I would not rate this episode very highly on the musical scale. Most people were okay, but really nothing exceptional.
Mirande is still not entirely okay. The question she leaves us with, happily, is: if she can sing like this when she is ill, how will she sing when she is well? I want her mentors to start having her sing a wider range of songs. We have all been lamenting Sumitra's narrow range and Arshpreet's being stuck with Punjabi songs, but Mirande too has not had a chance to sing too much of variety. She was a little shaky but still pretty good and so I am going to give her a B+.
Irfan's thin ice was sur today. He sounded like he is coming down with a throat infection and today he sounded like Jagjit Singh's comment on his voice being tired. It was not one of his best performances: B.
Abhaas was good. The transformation from that first children's series where he was the serious, shy boy to Abhro's bubbly presence is quite remarkable... and sweet. He sings reliably well but should make sure the flourishes don't overshadow the singing. A-
I don't want to write about Priyani. She is being hyped so much that really it is pointless. She misses sur and sometimes taal. Her range is limited. Her voice is harsh at one extreme and tentative at the other. I am not going to grade her because she was really off the charts for me at the wrong end.
Something about Harshit is very sweet and touching and it is not his singing performance. He sings very competently, sounds pleasant, puts in a great deal of effort into performance. Then why is it that I really want to rave about his performance, but when Sunidhi sings the same song, it is like an illustration of good and better, of before and after, of don't and do? What is that missing element? Maybe he will work his way up to infusing the song with vitality, but I hope he does it soon. B++
Alka will not be accompanying Abhilasha everywhere in her career. I want to know if this is now a precondition of a decent performance (not anywhere near her best) or if she is going to collapse everytime Alka doesn't come with her. I am really angry with this gifted child for letting this happen. A-
Toshi. My instinctive grade: B. A more detached appraisal: B+
Ishmeet is Harshit 2, but more. Very sweet, competent, but I wanted to give him Boost or Horlicks the entire time. Where's the energy? It spilled out accidentally last week and was absent this week. B+
Sumitra never slips on sur and taal, you have to hand this to her. Her main problem has always been modulation. Last week, she seemed to have learned how to modulate her voice in the upper notes, but this week that was missing again. I read somewhere that her throat was infected (there seems to be an infection doing the rounds with these kids--speak about Russian Roulette!). For that she was very good. She gets a lot of bad press but when she sings I have to say this: she does not live up to her potential or test her limits, but she is always pretty good. A-
Arshpreet was very good. Her performance was very good, but when she was eliminated she was magnificent. I will not reiterate what a loss this is. I would have happily said goodbye to Toshi or Priyani, the judges' favourites. Ishmeet is a weaker singer than Arshpreet. But as she said, this is not the end, AND as we have been discussing elsewhere, survival to this stage and then being eliminated may be better than winning and vanishing into thin air. Where are Ujjaini and Aishwarya? A++, Arshpreet.
I have many complaints and all of them are the same as before: song choices, narrow ranges, bad clothes, bad make-up... but they don't bear repetition.
Tomorrow's post is iffy, btw. I am traveling overnight, may not get to see the program. If I do, I will post in the evening.
Hindi TV Shows
Anupamaa
