In case if anyone is confused! - Page 3

Last week Vishal went at it again with Himesh Reshammiya over Mussarat Abbas. A few shows ago, Vishal's needling of Mussarat for singing songs in his comfort zone had sparked an entertaining row resulting in a thundering lesson on rozi-roti from the House of Reshammiya. And it happened again: Vishal wanted variety, Himesh wants a singer who can sing certain types of songs for people. Complicating all of this was the fact that Mussarat was in the rather hilariously named trishanku which is the equivalent of the Indian Idol danger zone.


And this made Himesh nervous. "Get back to singing what you do best" he ordered. Vishal coolly picked up the mike and insisted he'd like to examine Mussarat's range on the show.

Vishal and Himesh both sound right to me. A singer needs to perform in multiple genres to prove himself. But it is a bit much to expect newbies to display this versatility. And Himesh's argument is a practical one: stay in your comfort zone and even if you don't win the competition, you'll end up getting work because you specialize in certain types of songs.

Ultimately the question is: what is SRGMP looking for in its winner? This is a complicated question because once voting is open to the public - the situation becomes dicey. In obvious cases, the public seems to vote sensibly. But in borderline cases, factors other than singing talent can easily result in a contestant's exit.

I'll stick with Vishal's argument that a singer has to at least try and display versatility to win this show. After all, with all the entertaining but ultimately weak crooning happening on Indian Idol, the best singers for the next generation are going to come from this show.

On to other matters: I'm beginning to enjoy the sheer tackiness of what is called the yellow room. This is the rather sorry looking room where all three yellow lighted contestants have to cool their heels. They have to listen to their competition on a large screen TV at angles that surely must test their neck muscles. Further torture is inflicted on them in the form of pictures of previously eliminated contestants on the wall - an empty one with a question mark being a particularly sadistic touch. I shall hereby call this the Lonely RoomTent (thanks ~mm~ and also pictures over at her place) because that is what everyone who ends up there looks like.