready? Let’s get to it!
This is Indian Idol 3!
The Second Gala of Indian Idol 3 started with Mini Mathur and Hussain’s voice-over reminding us – how brutally Richa Aneja was sent home packing! I think her exit song was a very cruel joke, I mean anyone would cry singing those words after getting eliminated, why should Richa be any exception?! Richa’s departure had nothing to do with her performance in the First Gala; she was the victim of great hatred! Oy Vey! I am happy she is gone before it got uglier! Ironically, her departure touched very many people who hated her – mind you, not all were sad! In any case, it is my belief that Richa just might be a force to reckon with in the future! So all is not lost!
Anyway, Mini and Hussain explained how Richa’s elimination had scared and motivated the remaining 12 and how they were ready to give their all in Performance Round!
But before the performances started, they showed clip of three young kids who ran away from home to be a part of Indian Idol 3 and they actually invited one kid with his family on the show and though Javed Akhtar Saab and Annu Malek reprimanded him for running away, I thought that the decision to acknowledge the kid was extremely dangerous and in poor taste, because knowing the fact that majority of Indians are nuts about being in front of the camera, this might just encourage more youngsters to do the same in the future, because ultimately it is about getting in front of the camera!
Anyway…
The Theme for Second Gala was Contestant’s Choice – Songs that best described the personalities of 12 Finalists!
Here’s the question this week –
What Song Best Describes Your Personality?
Answer is mandatory! Kidding! But try it, it might be fun!
Anyway, so the hosts asked the esteemed judges what song best describes their personalities!
Javed Akhtar Saab sang (that’s right) “Mein Zindagi Ka Saath Nimbhata Chala Gaya, Haar Fikr Ko Dhuae Mein Udaata Chala Gaya!”
Javed Saab, I loved the choice, but I would assume most smokers would choose this song, not that I know if you smoke or not, but this song is anything but a campaign for anti-smoking and UK just banned smoking in public!
Alisha Chinai’s choice was her hit, “Made In India!”
Alisha honey, the song is about you wanting a guy made in India, how exactly does that describe your personality? Oh I get it; your personality is about finding a guy! The Suhit obsession makes sense now!
Udit Narayan sang, “Mein Yahaan, Mein Yahaan!”
Udit sweetie, to be present in so many places is not always good news; I mean this attitude has hurt you massively at the domestic front, hasn’t it?
Annu Malek – Ok, I knew he would sing, so I had braced myself and I’ll admit I didn’t brace myself too well, because by the time he was through I was literally on the floor, laughing my guts out! Oh yeah, he sang, “Ek Garam Chai Ki Pyaali Ho!”
So Annu, your personality states that you crave for any gal, who’d give you a hot cuppa tea? Good God! And I thought we Britons were nuts about the tea! Well, I am part Briton, so it counts! Seriously dude, you can’t sing!
So, after Annu was done, I was ready for anyone’s singing and thankfully, Mini and Hussain called on the first contestant!
The First Contestant was Meiyang Chang…
Chang stated that he had a very carefree attitude during his school days and hence, he decided to sing, “Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai” – Chang has an unpredictable voice, I mean I have heard him sing so many times, but if one asks me to recall his voice, I can’t! He is no doubt a versatile singer, but it is my belief that he has to have some sort of base voice or he will be lost as just another good singer! What I am trying to say is he needs a signature as far as voice is concerned!
The performance was rather great, because he sang the song ably, with right punches and great modulation, but I think he needs to find his identity to be the next Idol!
The judges loved his performance!
My verdict – 8/10!
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The Second Contestant was Charu Semwal…
Charu stated that ever since she was a young kid, everyone called her a “Fairy”, and hence her choice was Suneeta Rao’s amazing hit, “Pari Hu Mein” – Ok, I will be frank, this is like my all-time favourite Indi-Pop song, the way Suneeta has rendered this song, she has managed to create that required ethereal mood. So it was a very ambitious choice made by Charu!
Unfortunately, Charu could not do total justice to the song, she started weak, which was a pity because the impact starts with the first line, ‘Aayi Mein To Aayi’! Then Charu forgot a line in the second verse, which is unacceptable to me, if you are singing the song since childhood! It was an average performance at best and I was really saddened by that; as Charu is a really great singer!
Barring Annu, the other judges liked her performance! Imagine the shock, I actually agreed with Annu!
My Verdict – 5/10!
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The Third Contestant was Amit Paul…
Amit stated that he was rather naughty and wanted people to know that fact, hence he chose, “Jhoomru” – I always thought that Amit was a good singer, but with this song, he proved that he was a great singer. The song is a Kishore Kumar’s masterpiece and a very tough song to tackle! I have found that to yodel ably is extremely difficult, trust me, I have tried! But Amit yodelled with great ease and gave a smashing performance!
Javed Saab gave him possibly the best compliment that Kishore Kumar would have approved of Amit’s singing! All the other judges liked the performance as well!
My Verdict – 9/10!
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The Fourth Contestant was Ankita Mishra…
Ankita has a colourful personality and by the way, Parleen more or less choreographs Ankita’s performances… and Ankita stated that “Rangeela Re” depicted her personality beautifully! I totally agreed with her, this gal is an awesome performer, she knows how to sing well and how to create drama while performing! The great thing about this performance was that she utilized the stage space brilliantly, she even used props! It was a mind-blowing performance!
If there was any fault with Ankita’s performance, it was the fact that she sometimes slips in singing, because performance takes the precedence. But I certainly think that Ankita is the most brilliant performer among the 12 Finalists!
The judges loved her performance, but asked her to prefect her singing… Annu added that he had never seen any contestant in the history of Indian Idol make such a great entry!
My Verdict – 9/10! I would have loved to give her a 10, but she still needs to work harder!
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The Fifth Contestant was Emon Chatterjee…
Emon said that he was ambitious and has numerous desires, hence he decided to tackle, “Chaand Taare” – Since the Galas have started, I have noticed regretfully that Emon tends to over-sing or under-sing the songs! Emon, no doubt is a wonderful singer with a very cute personality, but the fact is he should know when he should stop over-selling the song! It was a good performance, I even love the song, but it could have been better!
Ok, here’s the fact, the song starts with Piano intro, Emon deleted that part and then went for the generic verses, I thought he took an easy way out, he could have been the greatest, but he toned down a lot after last week’s criticism, and that’s where Emon failed! I was truly unhappy about his performance!
The judges said that Emon has a great voice but the spark was missing! Annu went and said that Emon was a victim of over-confidence!
I don’t agree with Annu, but I do agree that Emon is not totally in the game!
My Verdict – 6/10! I know it shocks me too!
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The Sixth Contestant was Smita Adhikari…
Smita stated that she is a happy person, who is lost in her own world and hence she chose “Khush Rang Heena” as it best described her personality! Smita stating that she was a happy person was kind of an irony as she received the coveted Cry-Baby Award on Roo-Ba-Roo! I love Smita, I think she has great potential, but this performance was just bad! Here’s the deal, most think that Heena’s title track is probably very easy to tackle, but the fact is, it just might be the most difficult song ever composed! There are so many singing ornamentations used in composing each word to music, that the song is laden with harkats… if you listen to the original carefully, you would find so many micro tunes that it may just shock you!
Smita tried no doubt, but her singing was flat and she eliminated the tough Alaaps, Taans etc that makes this song brilliant! It was a total let-down, because I sincerely thought with all the classical training Smita has had, she could have done a great job, but alas, she couldn’t!
The judges all thought that Smita messed up, except Alisha and this led to a showdown between Annu and Alisha! Can’t we all just vote out both these judges? Sigh!
My Verdict – 3/10! A definite candidate for Bottom Two!
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The Seventh Contestant was Prashant Tamang…
Prashant stated that he was considered very dependable and he was indeed, and hence his choice was “Mein Hu Na” – I am so going to invite ire of Save Prashant Lobby, but here’s what I have noticed, when Prashant hits certain notes, he tends to get a little nasal and I think he should really work on that, saying that I commend Prashant that despite not going under any musical training, he is a natural singer, he is no doubt good, but I think a little training will help him eliminate the minor flaws he has and he can be one of the greatest singers of India, if not the world!
His performance was good, he sings all the songs ably and I know that he’ll be safe!
All the judges barring Annu thought he did a great job! Your funeral Annu!
My Verdict – 6/10!
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The Eighth Contestant was Abhishek Kumar…
After high drama last week, Abhishek received the Drama-King Award on Roo-Ba-Roo! Abhishek stated that he felt that his personality was that of a heartbreaker and hence he chose, “Bachna Aye Haseeno” – I’ll be brutally honest – I hated his performance! Not only was he off-key, he was off-tempo! He emphasised on the word ‘Bachna’ in a weird way and his ‘Ho Ho’ lacked the required punch!
Abhishek is a great singer, but this was just not his day! I hope this does not land him in Bottom Four, because frankly he deserves to be there!
The Judges with the exception of Alisha actually agreed with me and Annu more or less said the very things that I found faulty with Abhishek’s performance, and now allow me to kill myself! Ok fine, after completing the recap!
My Verdict – 4/10!
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The Ninth Contestant was Deepali…
Deepali had confessed that she would concentrate on the performance, not just singing! Deepali stated her forte was singing! And according to her; she wanted a personality, which would be magical and hence zeroed in on “Jab Chhaye Mera Jadoo” – Oh My God! What flawless singing! In my opinion, this was the best singing of the night! As far as performance goes, she is no Ankita, but hey, at least she tried!
I am going to be a little shallow, I think Deepali should do something about her eyebrows; she appears to have a Uni-brow, and although that’s not technically true, I definitely think that if she got rid of the excess where the brows meet, she’d be a knockout! Other than that – Deepali is awesome!
Judges loved her comeback and predicted that she was a Top Three Candidate!
My Verdict – 10/10! What can I say, I loved her singing!
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The Tenth Contestant was Jolly Das…
Jolly stated that her personality was very peppy and she was rather unique, and hence she chose an obscure song from Zubeida, “Mein Albeli” – I will be truthful, I never liked Jolly, not this year, nor last year! The problem with Jolly is that she sings with a restrained voice and her enunciations are absolutely pathetic! I had to strain my ears to actually understand what she was singing! It was a horrible performance!
She actually had shocked me last week by singing, “Bairi Piya” decently, but this week, Jolly I knew was back and it is time for Jolly to leave the competition for good! One would think that if one gets more than a year’s time to prepare for the competition, one would work their butts off, not so in Jolly’s case!
The judges hated Jolly’s performance about her personality! Alisha tried to be nice, but Annu got on her case and it got really uncomfortable!
My Verdict – 2/10! Bye Bye Jolly!
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The Eleventh Contestant was Parleen Singh Gill…
Parleen is no doubt one of the best looking guys in the competition, but his choice of song based on his personality was a little too presumptuous for me, Parleen sang, “I Am The Best” – Look, Parleen is great looking, sexy, great performer etc, but Parleen has yet to prove that he is indeed a great singer! I wasn’t too happy with his performance, it was nowhere near perfect, and it was just an above average performance!
Well that was my thinking, because apparently the judges loved his performance! Annu even gave him a hug after creating unnecessary drama! Huh! So I was the only one who thought that he was going flat many times? Maybe! Oy Vey! Oh but I loved his mum and his brother – very cute!
My Verdict – 4/10!
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The Twelfth was Puja Chatterjee…
Puja was devastated last week as she had received severe criticism from the judges and was subsequently in Bottom Two, so this week Puja was keen to give a great performance! Puja described her personality as peppy, happy and naughty! And hence she zeroed in on, “Hawa Hawaii” – I adore Puja, I love her voice, but I have to be truthful, she was far from being perfect! She had tremendous difficulty with the last lines of the first verse and kept on repeating them more than necessary! she also ad-libbed a bit, but all was not lost, she managed to sing the song well in totality!
I have a fear that in future the judges would harp on her for having a voice of a young gal, which she is and I am hoping that I am totally wrong about that!
Puja said that she was very sad that she had pained the judges last week by not giving a good performance and had worked real hard to please them and the judges went, “Aw!” and gave her good critique! Ok, I know I am being a bitch, but honestly, weren’t Puja’s dialogues that of an apple polisher? In any case, the judges were happy and Puja wasn’t bad, so we all are happy!
My Verdict – 7/10!
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Now my only rant –
Ok, will someone please tell Annu and Alisha that they are no Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul? Seriously, Hussain was right (even though he was jesting) that Annu has an inflated ego! Annu was right on many counts, but it becomes difficult to respect his judgements thanks to his tool-like behaviour! Also, is Alisha for real? Come on woman, speak your mind, don’t be such a goody two shoes!