Review of Indian Idol

Mumbai Auditions

They say Mumbai is a city that never sleeps and the beginning of Indian Idol Series 2 saw exactly that! From the day the auditions were announced, Mumbai just couldn't seem to wait for D-Day. No wonder, one witnessed never-ending queues waiting endlessly for the gate of the P L Deshpande Auditorium to open. For thousands of aspirants, that was the route to fame and the biggest fortune ever!

So we had people who got off the train at CST and walked straight to the venue with their bags and baggage. We also had suave boys and girls who drove themselves to the venue in plush cars. The common factor that bound the two: The desire to be the Agla Indian Idol!

While our hosts Aman and Mini mingled with the crowds in the waiting area, the security had a tough time handling the piles of people who had gathered outside the venue. Thank God they recognised our honourable judges who, for a change, gave up on their lavish luxury cars and decided to take Mumbai's oldest and favourite wagon - the Tonga!

Farah Khan, Anu Malik & Sonu Nigam were greeted with cheers and whistles as they made their way to the audition room. The three had a glitter in their eyes, as they were amazed seeing the number of people, some familiar faces, some absolutely raw and unexpected.

But then that's the fun of judging a reality show. "We are here to have fun," pronounced Farah Khan and surely they were in for some serious fun!

I will still be rude - Anu Malik

One by one the contestants started rolling. Few were miserable from the word go and some were seriously funny! From songs of Anu Malik to those of Sonu Nigam, the contestants tried their level best to impress our Trimurti but all in vain!

It looked like God was in a mood to listen to Sonu. He prayed hard to hear a good voice and pat came Lekha Desai, a trainee in an ad-agency who is also a singer by choice. After choosing her, the judges were again in for some serious entertainment.

One after the other participants came singing the hot favourite of the season - Dus Bahane! And guess what our judges too had to find Dus Bahane to send these guys back home.

So we saw new inventions of saying no to people - Farah Khan gave apples and bananas to contestants who had entertained her with their weird performances, while the three together would wear scary masks so that they wouldn't have to show their faces to the camera.

And the best was - Aap Ghar Jao - the banner, which the three would hold to avoid saying anything about the misery they had just experienced.

But it was not as if all were bad. As Anu puts it, "Though Mumbai was disappointing, we found some good talent too". Kannabhai who had come all the way from Jodhpur turned out to be a great entertainer. He sang, he danced and he acted, impressing not one but all the three judges.

On being announced as chosen for the second round, he simply burst out crying saying his family never supported his talent. Then we had Amey Date, Panna Gill, Meenal Jain and Kshitij who sailed through purely on their singing prowess; and also Rajesh Tiwari from Jabalpur, a skinny character whose voice amazed Sonu from the first note itself!

If it's Indian Idol, there needs to be some drama. Jigar Kapadia's mother always wanted to see him as a big star. But when the judges failed to be charmed by his voice, she couldn't accept it.

After much persuasion, our hosts Aman & Mini got her in the audition area. Since Anu didn't want to break a mother's heart, he decided to break the rules and allowed Jigar to sing again. Yet again Sonu had to explain to him the flaws in his singing, after which the mother-son left without much solace.

So while some emerged winners, many saw their dreams shatter and still many vowed to come back the next season much more prepared and with much more conviction. As our judges move on to their next destination - Delhi - the chosen ones from Mumbai get on the job of preparing themselves for the uphill task.

Episode 2 :: Delhi Auditions
It was time for Dilwalon Ki Dilli to showcase some serious talent! The common refrain of the hundreds of hopefuls who queued up outside the National Stadium was: "The Agla Indian Idol would be from Delhi!" And we must say that the claim may well turn out to be true as Delhi presented a wealth of talent, surpassing the expectations of our judges.

Our judges, yes the Royal Trimurti - Farah, Anu and Sonu lived one of the most fantastic experiences of their lives. The three entered the Stadium on elephant backs, just like the Maharaja would enter his kingdom on winning a battle.

The reception that the judges got was simply marvelous! To top it all, Aman and Mini had a tough time convincing the Kings – Anu & Sonu, and the sole Queen Farah to depart from their sawaris and get down to the work for which they were there.

Finally, when they touched the ground, the three judges were in for some major decisions. The initial few were ordinary but as more and more contestants started pouring in, the level of competition grew. So we saw Saquie Ahmed from Kashmir who lost his right hand in a bomb blast at the age of six and 17-year-old Neha Kakkar who impressed the judges with her sugary voice, being chosen for the next round. We also had Dilpreet who sings regularly at a local Gurudwara, who was invited to come for the next round.

While there were a few good voices, which were not at all difficult to choose, many turned out to be major source of headache for the three judges. Their tolerance levels were being tested to such an extent that the three almost dozed off to sleep, at one point.

This is when our celebrated hosts Aman and Mini came in to the picture. In order to boost up the enthusiasm of the judges, the two arranged for a local bhangra group to perform for the three so that they could have some refreshing time.

And God their break turned out to be a rocker, as it looked like the three, themselves had entered into a dance competition with a determination to win it bang on!

The efforts of the judges to ward off people from the show also continued. Farah was very straightforward in asking Chanderpal, an illiterate milkman from Haryana if his cows and buffalos gave more milk on hearing him sing? When Chanderpal replied in affirmative, the judges commented that he should stop torturing the poor animals.

Anu asked Kishore Kumar Kamal to danc, which he did. While all of them laughter out loud watching the dance, neither his singing, nor his dance appealed to any of the judges.

Being a reality show, emotions run high and nervousness creeps in at every level. Our judges are very well aware of this fact and their sharp ears and eyes do recognise the genuinely deserving from the lot.

Rohit from Allahabad was so nervous that he forgot his lines during the audition. It was Sonu who took the lead to convince him that it was absolutely normal for something like this to happen but he was also critical about the fact that such incidents will not be accepted in the larger levels of the competition.

Because of his soothing voice, Rohit managed to sail easily through the hearts of all three judges, but many were still not so lucky.

After hours of painful listening and a few moments of genuine voices, the judges packed their bags on route to Lucknow where now they would need to restart the hunt for the Agla Indian Idol.

yeahhhhhhhh amey date's name is mentioned 😳 😳
I DONT SEE ANY RAVI 😆 😆
thanks for the articles

AMEY KI DEEWANI
MRS. MEGHA AMEY DATE 😳