Shortcut to touch the hearts of public - Go the Melodious Way!

In the first week of public voting, the ugly head of manipulation surfaced yet again in what could has been otherwise one of the greatest musical week. If in Zee L'il Champs, it was the parent’s and judge’s outburst on voting, then in SVOI Chhote Ustaad, it was the deplorable AV presentation created to manipulate the publics’ emotions to garner sympathy and more votes.

In SVOI, the participants were very impressive as they are always. Because of Nach Baliye finals on Saturday, both the day’s episode was merged into one turning it into a marathon episode. It seems the judges of the show believe more in giving superfluous adjectives rather than some constructive comments to rectify the mistakes of the contestants. But what was sore to the eyes this week, was the AV’s shown of the participants. The AV round for Sonia showed people questioning her age and even the participants being asked if she was really 10 years old or more which was rather insensitive to her. The AV also showed her father offering to produce her birth certificate to prove her age, something really demeaning for her and her family. But worse was the AV shown of the contestant Jayant. The production house was really insensitive in releasing the medical information of Jayant to the public. They sensationalized the whole thing. Why? Was it done just to attract public sympathy and garner sympathy votes? When he can see now, why make public aware of it and make a mockery of the whole thing? This is one fact that Jayant, his family and his doctors needed to be aware of, not the public. In which way was it connected to the contest?

When it came to sensationalizing issues, SRGMP L'il Champs was no way behind too. The outburst by the parents against the wild card voting results, to which the judge’s decided to give them a fitting reply, was in a very bad taste and unfortunate. If according to the judges it was wrong on the part of the parents to drag the kids into politics of votes and best is to let them just perform, then they too were very wrong in their outburst against the parents in front of the contestants. The whole issue could have easily been sorted out behind the screen away from the L'il Contestants. Richa Sharma as a judge was very good. She knew how to handle the kids - be sweet and honest at the same time. It was really sporting of her to step in as a substitute Judge when the regular judges walked out. Saturday again saw the same masti back into the show. “I Love you” declaration to celebrity judges will never be over it seems.

Another new musical show K for Kishore was launched on Sony Entertainment this weekend. With Amit Kumar as one of the judges, viewers are getting little tidbits too from Kishore’s personal life. But the first week, performance wise was not up to the mark. All the contestants are professional singers but baring a handful of them none could touch that level. Bappida as a judge is turning too monotonous and he was found using the same tag lines that he was using in SRGMP’s previous season.

Mission Ustaad as usual gave the viewers some wonderful musical performances. The show being connected to a social cause, it’s really good that they have Javed Akhtar, a long time social worker as one of the judges. It was really nice to see the way he was correcting the contestant’s reasons as to the selection of the songs and showing them the drawbacks of our society. The choice of Roop and Sonali as the Jodi at times seems bit unfair to the other contestants. These two have been singing together for many years now, and so it’s very natural that they would show the best chemistry.

Four channels now have four very gripping musical shows. While two are dedicated to children, one has a social mission and one is resurrecting the magical melody of the phenomenon called Kishore Kumar. To hang on to the objective of each show, the most musical way is the sure shot shortcut to public’s heart and getting show appreciation. It’s time for the channel houses to rise above routine TRP gimmicks and give something uniquely special through melody to sustain the interest level.

Author: Barnali

Note: The views expressed are solely of the author. For any information, please contact the author.