The Show...
Just after Indian Idol gets over and everyone’s going totally mad with Aapka Abhijeet, screaming his name everywhere (am I just deaf?) Sony Entertainment Television decides to launch a more complicated and glitzy reality tv show. It goes by the name of “Fame Gurukul”, following in the footsteps of the program broadcasted in the UK – Fame Academy.
The concept is similar to Indian Idol. But instead of just one final singer, there will be 2-the winners will be a “fame jodi”. The judges (Javed Akhtar, Shankar Mahadevan and KK) come up with a final 14 (instead of 11) who come and stay in the Fame Gurukul, getting training in singing by the teachers. The headmistress is Ila Arun.
Elimination Process...
Every Friday is a gala round, where the contestants perform. One “top student” is declared safe by the faculty. This is the student who has worked the hardest during the past week, and can not be declared weak by the judges. The judges decide on who were the 4 weakest contestants, and these 4 are consequently put in the “danger zone”. The faculty (singing teachers and headmistress of the Gurukul) are allowed to save one of these.
The remaining 3 are given a last chance to perform. The public have from Friday evening to Thurday morning to vote for however many students they want, however many times. The one with the highest number of votes gets to stay in. All the safe students get to vote on who they would like to stay in from the remaining 2.
Glamour and Glitz …
As if this show doesn’t take enough time to put your mind into, the producers decide to add on a whole lot of gloss.
Firstly we have Miss Mandira Bedi presenting the show, decked in expensive saris and jewellery. Her partner in presenting is Manav Gohil…Half the time they are trying to empathise/ sympathize with whoever is in danger, but fail miserably (this is reality tv, not a Kekta soap!). The other half of the time they are advertising other programs on Sony, which gets really annoying the way they start saying stupid things in sugar-coated voices like “kyaa Jassi Armaan se shaadi karegi? Yeh jaane ke liye dekhiye Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, aaj raat saade nav baje” or whatever.
We then have the “special guests” who appear at the gala rounds. We’ve had beauties like Bipasha Basu, Dia Mirza, Isha Khoppikar came to judge. We know they are celebs, but do they have a clue about the art of singing? Unless they just come to judge the performance, which is ok.
The Students …
You really want to know what people do for fame? Hmmm, where should I start?
Firstly we have a character called Shamit. He sings well, no doubt. But he keeps trying to gain the audience’s vote through pity. I fell into his trap right away, the way he kept saying how his father died, and then his brother passed away, and now his mother doesn’t have anyone apart from himself. But then I realised that he should just believe in his singing, and if he thinks that he has to resort to pity for votes then that’s just really sad.
Then we have a guy called Arijit, who was joined by the hip to Shamit. Dosti to the extent of calling him Shamit Bhaiyya. My first impression of him was lack of energy. But then, the more I saw him with Shamit, he looked more smart and less asleep. I don’t have my hopes high on him winning (but then again, I didn’t think Abhijeet would win either).
We also have: Arpita (talks alot), Rex (cries a lot), Rooprekha (smiles a lot), Mona darling (looks pretty) and Qazi (no comment).
But do you know what the saddest thing is? Real talent is being wasted. The show encourages dirty politics (as Sarika said) from the student’s behalf. There we had such a brilliant singer in the bag, but when the students got to vote did they decide to give Kirti, the very talented guy a chance? No! Of course not! If they had another talented guy to compete with then that would just make life hard for them wouldn’t it? It was so sad to see people especially Kirti, and now Anubhav (a very good “just friend” of Mona) having to leave the Gurukul due to the lack of support from fellow students, and also the general public. We know about the students mentality, but why do the people with the power choose to let such good singers go? Because they prefer to vote for another character called Qazi…
Ok, who keeps voting for Qazi? Culprits please own up! Seriously, I’m dying to know who the lakhs of people (or person who sends lakhs of votes) are who keep saving him every time he’s in the danger zone! Because all the people I’ve met or asked agree that Qazi’s a good performer, but he can’t do the main thing – which is SING!
I have nothing against him, after all it’s not his fault that the judges chose him in the first place, and the public won’t let him get out. But he’s not a singer. He’s even admitted a million times that he was confused between being an actor and a singer. I’m sure he’d do well in acting – Kekta would be ready to take him on her shows, following the footsteps of Amit Tandon.
The other students know they are all better than him (they’ve admitted it), the judges know that he’s not the best (he’s in the danger zone nearly every week), even he knows he’s not the best! Then what the hell is he doing there? I will just be in hysterics if he ends up winning…
We want a show which does justice to the art of singing and the true singers with out losing integrity. I just can’t wait to see what outcomes a show like this one brings.
Please do RRC, I write just for you guys :)