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Can't judges be a little considerate?
It was supposed to be a show of talent but soon descended to being a show of pure one-upmanship. The discordant note struck on Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has quite taken away the spotlight from the participants.
Many good singers became victims of petty ego hassles of the famed gurus, Himesh Reshmiya, Jatin Lalit, Aadesh Srivastava and Ismail Durbar. Reshmmiya and Jatin Lalit have been having constant squabbles but the big fight was the one between Aadesh Srivastava and Ismail Durbar.
"The confrontation with Ismail Durbar had been building up ever since we started Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge," says Srivastava. "He has a highhanded, arrogant attitude which is not acceptable to the other judges. He has no respect for anyone, not even the boys and girls who came from far-flung places like Assam and Manipur with dreams of becoming singers. Ismail addresses them so rudely on camera that the contestants are reduced to tears. I told him to be more considerate. But he's beyond reason," he fumed.
During the last stint of the show's recording when Durbar made fun of Srivastava's knowledge of classical music, "He implied that he was the master of the ragas while Himesh, Lalit, Jatin and me were just novices who knew nothing about classical music.
He forgets I'm from a musical family. I've used classically trained voices like Richa Sharma and Hema Sardesai, and used ragas in my tunes whenever possible. When Ismail made snide references to my abilities, I couldn't take it any more. I ticked him off good and proper. We'd probably have gone further in our fight but I don't come from the same background as he does. I held my peace.
But we decided we would not sit on the same platform as Ismail Durbar. Thank God the camera wasn't on when this happened," said Aadesh Srivastava. Aadesh is now unsure about returning to judge Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge.
Zee TV's Vice President Ashish Kaul however denies any such showdown and says, "It is a reality show, these things are supposed to be a part of it. Each judge feels strongly about their participants and the ones they are training. It's but natural for them to flare up. That doesn't mean we'll stop the show altogether. It is a talent hunt and we cannot stop midway."
However, Ashish feels it has nothing to do with ego hassles among the judges. Anchor of the show, Shaan, says "It's like pointing fingers at their talent, so none of them would like it. I attribute the behaviour to the pressure. The composers are not used to spending hours in front of lights and cameras, this can be very irritating. So it's natural to get irritated or voice their thoughts a little loudly."
However, what nobody seems to realise is the fact that when celebs are invited, they will never take a back seat. They feel they're the stars of every show and will want all the attention. In Fame Gurukul, on Sony, when the selection was happening through SMS, Mandira Bedi, the anchor, passed a comment on one contestant Qazi, rather loudly, saying, "he is getting too irritating, we should eliminate him now." Qazi was doing well and was also a good singer.
He had the poise and knew exactly how to manage the stage. What perhaps irritated Mandira was his "I-know-it-all" attitude. But isn't that unfair? This is not the first time when judges have behaved rudely with the participants. When the auditions for Sony's Indian Idol were being screened, judges Anu Mallik and Farah Khan were particularly rude to several participants. Their tone was mean and uncalled for.
Farah commented on the way participants dressed, their body language and said things like, "What is it that you are wearing... you think you can come on the stage that way...". Anu Mallik was one step worse. He said things like, "Tumhare awaaz mein koi dum nahi... You won't make it..."
Comments like these cannot be passed off as "judging". Especially when the entire country is watching. Big stalwarts like Karan Johar, when on the show, behaved very well, why can't these people learn from them. "We cannot term that as rudeness. All the judges and gurus have come up the hard way. When the participants are given a ready-made platform, and fail to perform to the expected levels, it irks the judges," said a Sony spokesperson.
Not just talent shows even when the selections for Get Gorgeous show on Channel [V] were in progress, the judges behaved in a similar manner. Girls were criticised for the way they talked, walked and even presented themselves.
Noyonika Chatterji, the model who was training the participants, would keep saying, "Please don't giggle and laugh aloud and embarrass me. Don't be in a hurry to finish your food and so on and so forth," making it seem the participants were a bunch of junglees.
It was supposed to be a show of talent but soon descended to being a show of pure one-upmanship. The discordant note struck on Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has quite taken away the spotlight from the participants.
Many good singers became victims of petty ego hassles of the famed gurus, Himesh Reshmiya, Jatin Lalit, Aadesh Srivastava and Ismail Durbar. Reshmmiya and Jatin Lalit have been having constant squabbles but the big fight was the one between Aadesh Srivastava and Ismail Durbar.
"The confrontation with Ismail Durbar had been building up ever since we started Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge," says Srivastava. "He has a highhanded, arrogant attitude which is not acceptable to the other judges. He has no respect for anyone, not even the boys and girls who came from far-flung places like Assam and Manipur with dreams of becoming singers. Ismail addresses them so rudely on camera that the contestants are reduced to tears. I told him to be more considerate. But he's beyond reason," he fumed.
During the last stint of the show's recording when Durbar made fun of Srivastava's knowledge of classical music, "He implied that he was the master of the ragas while Himesh, Lalit, Jatin and me were just novices who knew nothing about classical music.
He forgets I'm from a musical family. I've used classically trained voices like Richa Sharma and Hema Sardesai, and used ragas in my tunes whenever possible. When Ismail made snide references to my abilities, I couldn't take it any more. I ticked him off good and proper. We'd probably have gone further in our fight but I don't come from the same background as he does. I held my peace.
But we decided we would not sit on the same platform as Ismail Durbar. Thank God the camera wasn't on when this happened," said Aadesh Srivastava. Aadesh is now unsure about returning to judge Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge.
Zee TV's Vice President Ashish Kaul however denies any such showdown and says, "It is a reality show, these things are supposed to be a part of it. Each judge feels strongly about their participants and the ones they are training. It's but natural for them to flare up. That doesn't mean we'll stop the show altogether. It is a talent hunt and we cannot stop midway."
However, Ashish feels it has nothing to do with ego hassles among the judges. Anchor of the show, Shaan, says "It's like pointing fingers at their talent, so none of them would like it. I attribute the behaviour to the pressure. The composers are not used to spending hours in front of lights and cameras, this can be very irritating. So it's natural to get irritated or voice their thoughts a little loudly."
However, what nobody seems to realise is the fact that when celebs are invited, they will never take a back seat. They feel they're the stars of every show and will want all the attention. In Fame Gurukul, on Sony, when the selection was happening through SMS, Mandira Bedi, the anchor, passed a comment on one contestant Qazi, rather loudly, saying, "he is getting too irritating, we should eliminate him now." Qazi was doing well and was also a good singer.
He had the poise and knew exactly how to manage the stage. What perhaps irritated Mandira was his "I-know-it-all" attitude. But isn't that unfair? This is not the first time when judges have behaved rudely with the participants. When the auditions for Sony's Indian Idol were being screened, judges Anu Mallik and Farah Khan were particularly rude to several participants. Their tone was mean and uncalled for.
Farah commented on the way participants dressed, their body language and said things like, "What is it that you are wearing... you think you can come on the stage that way...". Anu Mallik was one step worse. He said things like, "Tumhare awaaz mein koi dum nahi... You won't make it..."
Comments like these cannot be passed off as "judging". Especially when the entire country is watching. Big stalwarts like Karan Johar, when on the show, behaved very well, why can't these people learn from them. "We cannot term that as rudeness. All the judges and gurus have come up the hard way. When the participants are given a ready-made platform, and fail to perform to the expected levels, it irks the judges," said a Sony spokesperson.
Not just talent shows even when the selections for Get Gorgeous show on Channel [V] were in progress, the judges behaved in a similar manner. Girls were criticised for the way they talked, walked and even presented themselves.
Noyonika Chatterji, the model who was training the participants, would keep saying, "Please don't giggle and laugh aloud and embarrass me. Don't be in a hurry to finish your food and so on and so forth," making it seem the participants were a bunch of junglees.
Mangal Lakshmi
Hindi TV Shows
Ishaani
