Sunday, September 23, 2007

Indian Television Singing Competitions are a big SHAM!

People, I am back from a sabbatical – and needless to say it was good! On with the blogging then :-

For the past few months I have been watching a few episodes of Indian television singing competitions like Indian Idol, Star Voice of India and Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge! Now I'm not a guru on Hindi music although I have been known to occasionally pop in an RD Burman CD every once in a while and while the singing talent at these contests is extraordinary, what pisses me off is the amount of emotion and drama that is weaved into the shows. First it was the weeklu serials, then it was the soaps and now it's the singing contests. They just don't know when to stop.

It's not like the soaps have given us respite from all the emotion (that in most cases doesn’t make much sense) but now the producers have succeeded in making these talent shows emotional as well. Talk about one of the contestants recently getting his old grandmother on stage to get some sympathy votes. (With all due respect to his grandmother who was really very sweet) Or the contestants getting overly emotional and sobbing their asses off when they're eliminated! Get a grip on yourselves people, I know to some it may be a dream to be on television but don’t you believe in the saying "all good things come to those who wait"

I find most of the judges of these shows extremely unprofessional (except Alisha Chinoy on Indian Idol). The judges don't seem to know what kind of behavior is allowed on screen. If they're trying to be controversial like the nut-jobs on shows like Pop Idol and American Idol, then the producers should know that there is a difference in being controversially fair and insanely stupid! Our Indian judges don't seem to be able to make that difference. There is a certain unwritten code of conduct judges need to follow for these kinds of shows. They can't be putting down other contestants and side with their favorite in the manner that some judges on Indian television have been doing for the past few weeks now. They can criticize but they can NOT be biased towards any candidate. Last year American Idol saw Paula Abdoul severely reprimanded by her producers for her (supposed) partiality towards one of the contestants and this wasn't even proved, it was just a speculation!

Another thing that annoyed the hell out of me is that these shows have mentors and once their candidates get ousted, the mentors get all loud and emotional themselves and start canvassing for their students and do silly things like vow to never come back to the show again. Some mentors have even gone on record to say that Indian viewers don't know how to vote! Come on people, the concept of the show demands that the people vote for their favorite contestants and if the Indian population has voted for their choice, they do it out of their own judgment. If the judges or mentors want the candidates of their choice to win the contest, perhaps the lame-brain producers should think twice before making it a voting show for the masses and just let the judges decide themselves.

Damn shame!

6 comments:

L o r d R a j said...

Been wanting to say that maself, for sometime now..

Good post..

Along with all that you have mentioned, another thing that bothers me is .... ISMAIL DARBAAR yappin away.. - ' betaa, iss desh ki janta ke bina kuch nahin ho sakta '

its not as if there isnt enough repetition already..

Most of the judges comments are the same (i think they have em all written down on paper n keep usin the same ones in a random order).
Each n every contestant comin on the screen.. to vote for me .. bla bla bla.. my code is blaa.
The same tears fillin up routine.

n to top it off.. every 10 minutes Ismail darbaar will give that line.. (n sometimes its not even required)..

Have to agree with you.. sometimes.. they jus WANT to be controversial.. n the sad part is, they jus dont know HOW to achieve that without being annoyin / boring / stupid.

guess everybody wants to be Simon (American Idol),..

i jus wish that there was ONE show of this type..

too many shows, i believe is killin what couldve been a good idea / show.

its jus too many of em.. n too many participants, n jus tooo much nonsense. n each show, in order to be different, tries to make, what could be a good talent show, into a pathetic - boring supposedly entertainment show.

Anonymous said...

We were wondering where u were? But its good to see u back -bloggin & good topic to restart ur bloggin campaign.
Ive always hated these talen shows simply becoz theyre annoying as hell.It was nice when they had just 1 show like that fame gurukul thing they use dto show 2 years ago. After that it all started getting very repetative and boring. Ure right about the judges too,they r just wannabes who will do anything for publicity. Probably want to increase the sale of their next albums as most of them r pop or playback singers.

Anonymous said...

We were wondering where u were? But its good to see u back -bloggin & good topic to restart ur bloggin campaign.
Ive always hated these talen shows simply becoz theyre annoying as hell.It was nice when they had just 1 show like that fame gurukul thing they use dto show 2 years ago. After that it all started getting very repetative and boring. Ure right about the judges too,they r just wannabes who will do anything for publicity. Probably want to increase the sale of their next albums as most of them r pop or playback singers.

BarryUno said...

Thanks Rubick, it's good to be back!

I remember the show Fame Gurukul. While it wasnt the most original show on television, it was a lot better to watch than the current shows on Indian tv. The judges weren't that experienced in judging events although their calibre as singers was never questioned. It was a decent show.

The shows going on at the moment are just a farce. Like Raj says, there are too many of them. There's too much emotion and the judges are just idiots. They mght be leaders in their respective fields and genres but they end up making fools of themselves.

Another thing that bugs me is the kind of guest judges they bring on at these shows. While some of them probably deserve to be there, I am still wondering how people like Farha Khan, John Abraham can contribute to the developments of the singers/contestents other than saying "you were rocking" or some other such croc!

L o r d R a j said...

Guess its a busy month for you .. eh barry.

All the best.. hope to see some updates soon.

Take care mate.

BarryUno said...

Blame it on Ramadan mate! The same amount of work and so little time to get it done. Will definitely update this space soon.

BTw, hear about the rock show at the British Embassy on the 18th?