22 July, 2007

Gender bias on Indian Idol?

It’s interesting how some people are always on the lookout for biases. On yesterday’s Indian Idol, where one contestant was being voted out, the anchors and the judges and the hapless contestants went on and on about the gender bias at Indian Idol. The three people voted out in the last three episodes were all girls, and the three people in the danger zone last night were also all girls. Charu Semwal duly got voted out and there are now three girls and six boys left. Javed Akhtar went on a tirade about how the entire nation should be ashamed of itself, and how all of India should learn from this.

In my post a few weeks ago, “How To Predict The Next Indian Idol,” my seventh and last point was about how the winner of Indian Idol, where no female has ever reached the last three, will inevitably be male. But the reasons I postulated had all to do with voting patterns. At the level of the individual voter, is it fair to allege a gender bias?

There is no objective scale by which all these contestants can definitively be ranked. It all comes down to preferences. To imply a gender bias on the basis of individual preferences is, in my opinion, a bit of a stretch. For example, nine of the last ten books I’ve bought have been written by men. Does that imply a gender bias? The book I’m currently reading is by a woman—is that evidence of a gender bias? I get attracted to slender girls more than chubby girls, brown-skinned girls more than caucasians, and prefer pasta made in cheese-based sauces to pasta with a tomato base. Will these preferences be condemned as ‘biases’, which the Equality Police will punish me for?

It’s unfortunate that the girls are getting knocked out, and I’d love to see a woman in the last three. Deepali, especially, has been outstanding in the last couple of weeks, and has lifted her game dramatically. If I had to choose an overall winner, though, I’d pick Amit Paul. He happens to be a man. So am I sexist?

Anyway, on to the actual contest now.

In my last post, three weeks ago, I’d mentioned that “one of Jolly [Das], Smita [Adhikari] or Richa [Aneja]” would be voted out. As it happens, in the three weeks since, those three contestants were the ones to lose out. As the competition gets closer, such prediction gets harder. Charu, who began the gala rounds with two surprisingly bad performances, was precariously perched, and I’m not surprised she got knocked out. I think Puja Chatterjee, Ankita Mishra, Parleen Singh Gill and Abhishek Kumar can also crash out at any time, for different reasons.

Ankita has enormous energy and a powerful voice, but I’m predicting that her being so tomboyish will work against her. Indians like their women feminine. They also like their women to be women and not girls, and Puja’s kiddishness will work against her. Parleen is the worst singer left in the show, and Abhishek’s natural support base, from the south, doesn’t watch Sony too much. Personally I think Abhishek is a good enough singer to be in the last three, but sadly many other factors come into play.

I also think Meiyang Chang could be eliminated at any point, purely because of the complacency of his supporters. I’m sure most female viewers are utterly charmed by him and the boys don’t find him threatening, which is a great combination. He also has a distinctive voice, though he isn’t as good a singer as, say, Abhishek, Amit or Emon Chaterjee. But he needs to get in the ‘danger zone’ a couple of times to fire up his support base. Else they’ll assume he’s coasting, and suddenly find him being eliminated.

Deepali’s been outstanding in the last couple of episodes, but I think you can just declare the contest closed and make Amit Paul the Indian idol. He has everything: Great voice, likability, good stage presence, and the male gender. Many of the performances in the last three weeks have been iffy, but Amit has been spot on, and I don’t see how he can possibly lose. Also, his trials in the wild card rounds made the viewers invest in him emotionally more than they got a chance to in the others, and that will help him as the weeks go by. I don’t see even the complacency of his supporters being a threat to him.

(Plus, he’s got the right name. The era of Amits is on hand.)

PS: Have you noticed how candid the response of the contestants are whenever a fellow contestant is singing, or being criticized by the judges, or so on? So many stories lie in just the way they react, too young to hide their feelings from the world. They’re a charming bunch.

You can read all my Indian Idol posts here.