Saturday, June 2, 2007

Indian Idol - Triteeya

What's with the new set of judges on Indian Idol? They don't seem to have ANY kind of authority while passing a judgement on the singers. The previous panel of judges - Farah, Sonu and Malik was a balanced one, with Sonu and Malik handling the subtle musical details whereas Farah monitored the performance. All three of them were assertive in their own way, having opinions independent of each other. None of them hesitated to voice their opinions even if it conflicted with the majority.


The current set of judges is pathetic. Anu Malik dominates over the rest of the judges. Udit Narayan remains neutral most of the time. Alisha Chinai merely rephrases Anu Malik's opinion. I have never seen Alisha having an opinion of her own. Javed Akhtar, as one would expect, focuses mostly on the pronunciation and poetic aspect of the performance. Now with Anu Malik out of action temporarily, the rest of the panel is completely clueless on how to judge the contestants. Anu Malik was the only judge who seemed to have an opinion on the 'singing' part. Without him, the rest of the judges just try to extol the singers endlessly. The panel went on and on about all the girls being "soooo brilliant". I, for one, felt that many of the girls were pathetic. Alisha and Udit merely keep praising the contestants with the same hackneyed "accha gaaya, fabulous, fantastic". Bullshit.


I find it so ironic that in the absence of Anu Malik, it is a lyricist who makes the most pointed observations on the singing quality, inspite of two professional playback singers being on the panel. Is this a healthy trend? No. Alisha and Udit praised ALL 28 singers as potential Indian Idols. They seem to have forgotten that many times, the viewers get highly influenced by the kind of feedback that the judges give. Obviously the viewers are not so knowledgeable about music to pass a judgement on who sings better. Most of the decisions taken by the viewers are either on the basis of emotion or after listening to the judges' feedback. If Alisha and Udit keep extolling all the singers, then the audience will vote solely on the basis of emotion. The end result would be that we will have an Indian Idol who doesn't really deserve to be there.


The judges should be more strict while judging the contestants, and point out the flaws and merits of each performance in more detail, so that the audience gets a clearer idea. I can only hope Anu Malik gets on the show soon, coz he is the only guy who speaks fearlessly.

I sincerely hope the the best singer wins!
Signing off.. (it's getting late)
Vivek S.