Reflections and Analysis, July 6, 2007

Ok, so what am I missing? I did not think this was the best group so far. I did not think most of them deserved the 8s and 9s they got.

Irfan did. Except for a couple of sur in the sargam, he sang the Guru song beautifully. He made me realize anew what a lovely composition it is--something that gets lost when you listen to the original, I think.

Mirande was good for Indian Idol. I did not think she was up to the ASVOI mark. There was something expressionless about her singing and at moments, it felt like a lot of shouting.

Abhaas was wonderful. And a far cry from the solemn young boy who won the children's series. It's like someone touched him with a magic wand and released a fountain of joy from within him.

Priyani just made me think of how beautifully Sanchita sang the same Yuva song. Priyani's high notes are skinny and shrill. This is not a voice I can listen to although she was better today than usual.

By contrast, Arshpreet, like Sumitra, is going to seem like a one-genre Empress. She really needs to sing a non-Punjabi song soon. But I thought she sang beautifully and I would have taken a few points from both Mirande and Priyani and given them to her. She has better staying power than both of them.

Shreeram forgot the words; as the judges said, this is not a memory contest. But I did not think he sang as wonderfully as they said; I thought he was being graded for potential as much as anything else. What do you think?

Neeta Pande did not impress me too much in either round. I am not surprised she went yesterday. Frankly, nor did Ravi Shukla impress.

I would send Abhaas and Irfan into the Bemisal 12, and I really would send Shreeram or Arshpreet rather than Priyani in with them. I guess from the promos, this is what the issue is going to be tonight (at least Priyani's score). And this is Alka's departure point.

Earlier we wondered what the basis of the group division was. Yesterday, I really thought it could have been a wishlist Bemisaal 12 and groups arranged to ensure that, with some surprises like Sanchari's exit. The scoring is getting a little unbelievable; not just high numbers from the beginning but also that they give high numbers until they reach the last 2-3. What does that mean? Pre-determined results?

Another possibility is that the groups were divided like we used to be into class sections in school. You arrange by exam score and distribute back and forth to ensure a distribution of performance levels?

So I leave you with two questions:

1. Did you find yesterday's performances as good as the judges did?

2. Let's revisit the distribution question.

And as a postscript, I watched Zee's Antakshari for a few minutes yesterday. Sameer is not singing well. What a pity if he squanders his talent on nonsense at an age when he should be honing it.

thanks for the update vanajakshi..i was listening to the songs now..
my thoughts..
irfan sang very well,but still not very sure about his potential..his voice is very good..but not exceptional.

mirande..i liked her voice very much.she can sing ,this girl..i would like her to move ahead.

abhaas..i cant forget the first timei heard him as a kid.he was unbelievable..i am not trained,but obviously the judges understood his depth and talent.

priyani..i agree with vanajakshi..on the wild card episode,her voice and singing was weaker than saptaparna.woh vazan nahin hai aawaz mein..sorry.

shriram-well i thought he was very good.i cant bear the thought of losing this voice in the finals.he can improve his attitude though 😕

ashpreet..perhaps as i dont understand technicalities i rely on voice quality too much 😳 .wonderful voice she has..i want to see her go ahead..

neeta and ravi..so so

i really enjoyed the show because of the singing and unusual song choices(except'kabhi neem neem,omkara-repeated too many times)
nachle,shakalakababy,guru and others were entertaining

When I read that Arshpreet was singing meethi meethi baatein, I was thinking about the same thing. Is she going the Sumitra way? I hope not. What song is she singing tomorrow?

As for the scoring, in the first week, some of the singers selected were getting six. It seems like the scoring continues to increase every week.

Abhas' Omkara was excellent. Truly a wonder boy. 👏

Irfan actually surprised me. I did not think he would sing as well as he did. I have to hand this to him, he is improving as the months and series go by.

I really like Arshpreet's voice. Mirande's to my ears needs a little more modulation.

Today will be the classics round and that is always something to look forward to.

i found yesterday's episode one of the best... as in indore auditions, we had almost everyone performing really well...

Irfan - i wud say he performed well yesterday - much better than wat i expected of him... we have seen him before in EMET series and i wasnt expecting much from him, but he did well yesterday altough i agree, his points were inflated...

mirande - to me she was ok - not great, not bad...

abhaas - he was undoubtedly really good and deserved the scores he got... i think song selection has a lot to do with this...

priyani - that was a flawless performance to me... her voice suited the song perfectly and she did a great job with it...

sreeram - that was the performance of the day 👏👏 its a pity he forgot the song - how i wish we could have heard the complete song from him 😊 his scores were absolutely justified and i see him as a top contender for the voice of india... i agree with ankita - his attitude seemed a lil strange - maybe he was tense - it was showing...

ashpreet - she sang well, but i felt she could have sung better... something seemed missing... also, i agree with vanajaakshi - she should not restrict to punjabi based songs...

neeta - i was disappointed... she had sung the omkara song in the audtioins and i had liked it a lot... but yesterday was disappointing...

ravi - i did not like his singing in the auditions and neither yesterday... judges seem to find him good always - but for me he is not that good... he shud be eliminated...

i think the scores from the judges were more or less justified except a few... maybe irfan was a lilk over rated and i was surprised with alka's score of 6 for ashpreet...

as for distribution, i feel the entire concept was flawed... u needed to listen to all 33 and take a call on bemisaal 12... grouping them is unfair... itsthe luck of the contestant which group he falls into... shud it be a strong group like this, contestants like sanchari are eliminated... whereas from others, some weaker ones get selected - like sumitra - whom i feel was over rated and wud have fallen short had she been in this group...

I also feel the format need to be changed. The second chances are an example that the judges can't make up their mind after just a few performances (one audition, one-two top 33 round). They should eliminate one or two singers per week, mix up the groups again. After all, its all about comparisons.

The second chances given to some of the contestants: Ryan, Ravi and Sanchari were placed on standby. Aditi Sharma was given another chance to sing last week. Shaan requested a second chance for Shreeram today.

In the first week, as well, I think there were second chances given, weren't they?

There was a tie in the first week between Karishma and Tanushree. So they both got a chance to sing in the next episode. I don't remember if anyone was given a second chance to sing in the same episode like Aditi.

Originally posted by: sonyaee

I also feel the format need to be changed. The second chances are an example that the judges can't make up their mind after just a few performances (one audition, one-two top 33 round). They should eliminate one or two singers per week, mix up the groups again. After all, its all about comparisons.

The second chances given to some of the contestants: Ryan, Ravi and Sanchari were placed on standby. Aditi Sharma was given another chance to sing last week. Shaan requested a second chance for Shreeram today.

i think they have learnt from their mistake made earlier... shaan was quick to say that - in tension if u r unable to sing well in the second chance, it can be a problem... so they decided to stick to his initial performance only... that was a wise thing to do...

Another way to have done this is to have done smaller groups. Four, even six, not eight. Then, in each episode, they could have had two rounds, so that on Saturday, if they picked 1 or 2, that would have been after four performances.

And we could have had some of the older SRGM rounds used.