Friday started off with Aditya Narayan singing "Gata Rahe Mera Dil" with some of the contestants performing to the same. Then we had MAULI, POONAM and NIRUPAMA performing "Chumka Mira De" and Raja and Abhijeet performing "Zindagai Ek Safar". All in all, average stuff. With this, the results round of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2007 commenced.
The guest star for this episode was none other than the cool dude RITEISH DESHMUKH, whom I find to be extremely likable. After showing some brief visuals from his upcoming movie "Cash" and some time wasting and not at all funny jabbering by Ismail Darbar and Aditya about shades, we move onto the actual content of the show The RESULTS and songs from the model era of Bollywood from the 60s and the 70s.
First up for the results were the three members of Bappidas Josh gharana. Sumedha and Mauli were declared safe while Abhijeet Kosambi became the first thrishanku of the day.
Sumedha tackled "Raat Akeli Hain" from "Jewel Thief" and Mauli tried "Parde Mein Rahne Do" from "Shikhar". Truth be told, I was not impressed by these performances. On a comparative scale, I would award Sumedha higher marks. And she looked beautiful too (sigh). Then some relatives of Sumedha and Mauli were shown, with Mauli's uncle coming all the way from the U.S.
Next up were Ismail Darbar's Yalgaar gharana. For the third time in a row Poonam and Amaanat were safe which is not really surprising since both of them are outstanding singers. Before the performance Anubhav Sinha was introduced. He is the director of the upcoming film "Cash". Poonam sang "Shubbu Shubbu" from "Annamika". I felt that this performance was not her best though she did a good job. Then Amaanat showed what outstanding singing is by singing "Rahe Ulfat" from "Dil Ke Rahein". He did a great job, but I still wish that I was able to see some emotion in that face of his. Last week he did some good upbeat numbers with right energy and I figure that he is one of the most versatile singers in this show.
Next up was the gharana I was waiting for, Vishal Shekhar's Hit Squad. The history to be noted about this squad is that: 1) the members of this squad have been in the trishanku zone for two weeks running, 2) Raja was the guy with the most votes for two weeks running, and 3) last week this squad just blasted everyone away with their performances. First Raja, then Harpreet and finally Junaid were declared safe and Hit Squad made a clean sweep for the first time. Raja still retains his title as the contestant with the most votes. Funny to think like this but still..... last year's II3 winner was from the same region. If that voting pattern repeats, then everyone will be hard pressed to stop Raja. Anyway, onto the performances. Junaid gave what I thought was the best performance of the evening. He sung "O Haseeno Sulfowali" from "Teesri Manzil". This is a song which was made immortal by the legendary Kishore Kumar. The energy, attitude and the singing was really great from this guy. When you add his singing to the fact that he is a chocolate hero for the girls (which some of our own esteemed lady members would attest to, and that includes you, too, Sprout :-) ), he is a force to reckon with in this competition. Raja came next with "Alfa Khude" from the movie "Jab Jab Phhol Khile". As usual, he was brilliant. Harpreet (who was a last time thrishanku) sang "Aaja Aaja" again from the movie "Teesri Manzil". This is a song that was made famous by the antics of Shammy Kapoor. I thought that that was exactly what was missing from Harpreet's performance. A fan (I missed her name) of Harpreet came all the way from U.S to see him perform. She was called on stage and the entire moment, which could have been very sweet, was made awkward by the banter between Ismail and Aditya.
Next up were the four members of Rock gharana with two trishanku spots remaining. Without further ado Mussarat and then Nirupama were announced to be the trishanku. I was really surprised by Mussarat being in the bottom three since he is a fantastic singer. Well, what do I know about how the public votes anyway? Joy came on stage with "Gori Teri Gaon" from the movie "Chitchor". This was sung by one of my favourite singers of all times, Yesudas, and I was really disappointed with Joy's version. Something was missing throughout the song. My technical knowledge about music is so limited that I can't point it out to you guys, but something was certainly missing.Anek came on stage with "Dil Jo Na Keh Saka" from "Bheegi Raat". Everytime this guy gets on stage I expect gems from him but this time he disappointed me a little. He did a good job but I was not that impressed like I usually am with this guy. Then for Riteish he rapped the song from "Bluffmaster" and it wasn’t good. There was a moment when Joy was saying that Nirupama was like a sister to him and all. Anubhav Sinha commented that Joy was putting stuff into the song which was not there. It was not meant as a compliment. He also commented about the red pants Aneek was wearing which, I feel, is not worth going into detail.
Then came the thrishanku. Abhijit came up with "Ghulabi Aankhen" from the movie "The Train". He was pretty good with this song. Mussarat sang "Kaun Hai Jo Sapno Mein Aaya (the original)" from the movie "Jhuk Gaya Aasman". He sounded nervous to my ears, but I guess anyone would be in the thrishanku round. Seeing Nirupama's dressing, I thought she would sing "Dum Maro Dum" from "Hare Rama Hare Krishna". Instead, she attempted the title track of said movie and gave an average performance. Himesh said that this song was sung by both Asha Bhonsle and Usha Uthup, and for Nirupama to sing this alone was fantastic. This was followed by the usual fight between Hit it and Rock about the versatility of the singers. My view on this is that it has been discussed so many times that the raising of this point is not going to help anyone or anything except perhaps bore the audience.
After all these came the most awaited as well as the most dreadful part of the show. Mussarat was declared safe followed by Abhijeet, meaning Nirupama was out. Thus arrived the time for tears and some encouraging words from the mentors. Himesh said that in the next movie he acts (yes he acts again!!!!!), which will be a super hit, he will give Nirupama a chance and that too will be a superhit song. Himesh, I feel that you should let the audience decide whether the movie or the song should be a hit or not….. at least that’s what I think.
So history repeats itself. Like II3 last week, the number of gals in this show also gets cut down to 3. What's with this? There were always gals getting eliminated in the histories of both SRGMP and II but never in such a cluster. Guys and Gals wake up and vote for these gals too.
I wanted to give ratings for these performance but I felt that the performances during this results round was not outstanding. Hence, I reserve that for the next review. Sorry.
I have one major problem with this show and that’s with the contestants asking for votes in their tongue. I think that’s really bad for the unity stuff and all that. Riteish talking with Abhijeet in Marati was also a bit sour I felt. I leave you with a part of a dialogue from the upcoming film "CHAK DE INDIA" - “Yahan na koi district ka nam suntan hai na koi State ka. Sunta hai to sirf ek naam IN-DI-A”.
Till the next review where we get to see the contestants with the extremely sweet and beautiful VIDYA BALAN and the funny SAJID KHAN!
"I leave you with a part of a dialoge from the upcoming film CHAK DE INDIA. “Yahan na koi district ka nam suntan hai na koi State ka. Sunta hai to sirf ek naam IN-DI-A” "
Very well put - this is something which should be flashed before all reality shows ... because the true talent and singing suffers on the pretense of taking care of your jaat wallah
I must say I am back in the game with Saregama. I had quit watching it temporarily because of all the nautanki among the judges and the previous (in my opinion) average performances.
However, this week's episode with Sajid and Vidya as guests sustained my attention and appreciation for the talent on the show--I had all but lost it with some of the contestants (especially among the girls) performing mediocrely and getting undue adulation for god knows what reason!
Any case, I still have to watch this episode. I guess for a change, I am looking forward to it:)
Muli you are a good singer i like your song. Muli i always sent to you vote because i like your song. if you sent me your message my e-mail id- pankaj_sarmah2007@yahoo.co.in
I was regular listener of Marathi SRGMP. Abhijeet, who was winner of this contest, got direct entry in Hindi SRGMP. I had not watched any of the episodes of Hindi SRGMP. But downloaded some of his performances from you tube.
To my utter disappointment Abhijeet had not produced 30 to 35% of what he is capable of. I think his choice for selecting the songs is the point of concern.
He should have selected the ones with more emotions
I too think that asking for votes in their tongue and 'especially' from their states is too mean. Public should see how biased these contestents and their mentors are... and plzzzz guys vote out the shrieking, ear jarring MAULI DAVE
