I am going to have to respectfully disagree with everyone here.
Firstly I dare anyone to disagree with me that Anwesha was far superior to everyone else on this episode. If anything I was annoyed with Shaan for not giving her a 10. The other person who did this song well aside from Shreya of course is Sugandha Mishra on SRGM Singing Superstars.
Undoubtedly Aneek started off weak but his taranas were far more impressive at the end vs the performances of the other which were not as strong overall with the exception of Anwesha.
Akanksha really watered down that song -- I think that I have heard better at an Indian Idol audition. Akanksha seriously gets some sort of Special Olympics types consideration because she is young and pretty and I am sick of it!
Irfan, whom I have liked in C2005 and like now did not do well today. I have heard that song sung by many others like Abhrokanti and Niladri and they as kids did a better job. But still better than Akanksha.
As for Sreeram, I would say that his Lagan Lagi was more impressive than today's song but of course still WAY better than Akanksha.
When I saw Sreeram, Aneek and Anwesha up there today, I felt sick. Who would vote for Akansha over any of those three? Those three are Ek Se Badhkar Ek and the judges were right to be shocked.
Finally, I must consider the charges of regional bias from the judges. Shann gave Anwesha a 9 instead of a 10. Does Shaan favor Aneek, Anwesha, Irfan, Sanchita, etc... -- YES. But not because he is Bengali but because he has hosted the shows when they were contestants so he has a long association with them when some started off calling him Shaan Chacha.
Also Swanand is a non-Bengali and he pretty much agreed with everything that the judges said. In fact, I think that Aneek was HIS favorite. He was the easier judge on Aneek by far. It was Shaan and Shantanu who sent Aneek back to the Challengers side for screwing up that Hemanta song. Bengalis are tough thorough judges and they judge Bengalis the most harshly. I know because i was on the couch saying the same comments before the judges made theirs when they roasted Aneek.
I am not sure why people thought that Aneek deserved to lose. His singing last week was really good. Terrible dancing and Spanish but I did not know that was a requirement for this show. This week after a weak start he was amazing albeit though with a song that we have heard from him several times.
Finally I have been seeing week after week that people feel that Shaan and Shantanu are terrible judges. Both of these two are music director/song writers and of course Swanand is a well known lyricist. I am going to take a guess that MOST if not ALL of you have never written a hit song. These guys have. When Aneek took a song at a higher scale a whole step higher, Shaan was able to identify that right away. I checked on my piano and CD of the original song to confirm that he was right. I used to think that Shaan was some lightweight popstar but he is really knowledgeable in musical grammar as evidenced by his precise and accurate comments. Just as it pained me to hear people question Himesh and Ismail for their qualifications as judges, it pains me to hear that now with accusations of regional bias thrown in for good measure. Of course judges have biases and preferences and God knows that Akanksha has been the largest beneficiary of this.
While I feel sad that Aneek was eliminated today by the farce of public voting, let us not forget that in 2007, he was the beneficiary of this same idiotic public that voted for him over Amanat because Himesh cooked up a false love story.
Aneek is a really good singer and an incredible performer. So is Anwesha. I have heard both of them live and Aneek plays harmonium like Anup Jalota, plays tabla and rocks the stage like Kailash Kher and Sonu Nigam.
For those who might say that I myself am biased because I am Bengali, I would like to say that you are wrong. I love good music and good singers and dislike out of tune performances. True music lovers close their eyes and just listen and know that for a brief moment when a singer takes you from Wah to Aah -- like when Salman Ali sang Sajda -- you got to experience the bliss of God for a moment. That's what these hard working young people try to do every week, sometimes they succeed, sometimes not.
I really missed Vaishali and Nihira today. They would have brought down the house.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
CID
