Indian Idol 3 Auditions Episode 2 (May 5 2007)

5 05 2007

The Baroda auditions started off with Shikha Jain. Shikha said she hasn’t lost any of the competitions that she went to previously and exuded confidence that she will get through. She sang “Bichde abhi tho hum … “. Udit ko bahut acha laga and Alisha agreed. Anu came up with the argument “Koi bhi sur main gaaya tho usse Mumbai le jaaye kya?! The voice need to rock “ … and said I am not very impressed … however she got the pass to Mumbai … Shikha said she was afraid seeing Anu and said “aisa dekh rahe the”.

Next came Alpesh Soni. He took rumaal from Udit and sang “Zamaane ne kaha toote hue” Pathetic. Got few sarcastic wah wah’s from Anu. Strong comments. Udit said “Circus ke liye bahut ache hai aap”. Alpesh ended his nightmare with how a dog would bark if it were Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Shah Rukh and Sanjeev Kumar.

Vijay Patel sang “Yeh dil aashiquana”. Shook his leg quite a bit while singing. Anu said “Aapne aisa gaaya ki aapne sur ko hara diya”. LOL. The poor guy didn’t even understand the sarcasm and that he was infact master of the sur. Funny. Extra bits from not so mention worthy singers like Aakash Rathod, Jaimim Parekh, Sunil Parikh. That’s it. Anu and team then decided to go out tell all the participants to pull up the socks since all of the people who sang were below standard.  Then came the Teen Deviyan. Anu asked the contestant to wear the goggles she got with herself. Then Anu wore his and so did Alisha and Udit. With the scene set Devika, Usha and her other sister tried their vocal luck. Alisha sang the same Kajra re intro lines and clearly showed how the Sur and Expression was missing. After all this, the sister’s walked off thinking it was an unfair affair. God Bless em.

Sheena Raju is the one to watch. In trendy black dress, Sheena sang “Sajnaa aabhi jaa”. Anu was extremely happy that voice was resonating and Udit thought uski awaaz main kashish hai. Needless to say, welcome to Mumbai. Bhoomi Trivedi, Dhwani, Manali all came and went. The scene then shifted to Rajasthan where Mini get hold of one Dhannu Ram, makes him sing (and he sings it well … sounded like a Rajasthani folk) and gives him a pass. Poor chap. Maybe he didn’t get the way how these shows work. He landed up at the auditions shown later only to be rejected. What a waste of time and money. We always know II wouldn’t encourage such talent. Why call em!? Looks like Mini was roaming around the streets a lot to find talent in Rajasthan, land of Sandeep Acharya. She finally finds a guy singing for a band in what looked like shaadi ka baraat. Another pass to come to auditions. I have seen the auditions happening at Hyderabad. It made me angry how best of the singers were not even given the chance to appear before the final judges. And on the other hand we have bunch of jokers, in the name of entertainment, are out before the judges only to face their sarcasm and dejection. Sigh.
Best scene from the Jodhpur auditions was Mini in local attire and speaking the slang and taking off on an oonth. Reminded me of my Pilani days. Our friendly neighborhood Dhannu Ram landed at auditions and sang “Tum ne na jaana” from Chalte Chalte. Comments. Weak singing … hasne ka andaaz acha hai … Thank you very much. Poor guy. Looked happy anyways that he cud come until there. Kuldeep Ojha, 22. He sang More Saiya. Aalaap that he took sounded very good. Anu said awaaz kisi se milti nahi hai, Udit said Indian culture barkaraar rakh rahe ho, Alisha said unique awaaz, gamak hai awaaz main aur Rajasthan ki khushbu hai. Chalo Mumbai for Kuldeep. Anu was happy that they finished the auditions without a fight. We did notice that Anu. Was it because Javed wast there.

Scene Kanpur. Usual routine of some people doing/attempting mimicry. People like Rajendar Tripathi did merciless killing of Dhoom title song (how the hell did he get to that stage). Liked the comment though. Udit said “besurapan sasta ho gaya”. Kailash Kher was dumbfounded and said “pehli baar aisa ajooba dekha hai”. Funny. Time for Ankita mishra, 17. She sang “Koi mil gaya”. She had the energy and the confidence. She also sang “Tu sirf mere mehboob meri mehbooba” and said to Anu she became a big fan of him after hearing this song. Interesting (there was a cut there) … when Udit was speaking she was kinda saying aap point pe aa jaayiye :-) . Restless for the result eh. And she got the Yellow card.
Malik and co is so happy they get into a impromptu jamming session to make an Indian Idol song with lyric that goes like “Ladka banega and Ladki banegi etc “… Apologies. Dont rememeber more than that. Customary Colgate Hasso Tho Khul Ke Haso. Time for Sunil Bhatia, 23 to create some laughs. Shiva Roshan Varma claimed he is classically trained from a Guru Mr. LK Pandit (apologies if the name is wrong) who is close friend of Kailash. He murdered the durbari and claimed on top of it yeh unke (judges) samajh se oopar hai … yeh kya hai hamaare saamne. Concluding part had a mother who is extremely angry that Anu Malik is not fair and spews vengence saying Anu singer bhi nahi hai … kaise judge karengey.

Thats it. Next week for more. Please share your comments. Once again, apologies for any errors and omissions.





Indian Idol 3 Episode 1 – Review

4 05 2007

The show started off with the clippings from the previous seasons and intor to this years season by the hosts. Immediately the judges Anu Malik, Javed, Alisha and Udit were introduced. Funny Anu Malik asks one of the guys waiting for audition ” You know how am I isnt it?!” Hmm … The Delhi, Amritsar and Jammu auditions were covered this week. The first contestant was Shubhangi, 21. Anu Malik immediately Okayed her. However, Javed objected saying her pronunciation is lil weak and she sounds more western and the hindusthani touch is missing. Udit goes on to say the singing sounded artificial. Malik became sad that they missed a good voice and said Javed saab … Hadh kar di aapne.

Second in line is Prem Rajan from Kerala. Udit sang song in Malayalam (one of his Malayalam film songs). He sang Na Jaane Kabse (with some guitar) and later on Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaaye w/o the guitar as requested by Anu. Like always we need some suspense during the break. Malik said before the break that his voice was imperfect. Wonder how these REALITY SHOWS are being shot with the breaks as well in mind. So much for reality. After the break, Malik says his imperfect is perfect enough for Mumbai. Sigh.

Some interlude and we heard a young lad from Punjab saying in typical punjabi accent … mera voice hard rock voice hai and I will rock TO anyone … funny ! 

Next Amit Sharma. MA Music and all of 21. He sang Mitwa (KANK). Pretty good. Except for the pronunciation of the word Dhadkan. Our Malik became creative here. Claiming this never happened before in II. He asked Javed to write coupla lines and he will tune it and the contestant will need to sing. Jave saab wrote ” Kuch bhi kahiye … Magar yun na khamoshi se dil naa todiye” … Anu, Javed liked the rendering. Udit said “shabd main maturity hai “… whatever that means. Alisha said thoda sur hata magar pick up achi hai. 

Some clips of people acting like some beggars asking to be made Indian Idol. Bad taste.

I cant believe some people who dont deserve are put in front of the elite judges. Everyone shud know this. During the initial auditions held at various cities there is this first shortlist done by some Sony/BMG guys and only those who they think has the capability are given a chance to appear b4 the judges. Its indeed irritating to see such characters who pass the inital screening just in the name of ENTERTAINMENT. Hope Sony doesnt go too far else II3 will get Sanjayaed and Malakared. There was this guy who sand Tujhe dekha tho yeh jaana sanam. How pathetic. Huh … But likes what Udit said … Awaaz koi kela nahi jo mele ke thele main khareed sakte hai … LOL …

The we had Jaspreet whose inspiration were the unhappy security guards in his hostel who could not bear his singing all night and his friend who goaded him to dikha do security guards ko what he is made of … awww … need a break … less said the better …

Then the time of Ads being made part of the show … Fat lady walks into the audition room laughing like one mad cow … (Sony we know she is not a participant) and the ad below … what else … Hasso Tho Khul ke Haso from Colgate …

And this is a stretch … Mr. Samir walks in with abouquet, framed photograph of Alisha etc etc … and gets so emotional saying he waited for so many months to meet to Alisha. He said he was a fan since 85. And he didnt look OLD at all ?!  Anyways after the Happy Birthday drama he was not selected at all.

Most promising. Richa Aneja. What a kiddo. Young, innocent and extremely talented. Watch her and she is going to take the show by storm. MARK THESE WORDS. She sang a old song and Beedi Jalaile with great display of the range she has. Anu just stood up and gave the Yellow slip to Mumbai. Cute when she asked kaunsa gaana yaad karke aana padega …

Next Surudee … (apologies if the name is spelled wrong). She sang More Piya … thought she rushed things a little bit … lengthy discussions … and she cudnt make it to Mumbai …

Ram Rustagi sang Jhanak Jhanak Tore … Rejected …He walks off and comes back in asking for a second chance. Sings well and judges are surprised. They ask him are you the same Ram … And our Ram walks in … Guy who came in after Ram and sang was Shyam … his twin  brother … Ram’s feedback wasnt in sur … Shyam in Sur … and the questions … Sur main gaaya magar kyo nahi liya .. Hume kya pata Shyaam ! Golmaal hai bhai sab golmaal hai … ;-)

My thoughts … nothing new … except for the judges … looks like Javed and Anu have been asked to stage quite a few heated arguments … I am being optimistic here … hoping for better delivery of the program !

Note: Apologies for all TYPOS … grammatical erros … and errors and omissions … all done in a hurry !!! Are there any helping hands out there?! Leave me a comment.





Sony Indian Idol 3 Schedule Plan Until Finals. The Countdown Begins for Telecast.

11 04 2007

So what will happen now  and when will the competition start, whend oes it air and what will be the format this year? These are the common questions that I receive. Here are a few answers, as promised earlier. The countdown begins. Please comment on what do you think of this years Idol.  

The UK Final Audition

30 people will be invited to London for the final selection audition, for 2 UK Contestants to gain entry to the Theatre Audition Round in Mumbai. The 2 successful Contestants will be required to attend further shows in Mumbai.

The Theatre Audition Round

The Final 100 – 120 will be invited to participate in the next round of the Competition to be held in [Mumbai] between [April 10 to April 15th , 2007 ] The Contestants will be invited to perform a pre-selected song in Hindi chosen at the Producer’s discretion and may be required to perform either individually or in a group. The make-up of each group shall be in the Producer’s discretion. The Producer may also ask the Contestants to perform individually the whole or part of a song in Hindi of the Contestant’s own choice. As soon as reasonably practicable following completion of the Theatre Audition Round, the Contestants will be notified who has been selected by the Judges to be one of the Final 24 going through to the Piano Shows of the Competition.

The Piano Shows

The Final 24 will be divided at the Producer’s discretion into 2 (two) groups of 12 (twelve) Contestants. It is anticipated that each group for the purposes of training and recording the programme “Live” will be required to participate for one of the following Designated Weeks during [2007] between [28th May to 30th June 2007]. The Judges shall at their sole and absolute discretion select any 6 Contestants (the “Wildcard Contestant”) who have participated in the Piano Shows to perform at the Wildcard Show and it is anticipated that the Wildcard Contestant will be required to participate in the Spectacular round. At the end of each Designated Week the relevant Contestants will be required to perform in a programme recorded as “Live”. Following the broadcast of each recorded programme, a total of 12 (twelve) Contestants from the Piano Shows (comprising 10 (ten) from each Designated Week and 2 (two) from the Wildcard Show). In the wild card show one contestant will be selected by public vote and one will be selected by judge’s consensus to go through to the Spectaculars.

The Spectaculars

The Final 12 will go through to the Spectaculars. It is anticipated that the Spectaculars will run over the course of [Eleven (11)] weeks from [1st July to 15th September 2007]. Each Spectacular will culminate in the recording of a “Live” recorded programme, following which one Contestant (per Spectacular each week) will be eliminated by public vote until only 2 (two) Contestants – the Finalists – remain in the Competition. At the end of the last Spectacular, the Producer will notify each Finalist of the song they will be required to perform in the Final. The Finalists may be required to keep the choice of song confidential.

The Finals

It is anticipated that recording of the Finals will take place on or about [ 29th September 2007]. The selection of the winning Indian Idol will be made by public vote following a “Live” recorded performance.