The war bells had finally rung for IF SRGMP contests. The Gharanas have been selected and the mentors have been appointed moreover 16 contestants been selected. So the scene is ready to rock. But wait, this is IF, how can anything happen so smoothly, that's too when there is a contest. Quite unlikely for IF characteristics. The forum is divided and canons are volleyed from the supporters in a written format. Show director Barnali said, "Selection of contestants is over smoothly. Mentors appointed are quite experienced and we are expecting a good show from them, though 2 mentors are new, they are capable enough to handle any situation. Regarding the division in the forum, it's bound to happen as the mentors and the contestants are having their own followers and supporters. I myself supporting a particular gharana, despite being the director of the competition. What should I tell about others." There is lots of smoke in the forum before the singing contest officially begins. Contestants have not officially started singing in the forum, but dramas are taking centre stage.
The contest format made very simple with six initial rounds of singing where 2 contestants would be eliminated in each round. The correspondent can ensure lots dramas in these 6 episodes, right now. Then there is twist to the tail (not tale), a wild card round among the eliminated contestants to select one among them. Again a round where all will definitely witness a few dramatic developments. If everything goes smoothly till then, walk-outs are on card for this round. Then the semifinal round among 5 contestants and finally the Grand finale among 3. Look simple but trust me, its not going to be so simple in any case. Again Barnali said, "The format was decided after having lots of discussion. We tried to keep it simple. To counter any disappointment of the eliminated contestants, wild card round been placed. Thanks to Gajji, for showing the way just like Diwakar was back to Lit Champs."
And the drama continues ever after. This time the mentors seem to be more enthusiastic than the contestants and the mentors were found trying to contact there Gharana's contestants. Already there were disagreement regarding contestants in their Gharanas and wanted a few changes, but the technical team amicably solved the problem. Then there was report of missing contestant and speculated kidnap theory. One of the mentors reported to keep his contestants in his basement to avoid any kind of "horse trading" as seen in Indian politics. When contacted mentor T. told the correspondent that, "This is a baseless allegation by the other mentors. I have full confidence in my Gharana. Why should I keep somebody forcefully? My Gharana is not going to walk out because of this, But may cause walk out to other gharanas."
Apart from Bandish Gharana, all other Gharanas are still looking for their contestants as there was a problem regarding contacting the contestants. Mentor of the Sur Sangam, Appa said, "One of my candidates has sent me the recorded songs which I have never received. It may be hacking from the other Gharanas. Hopefully Technical support team will be able to solve the problem before the contest begins. We need a level playing ground." The problem in the Jhankar Gharana is a different one. Mentor Priya yet to do the Tankar in the dhanush. She said, "My Danush is so heavy, could not lift it. Had asked Bhaskar to do it for me, and do the tankar. But it was not so loud to get my contestants on board yet." The correspondent would like to advice Priya and Bhaskar to drink more energy drink before the contest to be able to compete with other energetic gharanas.
The gharanas are ready, not so the contestants. The supporters are attracting more support from the members by designing attractive siggies. Technical team is finalizing many things regarding use of technology like use of ECHO and setting up the rules. The stage is all set to explode. Lets wait for more drama in future.
(For professional reason the MGA correspondent will not support any particular gharana. But always available to provide neutral dramatic addition to this competition. MGA, as reliable as ever)
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Part II of the Report
The proceedings of IF SRGMP are going in the expected line till now. Allegations and counter allegations have witnessed from the gharanas, the support base is expanding and dramatically two of the participants are missing from the final list. Another interesting development till now is changing loyalty from the supporters and crack in the war gangs (Don and RR gang). The most significant one is program director support transfer from Alaap Gharana to Bandish Gharana. Many members were surprised at this move and smelling fish, but Barnali commented it as a very conscious move. She said, "It is true that I initially supported Alaap gharana. And now I am with the Bandish team. My shifting base is rational and should not create any controversy. I feel Bandish Gharana more close to heart and I respect the Mentor." The supporters of the Alaap team were little bit disappointed but discarded any kind of disagreement with the mentor and Barnali. One of such supporters, without disclosing own identity told the correspondent that "see her move as more political one. She has realized that our gharana is already having the highest number of supporters, so she has shifted her base. It wont create any discomfort to our gharana, anyway we are going to win." Very matured comment from the supporter. The correspondent was amazed to see ever expanding support base to the Alaap gharana. Is it because, everybody playing safe, as the mentor of the gharana was the winner of the previous edition? Or the gharana is the best? Well only time will tell who is the best. The mentor was unavailable for comment and correspondent decided not to speak to any of the contestant in this regard.
Another development bringing curiosity to the correspondent that is "crack in the war gang loyalty". The Don gang and the RR gang heads are coming on the same platform as both of them are supporting Jhankar Gharana. But fortunately both of them are talking in terms of bomb, attacks and arrows. White flag is so near still too far. What is more dramatic is that both group's most trusted lieutenants are divided and segregated from their respective heads and shown support to individual likings. Period. No more deviation from the real story.
Now the real drama on IF, two of the selected candidates (Raju Kabi and Jalpari) have not turned up yet. This created panic among the organizers and finally the organizers have decided to screen more potential singers and select two among them. So a notification was served from the organizing committee and set 7th December as a deadline for this. Kidnap speculation remains a speculation as Appa was not available for comment on this issue. Deviating from the IF characteristics, most of the gharanas agreed to this proposal, without any protest. Quite sensational development.
Finally a warning from the correspondent to all the participants for their safety. Kindly wear eye protective gears to avoid any kind of injury. Priya and Bhaskar were noticed with dhanush and arrows in their hands. They are in war mode. The correspondent is not sure about their aims. Arrows can hit anyone; it's a precaution to the Jhankar gharana team as well. And the organizing committee is requested to prepare an emergency preparedness plan with bomb disposal ward because there are possibilities of dropping bombs with arrows.
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Part III of the Report
Finally an announcement from the program coordinator regarding the missing contestants. It seems (correspondent was not informed) Jalpari has back from the Jal and Raju Kabi officially gone missing. It's a tough luck for the Alaap Gharana. Now a new candidate will be selected and will join the Alaap gharana by 14th of December. There was little bit of confusion regarding a particular rule set for this selection and a candidate of the gharana and one supporter of the same gharana seen exchanging views on this rule. Finally Alaap Mentor made herself available in the forum and gave her inputs regarding the selection process she said, "Raju's non-availability is blow to my gharana, and he was having great potential. Anyway hope that the replacement will be as good as him or who knows the candidate may do better than Raju. Take inspiration from Dada Ganguly. Regarding the rule, no comment from my side, by the way, who said newbies are not regular members of the forum. Anyone can take part in the selection process."
One gharana, which is keeping all strategy secret till now and not giving any public view, is the Sur Sangam Gharana. The mentor has mysteriously unavailable from the screen. Reliable sources informed the correspondent that the mentor is providing training to the candidates in an undisclosed location and with a music director. The correspondent is not sure about the music director but sure about who is not; no prize for guessing. It's a universal truth regarding the mentor.
There are lots of activities going on, in other two gharanas as well. Bandish Gharana becomes center of attraction and center of speculation too. The program coordinators (except Universal Bro') are publicly announced their support to this gharana and they could successfully motivate a few more supporters to this gharana. Some other supporters are stating it as partiality and looking with suspicious eyes. But coordinators are not paying any attention. Though a recent development hinted at a change in the support base from the program director, which was largely influenced by gang commander (Don gang). Confirm reports are awaiting. Dhanush Gharana, oops, Jhankar Gharana, still talking in terms of war, arms and ammunition. They are considering the musical contest as a battle and preparing in a military way. The correspondent is still wondering who has given them the Dhanush in this musical contest.
So the war trumpet is about to blown. The supporters are evenly distributed except the Sur gharana. Do not write them of, the mentor is yet to appear in the fray and surely will be able to attain support from the members. It has seen (with inputs from Abhi), since challenge 05 to Lit champs, the participant supported by Appa, Jaya and Adi, won the competitions; now it will be interesting to see who will win this contest as this trio is supporting three different gharanas.
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Part IV of the Report
There were some fascinating developments in the IF SRGMP, in last few days. As the new audition round is continuing, some of the missing members have come back. Earlier to this dramatic happening, there was a slight change in the competition format; now each Gharana will have one more contestant making 5 contestants in each Gharana. Probably there will be an additional round. The correspondent was speculating this as a ploy to extend the competition like the saas-bahu serials. But when contacted one of the coordinating team members Jaya, she said, "No need to speculate anything, there is no extension plan nor any commercial reason. We have received some really good talents, and thought all should have a fair chance to take part in this contest. So finally decided to increase the gharana strength to 5 each." Now the round of 16 will be a round of 20.
The Alaap gharana is celebrating. And why not, as their ace member Raju Kabi has returned to the Gharana and he has confirmed his participation. The correspondent could not contact Raju but another member of the same gharana claimed that Raju was rescued from an unidentified basement which belong to the mentor of the Sur Sangam gharana. But Appa is currently unavailable to comment on this allegation. Let the truth remain under carpet. But Jalpari is not so lucky, she missed the flight by a whisker. She did not know that she has been selected to the Jhankar gharana. There might be some problems in communication, blame it on technology. Jalpari has been replaced by Luvneet in the dying hours. There is more good news for the Jhankar gharana, one of their contestant Mudit is back. With full protection the correspondent gathered some courage to contact the Mentor Priya, who is still continuing her Dhanushbaazi. She said, "It's a mixed feelings. Feeling sad for Jalpari, as she wont be a part of my team. There is some relief at least Mudit is back. But again no news of Tahir Bashir. I cannot even suspect anyone of kidnapping Tahir. Who would dare to kidnap my team member when everyone aware of my dhanush and bomb loaded teers? Why are you standing so far from me? There is no teer left, do not scare, I wont hit any reliable person like you with the dhanush; I need it for others. You are so authentic and unbiased in reporting facts, no one will harm you." The correspondent is really glad to hear these words.
Bandish gharana is still quiet and seems they all are concentrating on their real task ahead. When contacted Tanaz said, "I do not belief in making noise before the real thing happens. My contestants will answer to everyone with their song. We will make big bangs only after winner the title, which is almost within our reach." Very confident it seems, and why not when the managing team is supporting this gharana. Only time will tell the truth. Though Sur sangam mentor is traveling, the correspondent came to know from sources that clear instruction has been given to all his members what to do during his absence and confirmed to the organizing committee that he would be available before the first round deadline.
19 December is getting close. Rehearsals are in full swing both in singing and teerbaazi. Wait for the lucky entries from the wild card audition round. Banners and siggies are also ready for the supporters. Keep crossing your fingers, MGA correspondent is crossing his hands.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
