Either Alka stays on show or I do: Aadesh

By Subhash K Jha

The difference between Aadesh Shrivastava and Alka Yagnik now threatens to escalate into an all-out war, with Aadesh scoffing at Alka's decision to quit the show Voice Of India which they judge together.

"All the naatak of quitting is just a hoax. In fact let me throw this back at her. If Alka doesn't quit I'll leave the show. Enough is enough."

According to Aadesh the differences between him and Alka started when he re-recorded Alka's song for Kalpana Lajmi's Chingari in his wife Vijeta's wife.

According to Aadesh Alka never got over that. "She told the world that the song came and went without being heard. Arrey! So many of her songs have come and gone without getting noticed!

I maintain, Alka's voice quality is good. But she needs to train her voice. That's where singers like Shreya Ghosal and Sunidhi Chauhan have marched ahead."

According to Aadesh, Alka objected to Gajendra Singh inviting Sundhi on Voice Of India as a special guest recently.

"Gajendra had to cancel Sunidhi's visit before Alka agreed to continue recording the episode," reveals Aadesh. "Alka knows what Sunidhi is capable of. Give Sunidhi classical songs and see what she can do, whereas Alka isn't trained in classical music.

If Anuradha Paudwal hadn't started singing Bhajans do you think Alka could've become the first choice for the heroine's voice?That's why I say she isn't qualified to judge those wonderful voices on the music contest."

Aadesh feels composers rather than singers should be given the chance to judge voices. "Singers don't know about the nuances of a voice. I've made Alka and Abhijeet sing. But can they make any of those children on Voice Of India sing?

I know the limitations in Alka's voice. I know how hard I had to work on her throat to get the classical nuances in a song for Deewaar Let's Bring The Heroes Home. Of course Asha Bhosleji on the rival show (Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa) did a fantastic job of judging voices in spite of being a singer.

But how many singers in this country can claim to be as adept at music as Lataji and Ashaji? If I stretch my discretionary power we can also include Kavita Krishnamurthy. But that's it. No fourth singer can judge the quality of singing voices. Both me and Jatin Pandit feel this way."

Aadesh repeats, "Bahut ho gaya. Either Alka remains on the show. Or I do."