Indian Idol 3 Picture Gallery-No Comments - Page 7

T his Thursday, Sony is all set to engage the viewers with its musical reality talent hunt show Indian Idol 3. The production house Miditech's president, Niret Alva, says, "We've shown the search across various cities and coun- tries. This time it includes a wider socio-economic group." With The Piano Round slated to begin this Friday, Alva lets in, "Fourteen girls and 14 boys have been selected in this round in- cluding two contestants from Dubai and one from London." He adds, "It will show the emo- tional journey with daily per- formances and eliminations. The special nine-day long Suron Ki Baarish will culminate with the viewers voting for the 10 finalists on June 9." Mockery of music How does he react to the criticism of the judges mocking bad singers? He replies, "A popular vote is not a critic's vote or vice versa, a purist will also look at the show differently. Our format includes the search for the Indian Idol. We give viewers the opportu- nity to discriminate between good and bad singers." What makes Indian Idol differ- ent? Alva proffers, "We're involv- ing the viewers in the process of searching the Indian Idol. We re- veal characters as opposed to singers.We can only provide a stepping stone towards the music industry, not guarantee a lifetime success." Biggest hunt Alva says this season's Idol is the biggest ever since it covered audi- tions in 12 cities over a period of two and half months. About the auditions in London and Dubai, he says, "The turn-out was huge. It was deeply moving to hear them sing patriotic songs." He says that the search took them to Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bhubane- shwar and terror struck Srinagar Alva says,"We received militant threats in Srinagar but our search was intensive. We didn't give up. Nearly 25000 aspirants have auditioned this season." Competition Is there any competition from Voice of India and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa? He remarks, "They're both very different in their formats. There seems to be pre-selected talent in Voice of India, whereas Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is a hardcore face-off between music com- posers. Being in the same time band is not exciting from a pro- ducer's perspective. But it can be a healthy tug of war The viewers will have to choose." About the judges and the hosts, he says, "One word from Javed Akhtar balances any con- troversy Alisha Chinai and Udit Narayan have their own views. Of course, Anu Mallik is in his ele- ment. The anchors, Hussein Kuwajerwala and Mini Mathur have also bonded well with the contestants."