ZEE TV broadcasts " SAREGAMA LI’L CHAMPS" which is aired on Thursdays & Fridays from 10-11pm.(Henceforth, Fridays & Saturdays, same timing).
For the uninitiated, this is a Kids singing talent hunt show, being compeered by Shaan and being judged by three stalwarts of Indian Music Industry-Ms Alka Yagnik, Mr Abhijeet and Mr Bappi Lahiri.
While channel surfing, I accidently stumbled onto it and started watching this show a couple of weeks ago and was instantly hooked onto it. The singing quality of the Kids is too good. The show is presented in a sleek manner, the Judges announce their grades giving justifications. The band is good.Overall, a nice show.
The elimination round was down to top 10 and it was really difficult to throw out a child because he or she has not performed up to the mark on that evening. All of them are singing well and it’s a tough call to make to eliminate one of them.
Then, something happened unexpectedlty.The producer of the show(Mr Gaj Singh, of the "Antakshari " Fame) decided that one of the candidates(out of 5) who has not performed well and were no more on the show would come back on the show as per popular vote and join the existing 5 contenders.
That was Fine.
Now, came the final twist. The show was transformed from one where Judges will pass their verdict and accordingly the candidates would be thrown out of the competition to the one where the masses will decide who is the best. And How? By SMSing & calling BSNL Landline premium service to register their votes.
Your Guess is as good as mine-who will be the real benefactor.
Can we imagine an unheard of singer being voted the most and he/she is announced as the "Melody Queen of India"?
The Judges have become spectators now.Their grades do not carry any weightage.In the last show, where one of the more promising singer, Ms Shraddha Das, was voted out on the basis of SMS received, one of the Judges could only express their sorrow by saying-She should not have been eliminated.
The Moot question is-Why do we call this a talent hunt show if the masses are going to decide who is the best? What is the need of three judges, whose role has become cosmetic now? If the ultimate motive of the show was to garner SMS’s and Votes, they could have just kept it that way since the beginning.
But, you see, our’s is a democracy and Public opinion is something to play around with. We will continue to play around with our Kids talent, their aspirations, their feelings and ultimately give them a simple message-If you have the power of Moolah, the power to garner Votes- we will worship you. You may not be as talented as your competitor, but since you have the resources, You are the Numero Uno.
Welcome to a new World of Manipulators.
Long live Democracy