[Reader-list] Music Road Shows & Celebs

[Prashant Pandey]

hi

I have received some queries where people have asked questions on
relevance of bringing in celebrities in singing Competitions like
Saregama and Indian Idol...... then there are questions on how these
shows are constructed. Well I do not have much to write now but I have
worked  on a longish posting about these shows.

See the idea of bringing in a celebrity is to put them on spotlight
where millions of people want them to see in a different role.
Normally the celebrities have an image and they are famous for a
sustainable cultivation of that image. However it puts an enormous
pressure on them when they enter the studies as a celebrity judge in a
say "mega" semifinal. The stakes are high. The singers (esp in
Saregama) sing really really well. To come up with measured responses
and also justifying a decision is a tricky thing. then there is an out
of place feeling as well. Producers will get an Uday Chopra in fame
gurukul or a Diya Mirza in Saregama...but  they end up using words
like power,romance,namak and passion.... which mean nothing really for
 participants yet makes good stuff for the star crazy audience.
But the element of magic is certainly what audience really look for.
Power Performances and quick emancipation. Subhash Ghai told a singer
to sing for his next film. Farah khan gave break to good singer who
was voted out. and all this happens "live" in front of everybody. Its
a great treat to watch an underdog making it big.
Editing too plays  a great role in these shows. I remember a Saregama
episode where Sanjay Leela Bhansali was supposed to come. Firstly it
was established that Bhansali is a great music buff. He listens to
music all the time. there are some songs that are very special. then
his sense of getting a song sung by a singer is now a legend. he is
the who heard Shreya Ghoshal as a teenager on Saregama and made her
Aiswarya Rais voice in Devdas. So the participants were very serious.
Then there was a segment in which the music directors were training
the singers to sing their songs and they kept on working on the
nuances which Bhansali would not otherwise miss. interestingly
bhansali had given them a list of songs that he wanted them to sing.
So when they sang those songs. It was like a film script being
enacted. There was drama,anticipation and finally a resolution with
Bhansali noticing and appreciating the nuances that the participants
had put in.

Prashant Pandey