Hero Honda S a r e g a m a p a is one of the oldest programs on Zee and also one of the most popular shows. Saregamapa owes its popularity to the fact that it had a very simple format which most of the people in the audience could understand and identify it with. Also, the quality of the show was excellent, be it the judges, the musicians, the production team, and more importantly the quality of the talent that was coming through .
CRADLE OF TALENT:
It would not be out of place to mention here that over the years Saregamapa became the cradle from which genuine talent emerged. This was one ‘talent hunt’ show, which was not mired in controversies, and nobody questioned the credentials of the winners. One look at the past winners should confirm my observation. Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Kunal Ganjawala, Sneha Pant, Avdhoot Gupte, Mohd. Salamat, Sanjeevani, and Mohd Vakil, just to name a few who made it big in Bollywood after honing their skills on the whetstone of Saregamapa.
BOWING TO COMMERCIAL DEMANDS:
Gajendra Singh is a highly respected man in the TV circuit and to him goes the credit for this immensely popular show. Like I mentioned before, this show had a simple format and conscientious judges who selected the best singer after listening to the participants sing under time tested parameters. Alas, all this had to change with the advent of ‘Reality Shows.’ The financial success of Indian Idol on Sony TV, and a similar show on Channel V, Cinestar ki Khoj etc, made the ‘think tanks’ in Zee TV sit up and ‘think’ really hard. The fall out of that was, in my opinion, poor Gajendra was put under pressure to make Saregamapa a reality show.
REALITY SHOWS ARE HERE TO STAY:
I am not totally against this concept because every concept has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage with the earlier concept was that judges were allowed to choose the winner, and they being extremely knowledgeable in their profession more often than not chose wisely and with a discerning ear. It was rare that a deserving person was overlooked because of the judges preconceived notions or prejudices, or even parochialism. But, mistakes can happen by judges and they did happen which goes to show that, after all, judges are human. Especially, when the stakes are high, it is difficult for the judges to be objective.
The present concept has reduced the judges to merely the role of expert commentator. They can give their opinions about the participants and can also rate them, but final selection rests with the audience. One advantage of this concept is that no one will cast aspersions on the judges and allege that the selection was biased. It is not necessary that the most talented or deserving participant will be selected, but this concept will ensure that at least the most popular one is selected. “Public ki Choice” or “Aap ki Choice” is what we are looking at. Ironically, even this concept is not free from flaws or controversies because any number of people can vote any number of times and that can lead to banking of votes. Factors such as region, caste, religion, sex, economic background, love life of the participants, etc can come into play. This problem is magnified further because India is a large country and participants come from different regions speaking different languages and, therefore, tend to kindle regional loyalties. But, if you had to choose between the Devil and the Deep-Sea, what would you choose? If I were to choose between the two I’d choose the reality concept for the simple reason that it involves the audience and it gives them the feeling that they are empowered to choose whomsoever they wish to. It is more of a democratic concept where the audience has a hand in the selection process.
TALENT HUNT SHOW BECOMES GHARANA HUNT SHOW:
There is one thing about this program however that has not been very endearing to me. Having these Gharanas and allotting participants to various Gharanas seems to me (at least in hindsight) to be a little foolish. This has lead to unnecessary and avoidable conflicts between the Gharanas. The Gurus (called magical mentors), instead of being absolutely honest and impartial, have been involved in blowing their own trumpet or, at least, their shishyas’ trumpet. They are more concerned about their own ward winning the show and not the most deserving singer winning the show. Some Gurus deliberately indulged in the exercise of down rating participants who did not belong to their own Gharana, despite the participant’s good performance, only with a view to influence the audience vote. Even when the Gurus request the audience to vote for a particular participant, who doesn’t belong to their Gharana, their body language is quite the opposite. I don’t blame the Mentors because so much is at stake not only for their wards but also for them. But, why the Khoklapan?
MONUMENTAL MISTAKE:
In my opinion, creating the Gharanas and proclaiming that it’s a challenge among the Gharanas was a monumental mistake. Had there been impartial judges who just gave their opinions about what they thought of each individual participant without showing their allegiance to any particular participant and let the audience do the voting, the show would have been less controversial and more authentic in the eyes of the public.
The show is reaching its logical end. Many good singers have fallen by the wayside. That is not to say the one’s who are still in the fray are not good enough. In fact, all the four participants, Vinit, Himani, Hemachander, and Debojit are also very good and there is very little to choose amongst them. However, if I had to choose one among them, then I’d probably go for Vinit who has been a consistent performer right from the beginning. But, the ‘dark horse’ could be Hemachander. From here onwards luck and destiny will play a very great part in deciding who will be crowned the winner. Talent alone will not be enough, what is required is consistent performance and the participant’s ability to endear himself or herself to the all-powerful audience.
If there is a Challenge 2006, and I presume there will be, I hope the Saregamapa ‘think tank’ will do away with the Gharana system and have an impartial set of judges to give their opinions, because, the way I see it Challenge 2005 has turned out to be effectively a challenge among the Gharanas, and not among the participants as it should be.
MBF