Posted:
Good Article from curlio.com
| 2006-04-22 15:30:24 |
 | Ok, those who have not seen the show can just stop reading – read it after you see the Indian Idol Finale! I know I am kidding myself by thinking that y'all will listen to me! Well, soon enough the news would spread like wild fire and I don't think its fair that curlio.com, which has possibly first time covered a show that was not in US to remain quiet for such a long time! Ok, before I start talking about the show, I must say it was a party of sorts with friends here in India – around twenty different characters getting together just to enjoy the last episode of a long journey! I am not going to add adlibs – this article would be so long that most would wake up with drool on their keyboard! All in all, it was a great evening – it still is – but I am taking a break to write this… So shall we start the show? The show started with Gruesome – Twosome! Well, I finally will admit they are not that bad, because although I have been hard on the hosts – they did a decent job throughout and sometimes sarcasm can garner some laughs – so with that in mind Mini Mathur and Aman Verma were coined as the Gruesome – Twosome, because they had to do a job that was tough! To remain neutral in such a competition is not easy! Mini Mathur and Aman Verma introduced the Final Two – Sandeep Acharya and N.C. Karunya, who came on the stage in a dramatic way with a R.D. Burman Medley! I sincerely think that the Indian Idol people read what is on this site, because the coincidence is rather spooky! Well, I can dream, right? N.C. Karunya kick-started the Medley with "Yeh Jawaani"! Need I critique his performance? Enough said! Sandeep Acharya came up with "Tum Kya Jaano"! It was not half bad! Karunya literally was awesome with "Mehbooba Mehbooba"! I sincerely did not expect that anyone could do such an amazing justice to such an iconic song! Sandeep sang "Dil Dena Khel Hai"! I will be frank after Karunya's song – the song fell flat! Last both singers ended the Medley with "Yamma Yamma"! Karunya still carried the verve of Panchamda! While Sandeep gave an able performance! I am going to say it again Karunya drowns Sandeep in a duet! Mini Mathur and Aman Verma introduced the Guest Judge, Actress Par Excellence with a personality that is loveable – Kajol! I swear, she has such spunk and such excellent acting skills that in movies dealing with young love – no one can really beat her! Kajol said that the two contestants were very confident, brilliant and very much out there! Mini – Aman then introduced the Resident Judges! Sometimes Moody Sonu Nigam – Who is one of the leading playback singers of India! I must admit that his comments were the sane most and of all the three judges he made the most sense! Great Maestro Farah Khan – Ok, I had a great time ragging her – She is precious – Yes Jatin, I think as well that she is a good choreographer! However, some of her comments made as much sense as the next judge's poetry! Poet Extraordinaire – Love of Uttam's life – Anu Malik – His Poetry killed me many times over, but I must say his poetry made my life a little easy, because I could make fun of him! However, I must admit I have never met or seen a more determined poet! Anu, please stick to your day job, poetry is not your thing! All the three judges told Mini and Aman that they were excited and happy that India would finally decide who should be the next Indian Idol! Mini – Aman informed the audience that the vote margin between the Final Two was very little – this was baloney – but one can go with the flow – so no complaints! After these formalities, Sandeep Acharya came on the stage with "Sitaron Ki Mehfil" and "Kaho Na Pyaar Hai" Medley – It did not impress me! Many of us thought that his voice was not in best shape and the dude simply cannot dance – I am sorry! However, at this stage the judges knew that no critique is going to matter – so they were very kind in their critique! Anu Malik said that Sandeep proved that he can be a – Screen Playback Singer for a Screen Star! Sonu Nigam started with, "What Happened Today?......" And I am thinking Sonu please don't go there! Sonu said, "What is with this confidence? You performed so well, I did not find any flaws in your performance to say anything negative!" Thank God! Farah Khan said that seeing Sandeep on the stage made her feel proud and she was brimming with pride and added that she thought Sandeep was her own kid in some school competition! I am sorry, because as daft as I am, I have to ask, "Was this a compliment?" Ok, but if Simon Cowell said something like this, it would be a totally different story! Kajol said that she agreed with Sonu and thought Sandeep was Fantastic! Next N.C. Karunya came with "Whimposh Mal" from Mission Kashmir – Seriously, I need a better word than Brilliant! Sonu Nigam was on his feet before Karunya even finished and smoothly Karunya finished the performance! I rate this performance as one of the best performances on Indian Idol! Sonu Nigam explained that Shankar Mahadevan had taken inspiration from his pop track "Breathless" and used it in this song and no one could manage to cover this song – only two individuals could take on such a mammoth of a song – Mahadevan and Karunya! Anu Malik said that even if Karunya does not get the Indian Idol title – he would still be Number One Singer in India! Farah Khan said that instead of critiquing she would do what Sonu did and gave Karunya a standing ovation! Kajol said that although she liked Sandeep's performance – the real star of the show was not Karunya – but Karunya's Voice! – Can I get an Amen? Thanks! After a break – there were just too many to keep tabs – we saw Anu Malik sing (if one can call that singing) "Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhen" in honour of Kajol! And then he said playback is a dream of any singer and playback singing had a long lineage, so who would take the challenge and sing first? Karunya volunteered, but Anu said you don't give Sandeep a chance and Sandeep said he will go first! So Anu Malik said "Let's have arm wrestling competition!" Oy! Anyway, to cut the pain short – Sandeep won and sang "Gulabi Aankhen" followed by an Indi-Pop number – "Ho Gayi Teri Balle Balle"! It was a Sandeep Performance! I don't need to elaborate! One of my friends said Sandeep dances like the Deols! That cracked me up! Karunya came next with "Badaan Pe Sitare", this was a fun performance, because Karunya transported himself to 60s and had those Shammi Kapoor jerks working for him! It was a nice change! He then took on a serious Indi-Pop number that most of my friends were singing along with – "Saiyoni"! Karunya sang it with passion and it was a good! Thankfully, we were done with judges' critique! Next came the Top Ten of the Top Twelve with the Indian Idol Anthem! "Woh Pehli Baar"! Ok, this was an emotional deal! I realized how this entire journey started and I realized this was the first time and possibly the last time that I would stay in India for such a long time! As soon as Sagar Sawarkar - the twinky made his entry – me gal was in tears remembering his elimination! Neha Kakkar came next and I was reminded of her short stay on Indian Idol after the chicken pox! Amey Date – God, what a loss! I still believe he should have been in the Finale and not like this! Deepa must have jumped in glee and Shona and Simran would have joined her! Ravi Tripathi – Shree's favourite – ok favourite contestant to hate! He stayed longer than he deserved to! Monali Thakur – One of my favourite female contestants, whose elimination was extremely surprising! Meenal Jain – Wars are raged even today for this gal, but ok, Ajay can have her! Her elimination broke my heart! Yashashree Bhave – Her voice did not impress me, but her tears did the job! Antara Mitra – For strange reason, she became one of the most hated female contestants! Although, I had great expectations from her – she failed to impress me after getting in Final 12! Anuj Sharma – The Come-back Kid with so many controversies that I don't think I need to go there again! Panna Gill – He shined in his last performance – I actually started liking him and just like that he was eliminated – leaving many females heartbroken! The Final Two joined the Final Ten and they made a pretty picture – and I mean that literally! The contestants were asked what they were doing after elimination Ravi apparently has a movie project – good for him! Panna is doing shows and planning to release an album! And Amey also is working on an album! There is hope here! Farah Khan was very emotional seeing them all together! Mini – Aman asked each judge as to what was the moment that they would remember the most from the series! Sonu Nigam said Amey's ouster! Farah Khan said that she would remember the very moment she was witnessing! Anu Malik said that the eliminations were the most awful moments of the series and said all the ten on the stage would be carrying an unspoken regret that they could not make it to the Finale! After this emotional journey – the Top Two performed "Subhaan Allah" from Fanaa and Kajol joined the Top Two! It is a nice song and after the song, Kajol said that both did the song great justice! After that Sandeep took the stage with King Khan Medley He first tackled "Ruk Jaa" and proceeded to sing "Tumse Milke Dil Ka" in a cap that looked ridiculous! Anyway, Neha, Monali and Yashashree joined him in the second performance! Neha and Monali were visibly having fun! Karunya decided to take on AB Baby Medley – he sang "One Love" and moved to "Baadbaaki" in which he rapped and was joined by Antara and Meenal! Meenal seemed to have a great time performing with Karunya! After that the next segment was Performances by Divas! Yashashree tried to sing "Piya Tu" but her pitch was so high that she was kind of struggling! Antara came on the stage with "Jawaane Janemaan" – I like this song! Meenal tackled a song that I never heard before, but it had all the pep that made Meenal so special! Neha covered "Babuji Dheere Chalo" originally sung by her sister, Sonu Kakkar! Neha and her sister have almost same voice and style! Last Monali came up with "Deedar De" – She has a very sweet voice! All the Divas were joined by the Top Two and they performed "Saaki Saaki" – It was fun medley! I enjoyed it! I am sure Ajay would have loved the peppy numbers as well! After this the First Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant came on stage – now, mind y'all I had not heard this bloke till today! And as soon as he started singing "Rang De Basanti", my reaction in all honesty was, "You've got to be kidding me!" I don't want to step on any toes tonight – so I won't say anything else! But after his performance, let's just say I was totally ready for the result! Next came an awful live performance by Alisha Chinai and the Top Two – We here gauged that they were all lip syncing and just to be sure I checked for microphones and never found them! I thought it was a joke! Isha came on stage with a dance number and the top two danced – can you believe this? I would have preferred them singing instead of just wasting time! I think some segments were recorded earlier, because Kajol was missing during many segments – I wish I could have gone missing as well, especially in the last two segments! Anyway, so after all this – we came to the one thing that we already knew and were ready for – THE RESULT! After building an unnecessary suspense, which by the way is a must – Mini Mathur and Aman Verma announced that Sandeep Acharya was the Second Indian Idol! The funny thing was there was no shock, no surprise, no nothing from the entire group! We already kind of knew! There were too many things foreshadowing the victory! I must admit that in a way I am glad that Sandeep won, because if he would have lost – a lot many hearts in India would have broken, because from what little I understood from this show is that emotional attachments carry a lot of weight here! Secondly, I always maintained that this was a battle between mass and class and since reports claimed that Hyderabad was waking up – I saw a glimmer of hope that maybe Karunya would win! But despite losing, Karunya proved that he was a star, by performing so brilliantly till the end – There is no doubt in my mind that he will be big in the future, but I will say that without the title, Sandeep would have disappeared from the scene totally! So I am really happy for all the supporters of Sandeep! This is their time to celebrate and I think they have every right to celebrate! However, I must add that Sandeep's true journey begins now, it is one thing to get such a tremendous support, but unless he works really hard, he will be sidelined in matter of days and I don't think that should be any artiste's future! I was rather surprised when he messed up when singing the Indian Idol single after winning - But I guess emotions ruled there! So I hope and pray for his sake as well as his fans that he does not think that getting the title is the end – for him, it is just the beginning! Already the boards have started getting messages that we would be in sorrow – I find it extremely childish! Sorrow for what? A reality show? I think we all have seen far too many reality shows to know how much one should get attached to it! Even though I am in Mumbai and wanted Karunya to win – I could never go overboard voting for him – I think most of Karunya supporters share my story! I will repeat one thing though, despite Sandeep winning the title – I don't think he got the votes for singing and performing – He got votes for all the wrong reasons and we all know that! And no matter who says what, I will not change my stance on this fact! Now a request to my dear members – refrain from indulging in any arguments, because despite losing, we have won – and time will tell that tale, for now, let us just move on knowing that Karunya was the singing star in this competition and in near future one can buy Karunya's and Amey's album! What a wonderful journey it has been! I cannot believe that I am writing on Indian Idol for the last time! I have to thank few people! I have to thank Curlio and Dusty for letting me cover the show! I have to thank all the brilliant friends that merged into the Curlio Mansion as members of the same family – you all know who you are! And lastly, I want to thank my friends in India, who asked me to see this show, it was a great experience for a firang like me! Brought me closer to lot many Indians all over the world! I won't be in India next time this series starts – lets just hope that the series would still bring lot many individuals from around the world to this virtual home we have created! Oh yes, CONGRATULATIONS SANDEEP ACHARYA! Cheers! One journey ends, the next begins! |
Cricket
Anupamaa
