INDIAN IDOL - 2013 - REVIEW

Anjana Padmanabhan

The popular and successful first `Indian Idol Junior 2013' by Sony has come to an end with Anjana Padmanabhan from Mangalore winning pipping favorite Debanjana at the post.   Thought i felt Debanjana was more consistent, Anjana has picked up extremely well in the last 6-7 episodes and both the songs she chose and sung in the finals on last Saturday (Mujhe aajmane ki koshish na kar from `Loafar' and `ek pyaar ka nagma hai' from Shor) were simply outstanding.    Unlike  Andhra boy `Karunya' who despite being the outstanding singer on the block in Indian idol-2 cold not win because decision was based purely on the basis of public votes and Sony channel was not transmitted by local cable guys those days in AP and other South Indian states, the duel marking system of Judges awarding marks and voting by public and Sony now being available in all South Indian states through various dish companies might have worked in favour of Anjana.       

Debanja

After initial rounds they shortlisted 10 participants and then added Sughandha as wild card entry.    Though there is no dearth of talent among the aspirants who turned up atleast 3-4 (like Aryan, Akash and Sankalp) of the top 11 are no great shakes and one after the other they exited without putting up any real contest.     But for sure the top 6 did a great job and by their efforts the show picked up very well mid way through.

The youngest participant 8 years old Sughandha (who looked much younger to her age because of her tender frame) was given a very long rope and judges and voters might not have realized the fact that the age gap between her and Sonakshi, who was eliminated before her though more talented than her, was 10 (just 2 years older) so was Anjana.  In reality show after reality show such indiscreet voting pattern is observed. 

Other than the participating singers, it is the orchestra team who did a great job, specially the guitarist and two key board players.   For most of the songs they recreated the music very close to the original and their live orchestration lifted the spirits of the show.   The presenters are big letdown, Karan choosing to be funny and making fun of himself most of the time and the better covered up Mandira has right through been out of place.

Coming to judges, who are very important and play critical role, in most of the reality shows it appears that judges are given a role to play and from beginning to end they religiously follow that pattern.     All the judges of Indian Idol junior viz., Vishal, Shekar and Shreya are nice and sweet and it appears they are asked to remain so.    But as per me the role of judges in such reality shows, specially in case of junior championship should be that of a guide, mentor without being too critical or harsh with the participants.    But what I saw in this programme is right through all the judges have nothing but to say `repetitively how good the participants are,  the participants baffled them and they are ready for play back singing’.      But even for a layman’s ears like mine, many of the participants out of the top 10 and even top 5 were making some mistakes in their landing notes, in going to low pitches.   Honestly, even in the first finals on Saturday, I found the performance of Nivesh (in presenting Patthar ke sanam and Mein shayarat to nahi) and Anmol (in presenting Patta Patta Boota Boota) not upto the mark and judges did not point out any flaws.    It came as a great surprise that throughout the entire series none of the judges used headphones which helps them in catching technical glitches in singing.   Pointing out such finer technical points and guiding them how to overcome would have helped the younger participants rather than going overboard in praising the participating and many times patting their own backs in identifying such great talents and saying that they are truly blessed to be listening to such rare talent, which is extending kindness too much.   Amongst all the participants I found Debanajana, Anjana and Sonakshi rendering to be near to perfection.

SP Balasubramanyam, among other programmes in various languages, judges a Telugu singing talent show `PADUTA TEEYAGA’ in E-TV for the last 16 years.    Whether it was 16 years back when he was very busy with playback singing assignments in 5 languages or now when he is relatively free, he gave his 100%.   He keeps the lyrics of all the songs to be sung by the participants with him, most of the time uses head phone and while singing keep noting on the copy of the lyrics when and where the participants are flawing.   Immediately after the participants finish singing after giving encouraging and motivating remarks then he starts pointing out the flaws in singing – in pronouncing words, in singing styles, in mukhadas, antraas and landing notes – then he sings and shows how it is to be sung and then make the singer sing in proper style and ends by assuring that they have not done any crime and every one learns by committing mistakes only.    He adds lot of humour and gives lot of historical information about the song, music director, singers and what went in making the song.    

SP Balasubramanian

He never uses to words `winner’ and `loser’ in the programme, never allows anyone to cry or show any other emotions and never lead the participants in the garden path that they are ready for play-back singing,  instead he says it simply a singing competition and life does not come to an end if one doesn’t win it.    Many times he gives his own example that in his younger days in many singing competitions he stood 2^nd or even 3^rd and did his Engineering.   It is destiny that he became play back singers and went on to sing 40,000 songs and won national award in 3 langues.    That is the reason this vintage programme is most popular programme even after 16 years unbroken telecasting.  The audience not only looks forward for the singers singing but how SPB analysis and what tips he gives to the participants.     How I wish the various Hindi channels, specially Sony follow this pattern and brief their judges to do the role of mentors.    Unnecessary creation of hype and proving that the quality of participants and their programme is superior to others doesn’t serve any purpose and doesn’t help the young talent to hone their skills.

It is worth noting that in the 2nd Indian Idol Karunya was most favourite and ended up as runner up, 5th Indian Idol title was won by Sree Ram and both were from Andhra Pradesh and the First Indian Idol - Junior Anjana Pandmanabhan is from Karnataka but still Indian Idol auditions are not held in any of the South India states.     Hope Sony TV and other rival channels note this and hold auditions in South Indian states specially in AP and Karnataka.

S. Prabhakar

1.9.2013