| Zee's flagship show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is attracting attention for all the wrong reasons. Some time last week, a threat call, claiming to be made by ULFA, set the ball rolling. Since then, none of the three remaining contestants, Hemachandra, Vineet and Debojit, have felt at ease. In the past few days, a lot of speculation has gone into making sense of the unknown phone call demanding that the boy from Assam, Debojit be declared the winner. Or else. For a show that was designed to go on for six to seven months, given the short attention span of the audience, a little controversy can do wonders. However, Ashish Kaul, Senior Vice President, Corporate Brand Development says, ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is not about marketing gimmicks but about finding and promoting the right singing talent." The alleged ULFA telephone call is only the latest in a series of controversies hitting the talent hunt show. There have been allegations of judges favoring certain participants, of the best singers being disqualified because of the voting system, participants threatening to walk out of the show, judges misbehaving with each other and a sense that everything but the singing has been exaggerated unduly. Take the polling system. The show's unique audience poll was set up in the final stages, to avoid raising doubts over the authenticity of the decisions made by the judges alone. However, in the process the best singer, Himani, has been voted out and although Vineet's performance has been consistently praiseworthy, people are worried that the results may still sway in favour of Debojit given the number of votes being cast for him from the northeast region. Another catch in the voting system, according to some participants, is that any number of votes can be cast from a particular number. So, if a contestant is hell bent upon winning the show, all he or she really has to do is to ensure that the messages keep flowing. There is no doubt that the contestants have made it so far on their merit, but the system is not fool proof. After all, Himani's vote-out did come as a shock to everyone. As far as the threat goes, the show's producer-director Gajendra Singh has a very simple question: ''Why hasn't anyone verified whether Debojit has anything to do with ULFA or not?'' Even a week after the incident, Singh repeats the question but no one seems to know the answer. For the general public there is a series of other concerns: who should be held responsible for letting the threat call pass as a hoax - if that is what it is? Would it be right or wrong to disqualify a contestant if there are hints of any such connection without adequate proof? And, after the threat call, would the channel or the producers like to run the risk of carrying out an investigation on the call's authenticity? And, what if Debojit loses? There have been other problems. Given the strict audition rounds, clearing the entrance for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is no joke. The show, now 13 years old, has focused primarily on singing talent. Thus, amongst the various mushrooming talent hunts, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa retains respect and stands apart for the high standards of quality it maintains. Hence , we do not expect to find so many chinks in the armour. Apparently, all the 10 semi-finalists were made to sign a two-year contract with Zee, which bars them from accepting to perform for any other company. This way, not only does Zee get the cream of the lot but they also ensure their exclusive rights to them for that period. Most of these contestants are below 18 years of age and some have even dropped out of class 10 and 12 just to be in Mumbai for the past six months. Zee, on the other hand, is under no obligation to provide a decent break to all 10. To top it all, the top three, Vineet, Hemachandra and Debojit, have had to sign a three-year contract with Zee. And all this, even before the winner has been declared. This contractual system goes beyond Zee: Sony also had its contestants for Indian Idol and Fame Gurukul sign exclusive contracts. However, most of the kids who participated in Sa Re Ga Ma are not complaining. They still believe that had it not been for the channel, they would've been leading obscure lives. For them, Zee has given them the platform where the best people in the music industry notice them and offers have been pouring in. The question, then, really is whether the channel would be able to give them ample opportunities for people to remember them even after their contracts run out? Will these kids manage to make a name for themselves in the music industry or will they become another 'TRPs hitting the roof' episode? We do hope at least some of us remember to check after two years. |
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