16 June, 2007

Javed Akhtar on voting

Much as I have criticized Javed Akhtar in the past—though only in the context of Indian Idol—he got it right on the show today when he said words to the effect of (I translate from memory):

Of course the voters can be wrong. Often they vote for the wrong political party. What’s so unusual about them voting for the wrong singer, then?

Akhtar was responding to Alisha Chinai’s silly argument that because the voters gave Suhit Gosain a final chance in Indian Idol, he can’t be that bad a singer. He was dead right when he said that Suhit’s voice was always flat. Indeed, I’d add that if they gave Suhit a flat for every time he was flat, he’d own Mumbai. Or at least Gurgaon, where the boy is from.

The last couple of episodes of Indian Idol have disappointed me immensely. They had a wild card round, and gave a chance to seven of the rejects yesterday, of which four performed today and two will eventually get through. I’d assumed that some of the singers who’s fallen through the cracks because of complacency (see point five here) would use this to get back in the contest. In particular, I was thinking of Bhavin Dhanak and Aisha Sayyed.

To my amazement, the two of them didn’t even make it past yesterday’s round. I’m glad Amit Paul did—he’s a bit of a dark horse to me—though he screwed up today by forgetting some of his words, which might work to his advantage if it fires up his supporters to vote extra-furiously. But Bhavin and Aisha not making it surprises me. Aisha was my favourite among the girls, and Bhavin’s a complete package.

The singers of Zee’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Star Plus’s Voice of India are turning out to be much better than those on Indian Idol this season, which doesn’t surprise me—I prefer Indian Idol for the way it is made, and not just the quality of the singers. But if the good singers keep getting voted out at such a furious pace, I might rethink my plans for Friday and Saturday nights.