TOI article : The singing of Two Indias

The singing of two Indias - Santosh Desai

Every week two different Indias are singing their hearts out in order to win our hearts. At a certain level Indian Idol and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are very similar shows f e at u r i n g similar people; essentially youngsters from small-town India who are striving to erase their obscurity by being picked out in a talent contest. They come from similar places and want to be transported magically to the same glittering fantasyland.
But there is a difference. Indian Idol is the desi version of the show made popular by American Idol and is a format invented in the west while Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is the adrenalised version of Sa Re Ga Ma, a show earlier known for its no-frills approach towards good singing. What this difference ends up providing is a fascinating document of two Indias, both undergoing furious change, in their own distinct ways.
Indian Idol is a show in Hindi but conceived in English. It drips with an implicit class statement, that the rest of India wants to be like the educated English-speaking elite. For, to be an Indian Idol, one not only needs to be a good singer but also to be good looking (a contestant in the current season is told repeatedly about her depressing looks and the implicit need for a makeover), possessing something called the X factor which eventually turns out to be nothing more than some blonde streaks in one's hair, something all winners are no doubt contracted to do. The contestants are coached in style by choreographers and hair stylists, for the winner must learn to become a celebrity.
The judges too have historically come from this world, although does Annu Malik really belong to any known human category? The current panel has Javed Akhtar, the patron saint of the urban educated, the said Annu Malik, Alisha Chinoy and as the token representative of the rest of India, Udit Narayan.
The stories of individual participants are deemed to be of great importance and the emphasis is very often on the modest circumstances that they come from, in order to emphasise the difference success in a show like this makes. Indian Idol is the story of India Striving, patronisingly told by the India that isn't.
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, on the other hand, is a show that has all the subtlety of an Indian wedding as imagined by an NRI film-maker. The dress code is 'mithai' with the silver foil mandatory, and the clothes that the judges wear are often in the throes of an orgasm, largely horticultural. The tone is pitched high, with melodrama dripping from every pore. The participants are divided into 'gharanas' with every guru taking on a role as mentor, guide, philosopher (with a wide vocabulary of Hindi film 'shairi' passing as wisdom) and shrill cheerleader. The guru really gets behind the disciples and is quick to extol, chastise and defend them in florid expansive terms.
Sweeping gestures are made, lofty promises are sworn to, tears are shed both in anger and in gooey camaraderie. The judges have been encouraged to be emotionally unstable and they oblige.
This is a show where everything is fulsome, excessive and giddyingly over the top. What else would you expect with a cast comprising Himesh Reshammiya, Ismail Durbar, Vishal-Shekhar and Bappi da, resplendent as only beached whales can be with sunglasses?
The audience wears clothes that radiate an idea of fashion that bears no allegiance to any international references. The sets too are done up in shamiana baroque and lights flash randomly for no apparent reason.
The individual participants are of no real consequence; they are receptacles of their gurus' energies. They are meant to sing well (which they most often do quite effortlessly), touch any and everybody's feet every few minutes, speak in a voice choked with emotion and faint if they are eliminated.
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is a show that highlights an unapologetic India bursting through its zaried seams. This is an India that is not tyrannised by the standards set by the educated elite and celebrates its independence in eastmancolour excess.
The difference between the two shows is marginal seen one way and fundamental seen another. Indian Idol lives in a world where the journey to success must pass through a class barrier; in the world of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, success is about the amplification of who we already are.
That the latter is doing better with viewers is not a great surprise; besides, the singing is better too.