Hey folks. This is a big review for me. I have finally completed my century of reviews on MS here within a short span of around 3 months at an average of 33.33 reviews a month, which comes out to more than a review per day. It has been the support and interest of all my readers of course that prompts me to be eager and write a great deal of reviews here on MS. Thus with the readers kept in mind, I asked a lot of them what topic they would want for this BIG review. Many told me the MS category.
But after searching through it, none of the topics seemed justified. I was puzzled. Then, I was catching Fame Gurukul all of a sudden since the last fortnight or so. I knew it had been running for a while, but a fortnight ago I got really absorbed into it. The contestants and their struggle seemed mesmerizing.
Now that the contest has been edited to the top 5, I will list their names and an analysis in alphabetical order:
(1) ARPITA MUKHERJEE---She is truly my favorite contestant. Arpita is like a perfect celebrity from the word go. Her outlook, her confidence, her rate of impeccability, her hotness factor, her coolness factor, her sensational voice, her sophistication---everything about her makes me go crazy, especially after tonight’s episode where she performed wonderfully on songs like ’’O Maria’’. She was a pure beauty in all manners and ways. Thumbs up to the girl whose charisma made me a fan of this serial. I would vote for her anyday since she seems to be the next best singer of the whole NATION!
(2) QAZI TAUQEER---Qazi is a guy who thinks like Arpita but his overall personality doesn’t support him that much. No doubt his cockiness represents more of a sense of humor than pride and arrogance, but still he needs to cool down. After extracting a few cheers from the girls in the audience, the guy thinks he is the next big style icon or something. Besides, this may be funny to some, but distasteful to many others. Once in a danger zone with 2 other people, he requested the audience to vote for him or even the other two, but the criteria, he said, should be vocals, not the good looks. He basically was telling the people that he was better looking than the other two people and thus didn’t want the people to vote him biasedly on his looks. Seriously he’s not an extra-ordinarily handsome guy. He is adequate, but he makes a mockery of himself with those good, yet poorly placed jokes. As a contestant, he is hardworking and enthusiastic and always works on himself taking the criticism positively backstage despite reacting strangely to some of it on stage. Overall, an asset to Gurukul in his own way. Three words to describe him---funny, entertaining, and sometimes over the top!
(3) REX---Rex is a very cool guy as much as I’ve seen of him. He always praises the Gurukul faculty, judges, as well as the audiences by thanking them when they select him for safety, and he even thanks them for motivation and advice when they place him in the danger zone. One can’t help but like him. His artistic talents get a brilliant finish with his inter-personal skills. He places the audience above him and does what they want from him. Besides, he also gives his colleagues all their due respect and sometimes reportedly even votes unselfishly for them. Overall, he’s a gem of a contestant who certainly deserves every bit of success he’s getting by entering the top 5.
(4) ROOP-REKHA---She seems to be a conservative girl from Bengal. RR is a very hardworking contestant who seems to be gradually improving her Hindi diction by the day. Although her diction seems faulty at places, that is natural. Today her performance on Kaante’s ’’Maahi Ve’’ took her to a whole new level. She struck all the chords wonderfully in this challenging song. She impressed her critics and audiences alike and it seemed as if she would keep rising. Although right now Arpita is a much safer and likeable bet than RR, RR has the potential to surprise us all after rising up to even this level, which many might not have expected her to.
(5) SANDEEP---I believe that’s the guy’s name. But I may be wrong. I just started following his performances recently. He seems like a very introvertive guy who is always nervous on stage and yet funny and talkative backstage. Good approach though, as opposed to Qazi’s nonsense attitude onstage and decent backstage. Coming back to this guy, one can say he’s also very focused and respects what the judges tell him. He always seems to be an improved artist and a future singing option for the industry too. However, it’s hard to say that this promising singer is a safe bet to become one half of the fame jodi!
Overall, to comment on the show, the show is based on Spanish reality show ’Operacion Triunfo’. 12 Singers started out in the academy with a host of talented artists as judged---Javed Akhtar, K.K., Shankar Mahadevan etc. Occasionally a special celebrity guest, like Madhavan and Bipasha, etc. join the judges and get to be part of the whole fun. A faculty lead by Ila Arun is the penultimate deciding factor after the judges while the ultimate judge is of course, the audience! However, the audience are always going to make the right choice by their great sense of right or wrong and their intelligence as well as the encouragement of the Gurukul teachers ensures that this contest should help produce promising talent for the entire industry, as opposed to just producing a popularity contest.
Thumbs up from my side to the program. Sometimes it is tedious and some segments like parodies and backstage discussions and preparations seem unwanted, but overall the show is packaged with plenty of entertainment to match the other interesting musical show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, shoulder to shoulder!
P.S. Fame Gurukul has some confusing rules incorporated, with the process of elimination sounding weird at times. But most of the time the great hosting by the zealous Mandira Bedi and the stylish Manav Gohil makes things simplified!