Restructuring Saregamapa for 2006 - Page 22

good ideas!!!!
but i totally disagree with public voting!!
India is a very emotional country, and votes accordingly.
if ismail darbar had not walked out, i am sure either himani or vinit or nihira would have been the winner!!!
himani was definitely the best!! each and every performance of hers rocked!!!
newayz, for the new series, they should just stop public voting. and there shuld be seperate rounds for girls & boys.
lets see wht gajendra singh comes up with!! lets wait & watch!! 😊

Steering the topic back to "Restructuring SRGMP", the organisers have to first decide whether this programme is for the masses or the discerning public.

It is easy to cater to the masses. Just keep the public voting system intact. SMSs will flow in fast and thick. Tell the mentors and contestants they are free to use any issue to whip up emotions. Ask the orchestra to do an even better job of covering up singers' deficiencies. Employ a dance master for the contestants.

But there are already other musical shows already catering to the masses. SRGMP should not lose its USP.

Here is an article I am across in Rediff, not sure if it was posted here before.. I am posting it here not because I am biased towards Debojit or whatever, but just because the writer exposes the show so strongly taking that particular example. Here is how the article goes:
-------------------------------------------------------

A couple of weeks ago, I watched an episode of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV. It made me sit up.

Crass commercialisation, ignorance, lack of finesse, jingoism. You name it. It had it all.

One lot of contestants gangs up against a singer from the Northeast. A couple of composers gang up against a fellow composer with greater credentials. And the channel peddles all this drama for television ratings.

The loser was India and Indianness.

Agreed, that Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is the best music programme on television. Agreed, that it has given the country the most number of playback singers. Then reality television hit the marquee. After Sony's Indian Idol, even the leader decided to change. And how.

Sa Re Ga Ma is a programme where you can vote for your favourite singer. A caveat: You can vote as many times as you want as long as money is not important to you or if it is balanced by your relative/friend/son/daughter becoming the winner. It is rigging, permitted by the rules.

On each episode, the show declares the vote share of the contestants. Only in the case of Debojit, a contestant from Assam, they also disclose the votes he receives from the Northeast. For the other contestants, the show reveals the votes they receive from places other than their hometowns, which don't even add up to 30 per cent.

But in Debojit's case, they announce the votes he receives from the Northeast, over 70 per cent. No such revelation is made about the votes Vinit receives from his native state, Uttar Pradesh, or Hemchandra receives from his home state, Andhra Pradesh.

You also have three more characters: Himesh Reshamiya, Aadesh Srivastav and Ismail Darbar, an integral part of the drama.

Himesh Reshamiya pleads Vinit's case so that the lad can get the girl he loves to say yes. Vinit, who is from Reshamiya's gharana, is all of 17. His voice croaks, thanks to his age. Even poor renditions of great songs by Vinit sees Reshamiya applauding, all for the cameras, you and me.

On the episode aired on January 19, Zee announces Debojit's vote share from the Northeast. It is upwards of 70 per cent. The other three contestants decide to walk out because the voting has a strong regional basis. The Northeast consists of seven states and yet Aadesh Srivastav equates Assam with the entire Northeast, demonstrating his ignorance.

One young lady screams on the show: 'It cannot be Assam's voice, it has to be India's voice.' Young lady, why then don't you blame the folks who vote for some dubious individuals to come to Parliament? And why didn't you vote many more times to take on the might of the seven northeastern states that are as integral a part of India as Maharashtra or Delhi are?

Can the other three contestants say they got a lesser vote percentage if they add up the vote share of the seven states that voted for them?

Debojit is aghast at his isolation by his fellow contestants. He weeps on his wife's shoulder. Ismail Darbar tries, in vain, to put things in perspective. He is heard shouting, 'Kya Assam India me nahin hai kya? (Isn't Assam a part of India?)?' The director of the show then appears on the floor, microphone in hand, and tries to argue with the judges and contestants. All this is supposed to be natural, impulsive.

The contest has turned into a battle between the upright Ismail Darbar, who understands music better than all the others on the show put together, and the rest. It has turned into a battle between one contestant from Assam and the rest.

Two years ago, I saw American Idol where the three best singers, all Black, featured in the bottom three. It sparked off a huge debate in America. The Black American felt he did not belong to the larger American community. There, the judges cried. Here, our judges encouraged it.

The consequences are tragic. We will further alienate people from the Northeast -- all the seven states. We will further alienate Muslims. All this drama on prime time television. All for television ratings. All to get noticed.

My heart goes out to Debojit. To the Northeast. To all the good singers. To Ismail Darbar. But I won't vote on Sa Re Ga Ma just as I don't give alms to beggars. The consequences are grave.

Welcome to reality television.


Mahesh Peri is the publisher, Outlook magazine. These are his personal views.

Yes, I have read this article on another thread. Now that Debojit has finally won, Assam and NE would be feeling vindicated, is it not? So I hope, all the animosities will be forgotten.

The ills of public voting have been demonstrated effectively. I do hope that SRGMP organisers have learnt the right lessons from this exercise. Public voting can exist but should only constitute a portion of the final marks. If you leave 100% of the decision with the public, talent will be over-ridden by regional considerations.

Hi all,

When will the next episode of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa be aired? Will they start Challenge 2006 next month?
I will appreciate your reply back.

New Sa Re Ga Ma Pa announced; start in March
Feb 09, 2006 10:27 AM
The popular Sa Re Ga Ma Pa talent series will continue to run in a new avatar come March.

The current Challenge 2005 ends its run on ZEE TV on Sunday 5th March in a spectacular three hour slot from 19:00-22:00. The following week, Saturday 11th March will see the revamp of the series with a new name: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Ek Main Aur Ek Tu.

The new series is expected to be a surefire hit with ZEE bringing back favourite contestants from Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Challenge 2005. The new format of the show this time will involve the contestants singing in pairs. Every week will see an elimination of a couple. The winners will get a contract with record label T-Series and a whopping cash prize.

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Ek Main Aur Ek Tu will be broadcast in the same time slot, Saturday and Sunday at 19:00 on ZEE TV.

Related link:
ZEE's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to continue in new avatar

Editor: Raj Baddhan Source: ZEE TV UK

This new SRGMP Ek Main aur Ek Tu sounds like a mockery of the earlier Challenge 2006. By calling back all the contestants, isn't it like an admission that the earlier Challenge 2005 wasn't meant to be taken seriously?

I would only say that lets not divide the singers again as Hindi speaking and Non-Hindi speaking.. Lets not forget that the greatest singers of our generations - Lataji, Ashaji or Kishoreda - none of them spoke Hindi as their mother tongue..

Diction is important of course, and needs to be included in the marking. I think most participants are aware of this. Somewhere it was mentioned that Hema is taking classes for Urdu diction. Jatin Lalit, Aadesh etc used to point out mistakes in diction earlier in the programme before all the drama of giving 9/10 and 10/10 started.

Actually I quite like to hear different accents in singing. For example, S.D. Burman sang in a Bengali accent. Many singers have a Punjabi accent. Adds to the colour actually, but definitely not an excuse to stop taking diction classes.