Oct 01, 2007 01:00 AM
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Sony’s Reality Show, ‘Indian Idol’ has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. It started off as an appealing concept imported from the west with a lively graphical presentation and foot-tapping intro music. It was one of the first authentic reality shows to hit the marquee, and it appeared that Sony TV pulled a rabbit out of the hat.
It was a novel concept for the Indian audiences who felt that, at least now, they could choose an idol of their own. One seemed to get the idea that everyone felt like they had the bigger piece of the cake. The winner would no doubt get a lucrative contract along with the fame that comes from winning on the show. Even the other participants would get a good exposure, that would help them further their careers, on a channel that was popular not only in India, but also, in the South East Asia and the Middle East. The telecom companies would reap a rich harvest even if it meant further clogging the ever busy lines. Sony seemed to be the biggest winner as it would get millions from sponsors not counting the boost in the TRP Ratings. To Sony TV, the show was like “the Goose that laid the golden egg.” Theoretically, everything should have gone well. In a sense, it did.
We don’t value a product until we see the side-affects, and it is only now that we are beginning to realize how damaging this show can be in the context of the complex Indian psyche. Let’s take a deeper look.
The first edition of Indian Idol apparently was a success for Sony TV in terms of raking in the moolah, as well as fetching a quantum jump in the TRP ratings. But, it did little to bring real talent to the fore. What it actually did was filter out the best talent amongst the participants leaving a winner who was not so gifted. Mumbaikars may not agree with this view but there are many knowledgeable music lovers, who would vouch that Rahul Vaidya, Amit Sana, Prajakta Shukre, Aditi Paul, and Rahul Saxena, all were better singers than the ultimate winner, Abhijit Sawant. If you want further proof, you can look at the career graph of Abhijit Sawant which is precisely going nowhere. He has done precious little after winning the coveted title of Indian Idol. The best talent was filtered out by a skewed voting system leaving an average singer as the winner.
One thought the second edition of the Indian Idol show would have all the flaws set right by the concept managers, and the Indian public exercising a greater sense of duty in choosing the most deserving candidate. What we saw was a total repeat of what happened in the first edition. Once again, there were differences of opinion among the judges confounding the already confused public. And once again the infamous voting system did little to safeguard the interests of the talented few. In fact, two of the final three singers were just average, Anuj and Sandeep Acharya, with Sandeep going on to win the title. A fantastic singer like Karunya was pipped at the post. Even a good singer like Amay Date had to bite dust. If Western India out voted the rest to put Abhijit on a pedestal, it was Northern India that made the day for Sandeep in the second edition.
By now there was clear frustration among the viewing public. The third edition was a little more polished and glitzy. There was comparatively less fighting among the judges when compared to the first two editions. But that was where the improvements stopped. This time there was better overall talent among the participants when compared to the other earlier two shows. Pooja Chatterjee, Emon Chatterji, Deepali, Mayang Chang, and Amit Pal definitely sounded good to the ear. Once again, all these contestants, one by one, were filtered out by the pathetic voting system. An unexpected contestant Prashant Tamang became the Indian Idol. Prashant Tamang is a good singer but not outstanding as some of the other singers who were booted out. This time it was the Eastern belt that lead from the beginning to make Tamang’s dream come true. Those who have watched this show regularly could make out that Prashant’s body language and demeanor was that of a person who is apologetic. It always pricked his mind that he was getting votes not for his performance but other extraneous factors not connected with singing. He did make a few remarks on this count when he observed that his performances were not up to the mark, and that the judges were not warming up to him. In the end all the judges had to say politically correct things when they started to realize that the North-eastern lobby was something they could not ignore.
If you analyze the results of all the three editions you will realize that this particular reality show has encouraged the viewing public to develop a narrow outlook when supporting their favourites. The voting public has not taken into account performance or singing ability while voting for any one contestant. Instead, it has awakened the sleeping enemies of peace – regionalism and parochialism. What happened to the ancient sporting motto – “May the best person win?”
Whatever excuses the TV channel may give to absolve itself from this state of mess, one thing is crystal clear. It has failed to tap the best talent available in the country. The judges started off claiming they were looking for the best voice in the country and ended up well below par. They also added to the confusion by making contradictory statements on performance and real singing ability. All the three winners so far chosen can neither perform well nor sing outstandingly. Apart from lacking in these basic abilities, there is something else, none of them are good speakers on stage, and struggle to get their words across. Not exactly, the average person’s idea of an Idol… and that is the tragedy of this show.
A good indicator reflecting on how the show’s popularity has dipped can be got from MouthShut. The first edition attracted 75 reviews. The second edition attracted 31 reviews, and the third edition attracted only 12 before this review. Under normal circumstances, if people identified with the show(whether they liked it or not), we would have observed an upward curve or at least an horizontal one, but what we see here is a sharp downward curve. I think that should speak for itself.
More controversy and embarrassment to the government:
Continued in the comments section…
