Farah Khan Column

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Spiderman

@Spider-man

Inactive

Posted: 19 years ago

Back to Judges Zone

Let's get real, baby!

Indian Idol Series 2 has already seen a lot of drama. Many people have come forward to criticise us about the ways in which
we have shunted out contestants.

But for us, as judges, what was most satisfying was to see some of last year's contestants come back more prepared and more determined.

I was especially touched by the fact that many people came forward and told us that the advice we gave them last time really helped them become more focused in life.

The positivism that we brought about in the lives of the contestants is our biggest achievement, according to me.

Every show has its ups and downs and especially with reality shows, situations sometimes gets really funny. People are very forthright in blaming the judges when they lose their patience.

Imagine our plight. We have to hear out thousands of people, coming one after the other, singing weird songs and presenting funny performances. How do we control our environment and our patience?

This time around, we decided we are not going to make it sound very abstract by just hearing contestants and delivering
judgments. We decided to spice it up by using ways and means, which people would not expect from us. We also decided to have some fun!

So came handy my fruit basket full of apples and bananas. During the breaks, I would decide, along with Anu and Sonu, what to gift to the next worst performer. Few lucky ones got apples and a few got bananas.

Anu and Sonu also started enjoying my ways of complimenting worst performers and they too starting supporting me in doing the same. While we were having some fun, it didn't mean work was suffering.

We were on the job and the fact that the chosen 171 look very competitive proves we have delivered what we were supposed to.

I must tell the contestants who have been rejected not to lose hope. I know some of them have felt bad with our behaviour; maybe our style of having some fun didn't work for them.

But the fact remains that we don't want to encourage people who would never be a singer in their life to dream of that position. Indian Idol is a reality show and we are here to tell you the reality.

The jury comprises of three people who have spent many years in the industry and have done great work in their respective careers. We are internationally recognised for our work and we want to hunt an Idol who would be recognised globally.

So when we hear things like, "Anu Malik ko bolo gana gaake bataye" or "Sonu Nigam, apne aap ko bahut bada singer samajhta hai na" or "Farah ko kya aata hai gane ke bare mein" it hurts. But we also feel happy that we have been honest with our judgments and hopefully will be able to have a positive impact on your lives..