Ups and Downs of Reality Shows...

Three different channels, three different musical reality shows but they all have almost the same viewers. Did the shows meet with expectations or fall short? Catch the highlights and downers in the Critics review...

Published: Monday,Mar 03, 2008 21:37 PM GMT-07:00

srividya

The highlight of the weekend’s musical shows was definitely the grand finale of Zee SaReGaMaPa Lil Champs 2007 series. The show indeed was a fitting finale to a good series. While SVOI raised expectations after a brilliant Friday round, on Saturday the viewers were left with just two reactions – shock and outrage! K for Kishore left viewers with mixed reactions and a lot of confusion.

SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs 2007 ended their second successful season with a Grand show. Mariani Assam’s Anamika Choudhury was crowned the winner while Patiala’s Rohanpreet and Lucknow’s Tanmay Chaturvedi were declared the first and second runners up respectively. The Grand Finale was very entertaining and saw some brilliant performances. Apart from performances what distinctly stood out was the dignity and maturity with which the winner and the two runners up and their families behaved. The show has concluded but the show will be cited as an example for a long time to come. The participants have evolved as better singers; the family members of "Most" behaved with decorum and made all the kids a part of their family, the public also voted right, most of the time. The creative presented us good themes week after week and in the end the grand finale show was a fitting end! The show may not have had the best talents, but with whatever they had, they rose up to the challenge and presented to us clean, entertaining, fun and enjoyable shows. Except for a few mishaps, the rest of the series was indeed worth a watch.

In VOI Chhote Ustaad, Friday was the bhajan theme and it turned out to be a very nice evening. The aesthetic essence of the show was perfectly maintained. Aishwarya’s Brilliant performance made even the judges give her a standing ovation and with this performance she has managed to seal the lips of few of her critics. But what stood out like a sore thumb was singer Abhijeet’s comment declaring Aishwarya “Sakshaat Saraswati”. He also made Vyom sing another song as he felt he was unable to judge him as a singer based on that particular day’s performance; forgetting his own comment that he never missed a single episode of the show. If Aishwarya’s performance made everyone’s day on Friday, then Saturday all such hopes got dashed. The theme and its song selection was something that could have been best avoided in a kids talent hunt. The AV of Emraan’s forthcoming film also was unsuitable for a kids' show. The "kissing drama" that ensued and the way it was handled, has left the viewers outraged and the most unfortunate part was that this drama was a part of a show that was meant for kids. Was the whole drama staged, including the walkout? This is one question that is in the minds of the viewers. The producers of the show made sure not to just air the clip of the AV, but also use it to promote the show. Was this obscene display really necessary?

K for Kishore surprisingly saw some really brilliant performances this week. One thing that should be credited to this show is the brilliance of the orchestra. They are indeed one of the best of the lot that we have heard so far in the reality shows. This week it was Filmfare Special and the contestants all sang songs that fetched Kishore Kumar Filmfare Awards. Arnab Chakrabarty got the special "Judge’s Favourite Award" for his performances throughout the show. But the show again changed the whole format of elimination leaving the participants and the viewers confused. The elimination of Anil and the way it was handled definitely was disappointing. If the participants had to choose, why couldn’t it be done by a secret ballot and then the hosts announce the final choice?

Mission Ustaad gave us a taste of simple and clean show while Lil Champs showed the same can be achieved with incorporating clean but fun X-factor. These two shows established that dirty masala is not required to raise the TRP’s of a show. A show can be simple and yet capture the attention and hearts of viewers. Will Zee follow the path set by L’il Champs in future too; will the other channels rise to this challenge and rid the disgusting dramas used to promote their shows? Viewers can wish for and only time can tell.

Author: Barnali

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

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Comments (10)

unknown cute @yogzz

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for the article
aishwariya is good & brilliant singer

16 years ago

advil @advil

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@James21,

The article is discussing L'il Champs, Chhote Ustaad and K for Kishore. If my memory serves me right, Adi wasn't kissed in the Kid's series, it wasin the grown ups one.And mind you , he was pecked on the cheek.While Adi was in the midst of audience when that happened , here it happened on the stage. And neither Ismail Darbar nor Himesh Reshamiya was a part of Lil Champ.

There is a difference between and peck and a kiss and biggest factor is in VOI this case happened in a kids show. I would say it was deplorable.

SVOI has some great talents- then why not showcase talent and sell that instead of such cheap gimmicks? SRGMP had non musical stuff ,yes I agree, but it was enjoyable most of the time and this is not mjust my view, but it is the view of most viewers - the TRP rating and the voting stats show that this show gets maximum attantion from viewers.

I distinctly remember Shreya and pritam requesting editing of that fiasco, forget editing, they used it to promote.

As far as ideas go, well it seems the Bhajan round is not an original idea..right?

16 years ago

james21 @james21

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Oh!Well just to remind you about saregamapa dramas with Himesh and Ismail.I think that explains a lot. With sonu everything was well except the great talent. I watch both the shows. I am not against anyone.It is just my choice like everybody else's.
I like Gajji shows anyday with great talents in singing and in Antakshari. I am just against the biased reviews that never appreciate his efforts. I don't think he is bad. I don't know about dramas in both the shows since it is affected by EPs.

16 years ago

Mistyy @Mistyy

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James, so wat if he was the founder of the show?? It's not that he was doing every thing, don't forget there are other technicians involved too in all the shows. After Gajjaji left, every thoght Saregma would collapse but it didn't happen. It actually only got better. it became more clean and pleasant to watch. it even topped in TRP's . Gajji stuck to his own cheap tricks in VOI...all he is doing is bringing controversy every now and then. He made all these remarks before VOI started but Zee kept its mum and dignity.
No doubt gajji has strong eye for talent but that's not everything. How u handle the show is also really important. And i am glad they kicked him out of saregama, otherwise it would be nothing but a big controversy every other day. Disgusting.

16 years ago

~*puja*~ @~*puja*~

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Great analysis! I'm sad that Lil Champs is over but it ended on a good note!

16 years ago

Anuradha Ravi @Anuradha

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Yes, Talent wise svoi may be ahead of lil champs.. But why are you comparing something that happened during the season for senior with that of the junior???

And remember, Adi was kissed by the girl amongst the audience and not on the stage when someone was performing... It happened in a show whr everyone was matured enough.. Do you think its the right thing to do in a kids show and that too on a stage??

We are not fools to believe that its not staged.. Its full of bloopers.. Gajji asking what happened and why they stopped singing proves that it was all scripted.. A director is supposed to be monitoring the show from the camera room.. Does he say, he doesnt know about the whole incident?? Then what kind of director is he if he is not monitoring the whole show??

16 years ago

Bhaskar @Bhaskar.T

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SRGMP showed that even with less talented contestants they can rise above all and present a neat and clean show. Be it the judges or the hosts everyone was fantastic. Aditya proved he is the most sought after host now. Sonu proved that without dirty drama a show can get to top ten rank in TRP.

Yes except for the dirty drama of that Amir one everything went so smoothly and so beautifully.

Gajji should take some lesson on how to create a clean show with fun factor added from Zee. He only knows how to make the most deplorable dramas.

Kissing scene in VOI and then further advertising of the scene was too deplorable. Its a kids show and not the elders one. Something he should have kept in mind before scripting.

Yes scripting - He is shouting from behind the screen Kya ho raha hai when he is actually watching each and every camera shots. That in itself proved that the whole thing was scripted.

16 years ago

james21 @james21

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Hey Barnali,

Saregamapa might be paying you a lot of money for writing all these. Have u ever thought that VOI contestants are so good that talent wise little champ is far behind. Both the shows had been showing some drama. When Adi was kissed,judges encouraged that thing,at least judges did not encourage that at all.Though I agree that was not necessary at all considereing the fact that VOI has best talent(Anwesha,Ash,Soniya,Areeb,vyom).

16 years ago

neha @neha28

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i dunno why SVOI carries abhijeet....he's such a pain..i dunno wat the man thinks of himself..

16 years ago

Rita Shah @Rita Shah

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I agree that the kissing on Choote Ustadd was totally a not needed drama. I think channel didn't need this kind of dramas to promote anything. It's actually bringing their values down.

16 years ago