There will always be a trade-off between popularity and quality.
challenge 2005 was popular but couldn't maintain its quality once public voting was introduced - there were still some brilliant performances in agnipariksha but overall I felt that the contestants performed much better in the judeges round because the mentors actually guided them to impress the judges like Shivji-Hariji and others.
they should reduce the number of entering contestants to something like 20 and separate the male and female singers. since setting the age limit is considered unfair by some people (not every1's voice matures at the same rate and not every1 learns at the same rate), the contestants should be tested against each other more rigourously through more categories (w/ music and w/o music, classical, semi-classical, ...). for example in this competition Vinit got away with singing mostly Rafi/ Sonu numbers in which he is pretty decent. but once more categories open up, then it will be more practical to evaluate say any two contestants strengths and weaknesses. so age won't be a factor - if a contestant enters at an very early age, then the test itself will reveal that his/her training is inadequate for that time being.
also instead of eliminating a contestant on a weekly basis, the contestants should be allowed to perform for a couple of weeks and then an weighted average score can decide the winner. this was THE reason why I advocate fewer contestants to begin with because the more contestants there r, the longer the show is stretched and it's difficult to judge every1 accurately.
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Edited by friend17 - 19 years ago