The judging tamasha

Three rival channels. Three rival talent hunts. It's a pitched battle, finding the next singing sensation is incidental but getting in the ratings absolutely vital! So sweating, nervous contestants are just not enough, you need squabbling celebrity judges. The nastier, the better – to spice up the emotional drama of reality tv!! On E Now, we are nailing down three of the most controversial celeb judges and finding out what exactly is keeping them in the news.

Himesh Reshammiya may have become an overnight success with his runaway hit 'Aap Ka Suroor', but the man's bull headedness and swagger as a judge on ZEE TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge have already credited him as an arrogant & stubborn panelist. Don't blame me says the man – blame the promos!

Himesh clarifies, "If viewers of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa wonder why I get so angry, it's over a point of difference with the other judges. Now you can't expect Nusrat saab to sing like Kishoreda, it's not possible so the promos make me look brash but if you see the show then viewers realise that it's just a point I am making and that I am right."

Point taken Himesh! Obviously high pitched and rude judges are something that channel heads more than welcome – which does make you wonder if the hostility is staged, you know, some good old play-acting! Anu Malik, who's one of the most colourful celebrity judges on the circuit with his instant poetry and even more instant insults, says there is no stage management!

"The junta is very smart. They see through play-acting on a staged performance," says Anu. "I don't come to this show to be vindictive, to hurt people. I come to guide people and there is honesty that pays off. So I get bored and appalled at people who are goody goody and say ya ya bahut accha gaya aapne, aur achha ga sakte hai blah blah. People are yawning out there, everyone is fed up. They all can see through it. I am not like that. I am just like you are good so you are good you are bad so goodbye."

The argument then is that no matter how rude, these judges do get the audience to tune in and the vote for Indian television's Mr.Nasty goes to Anu Malik, who likes to make a meal out of the contestants and his co-judges!

But in all this, you have to wonder if the on screen tension translates to off screen bad blood? Abhijeet of Star Voice of India, famous for his run ins with co-judge Alka Yagnik has this take: "Yes it does. I don't think you will find the same thing between me and Alka, what it used to be before. There is damage to personal relation. Alkaji has some problem, I think very soon we will sort it out."

Bickering. Brash. Boorish – call them what you may, but you have to admit that talent hunts would be a tepid affair without these judges. So even as we wait for the verdict on the winners of all these rigorous hunts, these shows are definitely ensuring that theirs are not the only voices that are getting heard!

Kavita Ogale

TIMES NOW

the article is dated is 1st aug..the alka problem is not yet solved😕