It's Disclosing Many Unaired Things
" Pljj Read Out Whole And Stop bashing "
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Blog Review - Week 1 (Sur Kshetra)
Sur Kshetra finally aired this week with the selection of 6 Indian and 6 Pakistani contestants out of 10 hopefuls. These blog reviews will be posted every week by the official page to share reviews and views about the week that went by and also the things that are going to be aired shortly.
Now, if we believe the voice over gentleman from the show, we r made to assume that these 6 finalists from both countries are supposed to be 6 "soldiers" fighting for their countries. Well, that is not the case for us at all. By us we mean Team Pakistan and its captain. For us, these 6 contestants are brilliant singers who have made it to the final 6 of a reality show. That's all there is to it. We say this because contestants from both countries stayed in the same hotel, interacted with each other on a regular basis, cracked jokes, ate together, consoled each other and even shared their musical knowledge with each other. There was no war zone among the contestants throughout the show. But when the cameras are on, things are made to look much differently. We r supposed to believe that it is a war because that is supposedly the hook of the show, the one thing that will make us watch it. For us, the hook of the show is the singing talent from both countries, not the fake war we r being manipulated into.
Atif's main purpose of doing the show was to avail an opportunity of letting the world know how talented and peace loving Pakistani's are. The world has been made to believe the worst about Pakistan and Atif just wanted to show the world a positive side of Pakistan. Even more then winning, Atif's main focus will always be to represent Pakistan in a positive light throughout the show. Atif knew all along that the show will be produced as a competition between India and Pakistan; he knew he couldn't control that. But he also knew that he can control what he says and what he doesn't.
Regarding the judgments that are soon to be unleashed, Atif's perspective was quite clear, it doesn't matter who wins, anybody who wins should deserve to win. The decision and the points should be based on merit. Atif ka sirf ek point hai, k koi bhi jeetey yan harey, he or she should deserve it, that's all. Atif's logic was quite simple, each contestant should be judged with the same amount of fairness and their singing must be judged and criticized based on the same criteria. Two contestants making the same mistakes should not be subjected to different points. In order to keep things fair, you will see Atif taking a stand very often and even dishing out strict comments. We will discuss these comments as we get to them during the show.
There was a lot of editing done in the first episode itself because there were time constraints due to the number of performances. Many comments by Atif Aslam, Hadiqa Kiyani and Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab were edited out. In the beginning of the show, Atif commented that, "Ye sub log merey sey bohat acha gatey hain", to encourage his team and just be as humble as he always is. Towards the end of the episode, Hadiqa also commented that, "Dunya ko ek Pakistan captain Imran Khan yaad raha tha aur ab Captain Atif yaad rahey ga hamesha". Apart from these comments, Ghulam Ali Khan sahab gave a lot of good wishes to the Pakistani team and its captain.
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Blog Review - Week 2 (SurKshetra)
The second week of SurKshetra introduced the jury of the show to the world. Contestants from both countries performed in front of the jury. Even though there weren't any points given this week, the contestants were introduced to the jury as well as the captains of both teams.
There is a lot to write about since the world buzzing about the episodes this week and everyone is tweeting, blogging and posting about it on different platforms. One unanimous feedback coming our way is that everyone loved Atif Aslam's rendition of "Dilbar Merey" followed by a duet with Asha Bhosle, singing "Chura Liya". We are very proud of our superstar and his performance this week. It wasn't long ago that these reality shows intentionally attacked Atif and his success. Atif, as always, kept quiet and focused on his work. Through his hard work, dedication and the blessings of Allah, he is now a prominent member of a singing competition himself and has been given the power to have an opinion. However, unlike other members of the show, Atif isn't misusing the power and authority that has been given to him. The world of social media has been quite active this week and people are clearly sensing favoritism and bias on the jury panel. Even Indian music lovers who have watched the show with a practical approach have been commenting on the bias that is being shown towards the Indian contestants by a particular jury member. Atif Aslam respects the musical legends of India, he has always respected them. In fact the first song he ever hummed was by Kishore Kumar and he often mentions it in his interviews. However, it is only fair to treat every contestant equally, whether it's the points or the comments. There were many instances this week where Pakistani contestants were being treated differently as opposed to the Indian contestants. Pakistani contestants were being advised to sing softly while Indian contestants singing high pitch were being given a standing ovation. One Pakistani contestant was rightfully advised to work on his dialect and pronunciation; it was a very good advice. However, when an Indian contestant was advised the same by a jury member, another jury member stated that pronunciation isn't that important nowadays so that mistake is forgiven. The same jury member kept quiet when the Pakistani contestant was being advised the same. These small instances will add up to a lot when accumulated. It doesn't make sense if one Pakistani contestant is appreciated for his hard work while the others are subjected to criticism for things that are being blatantly ignored for the Indian contestants. Atif asks a question to the other captain or makes a statement about the other captain but the reply, the response comes from a different source. We were not going to post anything about all this; we didn't feel it was necessary to talk about favoritism and bias. However, the feedback from the people watching the show from both countries has encouraged us, motivated us to write about it. We are proud of the sensible viewership of the show and we appreciate the fact that these actions are being pointed out to us. People are being vocal about it. In fact we are pleasantly surprised that the viewers have picked up on these things so early. Legends of the industry will always be respected by Atif Aslam but when it comes to fairness, he will not compromise the ability and hard work of his team and won't be afraid to speak his mind about it.
Atif has repeatedly mentioned that this is not a war for him, it is a message of peace and love, a healthy competition played in the right spirit from his side. But it doesn't mean that anything goes. Any competition has certain rules and guidelines and we can only enjoy the competition if these rules and guidelines are followed in each case, not just selective rulings. Atif's approach of peace and love doesn't mean that he will let anyone be unfair to his team. It also doesn't mean that he will be disrespectful to anyone unlike other members on the show. He will always be respectful and polite in his approach but won't hold back about what he feels. Hence, his positive and friendly approach should not be mistaken for a complacent captain.
The coming week will bring different point of views from both captains in terms of the judgment and there will surely be some fireworks on the show. We will keep all the Aadeez updated about the happenings of the week with another blog next week. We will simply share our point of view and Atif's point of view from the episode; we feel it is quite simple and logical. As simple as the logic Atif had about the backup vocals but even that issue was complicated by others. Anyway, see you next week.
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Blog Review - Week 3 (SurKshetra)
The supposedly historic points system began this week in the show as performances were given either a 0 or a 10. While some contestants shined through their performances, the criteria for judgment and its explanation was confusing at times and on some occasions, plain funny.
Atif raised a simple point that singing is not about sur only. Sur is not the only criteria a performance can or should be judged upon. A song, a performance needs to have the right balance of sur, taal, expression, feelings, and rhythm. The show has been designed such that it has a given theme in each episode. If the theme is "josh" and the singer is singing a song with 100% perfection in sur but 0% josh, then the theme has no relevance. The performance needs to have the energy to go along with the theme as well. Similarly, in the "love" theme, the performances need to have expression and feelings along with the sur. Only a wholesome performance should be given full points. If the performances are going to be judged merely on their sur, then we don't need to have themes nor a house band. The contestants should just sing without any instruments. Another point raised by the fellow captain was that since the name of the show is "SUR-Kshetra", the judgment should be based solely on sur. Now we find that argument quite funny. We wonder if the name of the show was "TAAL-Kshetra", would the sur be ignored completely. It doesn't make much sense. To say that judgment should be based merely according to the name of the show doesn't seem much relevant. We can't help but wonder how would things be judged on "Boogie Woogie" if that was the case? An amusing thought indeed! I guess a raised voice and a disrespectful tone might even try to justify this as well!
Some of the comments made by the fellow captain were sounding so monotonous, repetitive, emotional, defensive and made up that Atif had to comment on it. That's why Atif made a small yet effective statement saying that "Ap ney kabhi script likhi hai?" That brief and polite comment conveyed a powerful message to all the viewers. We hope all the Aadeez understood it!
Another constant request from the fellow captain was to rewind the performances and catch the places where the sur wasn't perfect. After so many requests, even Atif felt that such a consistent request should be granted and we should rewind the performances if anyone wants. On set, Atif had no issues in listening to the performances again but the director of the show explained to both the captains that we can't rewind the performances on the spot. It's logistically not possible at the time and they also don't have that much time to spend on each performance. Still the requests to rewind the performances kept coming and Atif happily agreed to it towards the end of the show. He doesn't have a problem with that; the production team does because it's simply not practical.
The statements from the fellow captain and the jury members about the criteria for giving points were changing quite drastically in the same episode. Initially they spoke about sur and only sur but later on it was suggested that the performance and energy should be considered. But that suggestion came only when their own contestant lacked sur and focused more on the energy. Still, in comparison, the previous contestant had the right balance of energy and sur with minor mistakes. Things were complicated many times due to the flip flop comments by the jury members and the fellow captain. It seemed that the judgment wasn't consistent nor fair at times. Atif pointed that out when it needed to be pointed out by calling it "favouritism". Atif's rightful assessment was met by obvious defensive statements from a jury member. The explanation was given that if favouritism prevailed, then a Pakistani contestant would never get a standing ovation from the jury. Atif rightfully stated that if a standing ovation is being given to an excellent performance, it doesn't even need to be mentioned in this discussion. Does it mean that the standing ovation wasn't intended purely for the performance and was merely something that will be used later as an excuse in case anyone questioned their judgment? That is why Atif pointed out that "Kinta zyada ka lafz kyun aagaya?" Why is it so that appreciating Pakistani contestants is being used as an excuse to give unfair points? Appreciation and points are two different things and each performance should be judged with equal consistency. One performance shouldn't be given the appreciation and points it deserves while another performance should be judged unfairly. As the only maximum points a contestant can get is "10", each 10 points make a lot of difference to the final score.
Whether a bias prevails in the judgment or it doesn't, that won't stop Atif from praising good performances, even from the Indian contestants. It also won't stop Atif from encouraging Indian contestants to do better in their next performance. Atif was clearly encouraging even Indian contestants to do better the next time and recover in time. He even thanked a contestant for choosing and performing his song even though the performance was below par. At the same time, he will also continue to precisely point out the mistakes from the performances and the reason for being critical is quite simple, the morale of his team used to go down whenever they sensed favouritism and bias in the points. It was Atif's responsibility to take a stand for his team as they kept getting discouraged by the points. He not only took a stand for them, he even encouraged them after each episode. He kept them focused on being true to what they have learnt without thinking about the points. He also instructed them to always be polite and respectful to everyone on set, even though their fellow contestants weren't being that respectful. Due to the inconsistent points and comments, Atif had to point out fair mistakes in the performances so that at least his team understands and feels supported by the their captain. He wouldn't take that route if the judgment was consistent for everyone. He had to do it for his team and he will continue to do so. But he will do it politely, without being loud or rude.
We want to end this week's review on a high and pleasant note by saying that we are very proud of the performances given by Pakistani as well as Indian contestants. It is hard to perform when so much is going on around you. We know very well that the projection of this show will not affect the love that the music listeners of both countries have for each other and for them, only one slogan holds true, something that Imran & Atif rightfully stated with a smile on his face, "ALL IS WELL". We will see you next week, hopefully with a shorter review!
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