Musical Reality Shows of the Week : Critical Analysis

The week saw the starting of Zee SaReGaMaPa L‘il Champs International studio rounds. The show took off brilliantly with some great song selections, brilliant performances, constructive and very fair judgments, good hosting and a very positive ambience full of innocence, fun and frolic, that befits a children’s show. The kids gave astounding performances.

Tough songs were rendered so effortlessly by some of these little kids leaving the viewers totally spellbound and turned into a judges’ nightmare to select the final 14 from the short listed 25 talented contestants. The performances of the Indian contestants were of such superior quality that the International participants stood absolutely no chance to match it up and all of them got eliminated. The title - “L‘il Champs International” now seems like a misnomer. It is still not very clear to viewers if more participants, who were supposed to join this week as mentioned by Aditya last week, would be joining at a later stage. If that is the case, then the question that arises is – how fair will it be to the contestants who got eliminated so far? Worth mentioning is the way the two eminent judges are handling the kids in this show,providing them all the required encouragement in a very subtle, simplified and playful way, without demoralizing the little ones. However, how far these little contestants are able to understand the technical aspects explained by the judges’ only time can tell, but yes, it could prove very educative for the viewers as well.

This week in SVOI, Irfan got eliminated becoming yet another victim of the fallacy of public voting or to be precise – of the regional voting. Irfan was at the top as far as the “Rest of India” votes were concerned, but after the addition of the votes from the respective home regions of the contestants, he was found to be at the very bottom. Alka's reply to one of the members from the audience citing that the show has some rules and "Usools" when she questioned if Toshi, Abbhas and Priyani could be brought back, then why not Irfan, seemed quite unpalatable as far as this show is concerned. Does the show have any set rules in the first place? The thing that one member from the audience felt as being unfair, was probably the general sentiment of all the viewers. The sliding TRP's of the show even though it has reached its climax stage, is the prime testimony to this fact.

If the new judges of SaReGaMaPa showed exemplary behavior, it was just the opposite in SVOI. The tug of words between Prithvi and Agni judges were unfortunate. But worse was the way they were pitting one contestant against the other without realizing that by doing so, they may end up demoralizing the contestants at this stage. The attack on Ishmeet by Lalit, almost blaming Ishmeet for the elimination of other contestants like Irfan and Priyani, was uncalled for. When the decision is left on the audience to decide, why is it that every time they blame a contestant for getting support from his region? On Friday, Shekhar with his mistimed jokes, and judges with their favoritism for Harshit when they were asked to choose between Harshit and Irfan seemed very insensitive towards Irfan. The creative team of SVOI seems to be getting short on ideas too. It was awesome hearing the stringed instruments, and the orchestra really did a wonderful job. But again, this reminded of the very same theme and stage setup of the rival channel show. Even the drama's being done on the sets involving the celebrity guests seems too far from original.

The fabulous performances of the participants in SVOI got overshadowed by the negativity and verbal wrestling between the judges. It left a very bitter taste. On the other hand the positive, balanced and fair approach of the judges in SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs managed to brighten up the viewers' faces watching such simple childlike innocence, thus making the great performances enjoyable even more. This little kids’ show is now setting an example for all the reality shows as to how fun can be brought into the sets without any unnecessary drama, thus making it more positive and viewer friendly.

Author: Barnali

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