media

Last year NDTV Imagine, the Hindi-entertainment channel, ran wild it’s imagination. It roped in Bollywood’s ultimate drama queen Rakhi Sawant and launched a reality show Rakhi Sawant ka Swayamvar. Mock her, hate her, love her, loathe her but the show clocked a good TRP boosting the revenues of the channel. That ultimately Rakhi Sawant only had an “engagement” and in next couple of months the relationship was called off all made it very clear it was just a staged act. Call it buffoonery or reality, NDTV has come up with a second season of swayamvar, this time Rahul Mahajan, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan,  is trying his best to be a drama king.

Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega started Feb 1 and has 15 shortlisted women vying to win the heart of Rahul. The drug episode that hogged limelight few years back nor the broken marriage where he was accused of beating his wife seem to have stopped some 16,000 women show interest in him and send application to participate in the show. Well, that is what the channel claims. Not everyone can be a Rakhi Swant was quiet evident from the first episode of Rahul’s show. Rahul Mahajan can never be a drama king that such kind of show requires. He seems to be visibly embarrassed himself landing in this role. The show is just atrocious and horrible.

If Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega is buffoonery and an outright crap in the disguise of Reality show, Bindaas has a potent, shocking show on air by name Emotional Attyachar.

This is what  Bindaas TV website has to say about their show:

If you think your boyfriend or girlfriend might be cheating on you; or if you know of a couple where one person might be cheating on the other, do your duty as a good human being and report it to us! Our crack team of investigators will discover what the truth is. Because after all, wouldn’t you rather know?

Do your duty as a good human being and report it? Holy Idiot box! Who gave the powers to the media to perform a sting operation on an individual to see if he passes fidelity test, even if somebody is cheating on their partner? Snoop on people’s private spaces and see what they do? I am not sure what is the legal standings of such shows. Imagine if one of the exposed guy/girl commits suicide due to shame of being captured on screen… Who takes the blame? For those who have not watched this show, If someone suspects a partner to be cheating, the show crew sets up a catch. In this case a cover-up agent who mingles, lures the partner and see if he/she succumbs to the lust and fails in the fidelity test. How spicy isn’t it to boost TRP ratings?

Welcome to new age of reality shows – Get your FQ (Fidelity Quotient) tested without your permission, ofcourse and if you are bit lucky you can be part of a swayamvar circus.

March 1

The Grand Finale

So we have reached the final stop for this season’s Indian Idol. Tonight will decide the star of Indian Idol Season 4.

So from Abijeet sawant to Prashant tamang the past idols are making to the finale event. Alisha chinai also marks her presence. Also seen are few of last season’s contestants.

Deepali and Chang are receiving the guests in the red carpet and hosting the pre event.

Mini mathur, last year’s host is seen.

This season’s judges Javed Akhtar, Anu malik, Sonali bendre, Khailash kher makes the entry. Sonali looks gorgeous in her sari.

The parents of the finalist are also walking the red carpet.

Ok this time the finale is in studio unlike last year’s open air performance. (Recession cost cutting? probably)

Tulika and Priyanka dances for “Jiya jale “followed by Ananya.

Rajdeep and Bhavya perform “bumro”, followed by Prasenjit and Shini.

“Dol bhaje ” dances Mohit and Kuldeep.

Remo and Bhanu performs for “rang de basanti”

The finalist Kapil, Sourabhee and Torsha enters the stage.

Udit Narayanan last year’s judge also makes an appearance

Damn it! Power went and I missed one hour of the live event.

Now you know the reason I wrote the post: power shortage? Must be kidding

Kailash kher sings “Chak de patey “in high zest! He invites Torsha to sing along with him for the song “Piya ke rang”

Now Kailash sings with Sourabhee “O sikander”

Kapil sings “Dol wajida” with Kailash kher now…

Chang and Meenal Jain (Indian Idol 2, if u remember) sing for “Jaane tu” from dostana.

Ankita mishra (Indian idol 3) and mohit does a performance and followed by Prajakta and Parleen (Previous Indian idol contestants) for “Marjani”

Rahul and Priyanka dances for “Biloo rani”…  everyone does a small sequence … Fly by performances! And everyone together shakes their booties for “Desi girl”

Prasenjit and Rajdeep croons a slow melody “sawan ki”, frankly speaking I never heard of this song till date.

Along with this Indian Idol 4 season final 14 contestants , all 3 judges shakes the leg on stage , along with Alisha chinoy and Udit narayanan to a song penned  by Javed Akthar and music given by Anu malik exclusively for Indian Idol.

Sonali bendre and Hussein does a jig on stage… Sonali looks gorgeous and ok I admit a fact here that she was my favorite actress during my teens!

The previous contestants and this season’s top 14 along with judges, sings “yaad ayenge”, all dressed up in whites.

The special appearances for the Grand finale are: John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh. (They are acting together in the forth coming movie – New York)

Now the final moments….

They are going to call the name of the second runner up of this season…

And it is……..

The Second Runner up of the season is Torsha Sarkar.

After a little drama of passing the mike from Hussein to Chang and finally to Sonali bendre to announce the name… it’s announced that Torsha is the second runner up.

So the Top 2 are Kapil and Sourabhee, making it an all north east final clash!

Now who shall be the Indian Idol among the two?!!

Will know in few minutes…

For the last time, the final 2 are going to sing on the Indian Idol stage…

They made a toss to determine would sing first… Its heads for Kapil and he sing ” sone  de Nakre ” from partner

Sourabhee sings “Rock n bounce” from Dostana  … John Abraham joins her in the dance!

Kapil and Sourabhee sings together this years undisputed popular number, the Oscar award winning “Jai ho”

SOURABHEE!!!

THE NEW INDIAN IDOL!!

Cool! I really wished Sourabhee would win the title and she did it becoming the first girl to win the Indian Idol title!!

February 20 – February 21

February 20

So we have almost neared the climax.

Today is the final gala and next week we shall have our new Indian Idol.

Abhishek Bhachan and Sonam Kapoor are the guest of the day . Ya ya .. Delhi-6 released today :p so no wonder they are here this episode.

Torsha : begins the show with ” Do Lafzon ki kahani ” from the movie ” great gambler ” Her second song was ” Raat batein ” from the movie “shaan” . Sang kinda well.

Kapil : His first song ” eh hawanyen ” from the movie ” bas itna sa kwaab hai ” and the second song ” pyaar mein dil pe maar de goli ” . I would rate it pathetic for a top 3 performance.

Sauabhi: Her first song ” tere mere milan ki yeh raina” from the movie Abhimaan and the second song from the movie Dhoom 2 – ” Crazy kia re”….she sang well! Drove the audience crazy !

She should win the title .. but ….. Indian Idol is like indian politics .. good people rarely win :d

February 21

Well…today is the day of celebrations for all 3 finalists! They have become the local hero of the place they belong to , these people are performing for the local crowd, the crowd has gone crazy!

Well, lets see who is going to be next Indian Idol

My wife religiously tunes to Radio One FM 94.3 everyday morning while getting ready to office. So eventually I also got hooked to the morning doses of the FM channel. They used to have this quizzies in the morning with a surprise goodie bag for the right answer.

Day before  the question was :

Which country’s currency is almost black ?

Well , I had no idea whatever it could be .. even good search in google also failed to throw the right answer.  I had a vague guess and tried calling them but the number was buzy and at times it kept ringing. So I gave up anyways I don’t know the answer . later someone made a wild guess that it could be

Answer: Egypt

And that wild  gal was damn lucky too with that answer . Anyways she got the goodie bag.

Yesterday the question was :

What is the widely consumed milk in Arab countries ?

My common sense ticked me it should be camel. So I tried calling the number , it kept ringing but no response. When the almost finished the song they were playing , i tried too but still no response. Finally , a guy called up with the answer camel and bagged the goodie bag.

Today morning we switched on the channel and the question was :

Which country is the largest producer of coffee ?

“ Brazil ” the word instantly flashed in my mind and my wife instantly echoed the same.

We decided we would give a try again today. Immediately I called the number .. “tring tring … tring tring .. tring tring ..” It kept ringing and no one picked the call.

My wife SMSd the answer to the number the channel screams out in every break. I too SMSd .

In between , few others called and gave the names of all other countries except Brazil.

I was loosing patience . Here we are both given the right answer but there is no response for our SMS or calls but all others giving wrong answer were been entertained. Even my call was not been answered and it kept ringing and finally after many attempt , I really got furious and hang up the phone.

Finally at the end of the show time , someone called up and said the answer “Brazil ” and bagged the goodie.

Makes me wonder ? When I had messaged the right answer much earlier , why was not my answer entertained ? When I kept calling , why there was no response ?

What is cooking inside ? I smell a rat.

Is it a way to keep getting more SMSes till the end of the show , so they can get more revenue ? ( obviously SMS to special numbers like this have premium rate ! )

Damn it . I got really natural called . ( well am putting it in a decent way rather than saying Pi$$e% &&F )

February 13 – February 14

February 13

So they started with a Bang! Indian Idol opened with old songs and seems to have set the tempo the day!

I don’t understand why they have Chang as anchor…

They started with Saurabhi today – she sang “lekar hum deewana dil” from the movie Yaadon ki Baraat! She is looking pretty as usual , seems to be doing a fine job! And she continues with jawani janeman haseen dilruba from Namakhalaal! She was very impressive!

Next was Kapil singing -”Gulabi Aankhen jo teri dekhi” from the movie The Train and continued with the Song – Saara Zamana Haseeno ka deewana from the movie Yaarana.

Next was Rajdeep singing – ‘Saamne yeh kaun aaya’ from the movie Jawani Deewani and continued with “Om Shanti Om” from the movie Karz, he looked cutie in red color dress and he sang well.

Next is Tosha singing – “Rangeela re’ from the movie Prem Pujari and continued with “Laila main Laila” from the movie Qurbani. She sang well…… well that was what I thought initially but then she faltered and sur went wrong…

My pick of the day: Sourabhee

February 14

Result: The talented Rajdeep is eliminated.

So the Top 3 are: Sourabhee, Kapil and Torsha.

Final is on March 1.

The voting lines will be open till then. Vote kero.

January 09 – January 10 , 2009

January 09 , 2009

The show starts with Deepika Padukone making a guest  appearance ( obviously to promote Chandini chowk to China )

In today’s gala , the contestants have to sing a song of one of their favourite singers whom they consider their idol.

Bhavya : Sings Asha Bonsle’s “dhaiya” from movie Karwan. Sings fluently and impressively and collects all the accolades from the judges.

Prasenjit : Sings “Mein jahaan rahoon ” of  Rahet Fateh Ali Khan from Namastey London. Does a good job.

Kapil : Sings Kunal Kanjawala’s “Tumse yun milenge” and sang pretty well.

Mohit : croons  Kishore kumar’s “ Woh hansini “  . Was good .

Seems like all the contestants are in full swing this week..

Torsha : “bahon mein chale ao ” , the lata’s evergreen song is what she chose. Was good.

Bhanu : Sings ” kal ho na ho ” . Well , it was bad. It was a weak performance of the day.

Rajdeep : “Sandese aata hai ” and steals the heart as usual. Man , here is a boy who sings real good but always ends up dangerously close to being voted out .

Sourabhee : “Pyar hua chupke se ” Gets a red from Javed Akthar and Anu malik. I found the performance good but bit strained  in the singing.  

Remo : tries Khailash Kher’s “Allah ka Bande ” . To be frank , I don’t like this kid in gala rounds when better singers are voted out. Was average performance.

My pick of the day : Rajdeep , Prasenjit , Bhavya

January 10 , 2009

Raima sen and Randeep Hooda are today’s guest appearance ( to promote their upcomming film Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye )

Kapil is the first to be safe.

Followed by Torsha ,

Remo and Rajdeep are safe ,

Prasenjit and Sourabhee are safe ,

So bottom 3 are : Bhavya , Bhanu , Mohit.

Bhanu is safe

So that leaves Bhavya and Mohit in the last two .

Bhavya is safe .

Today’s Elimination : Mohit.

January 02 – 03 , 2009

 I could not follow the episodes of the week coz of an unfortunate turn of events in personal life.

This weeks elimnation which I later found out was Kuldeep.

December 26 – December 27

December 26

The drama continues ..

Bhavya : Dressed as Anarkali , sings ” Pyar kiya darna kiya” . Was good but not a great performance.

Remo : Dressed as Rajesh Khanna, sings ” Mere sapno ki Rani from Aradhana”….ok, i guess that was pathetic.

Kuldeep : Dressed as Jalal Agha singing Mehbooba from Sholay….that fellow must be turning in his grave and RD Burman must be breaking his head……..why do they need to sing like this!

Kapil : Dressed as (i don’t know the name as whom?) sang ” Kya hua tera wada” and i want to ask ” Kya hua judges ko?”

Bhanu : Meena Kumar – sang Dard-e-dil from movie Karz….he was good

Torhsa : Sang on “ek do teen”, it was ok kinds

Prasenjit : Singing on ” Dil Se” from the movie Dil Se….seems to be ok.

Mohit: on Lut gaye from Hum Dil de chuke Sanam….he is neither Ajay Devgun nor Salman Khan…..don’t know if it was good or bad….

Saurabhee : On the song from Taal……kahin aag lage lag jaye. She is good.

Rajdeep : On the song Megha from Lagaan……  judges were wonderstruck though and gave standing ovation !

Priyanka : On Radha kaise na jale from Lagaan…..she was not that good

My Pick of the day : Sourabhee

December 27

Today’s Bottom 4 : Bhavya ( not again !!! ) , Priyanka , Mohit .

Today’s Elimination : Priyanka.

The way the voting pattern goes i have a feeling the final 3 would be Remo , Kapil and Sourabhee. Well quiet possible eh ? Who cares of singing as such !!!

December 19 – December 20

December 19

Welcome to Indian Idol 4 !

Today’s gala starts with the promising Rajdeep who sings “Chaturanar” with a bald getup he makes us laugh and gets the applause !

Glamarous Priyanka sings “Mere Piya gaya rangoon” Voila ! sang pretty well !! Gets the full acclaim from judges !

Cute doll Sourabhee is next .. I cannot recollect the song lyrics . I won’t say she sang too good but kinda ok.

Kapil Thapa sings “Anda ka funda” with oiled looking gelled hair and a thick rimmed specs , his performance was good but his singing did not find favour with Javed Akthar and Sonali.

Prasenjit kamal hai ! Sang “Hum kale hai tu kya hua” . Sporting a hitler moustache and lungi and t shirt . His performance is nice and so is his singing.

Next comes Shini who sings “mein kya karoon ram” , except Sonali she gets bad review from rest of the judges.

Chota don Remo sings “Chak de pattey” When the original singer is in the judges panel , its a foolish idea to have chosen this song when you are not a great singer. I found it amateurish. So did the judges except Javed Akther.

Teacher Kuldeep got failed by all the judges in today’s  gala exam.

“Bindu re” wearing a dhoti sang Mohit  , gets bad review from Javed and Anu malik.

“Mera naam chin chin” and sang beautifully Bhavya sporting a chinese costume and look ! As usual got the good review of all the judges ! Infact , Anu raved it was the performance of the day !

Tosha sings  “Joot bole kawa kate” . Some how each time , i don’t like her dancing. She better refrains from dancing. As far her singing , it got bad reviews from all. I got it right , she too says she is not comfortable performing dance.

Last but not the least the tragedy king Bhanu comes crooning “yahooooo Koi Mujhe junglee Kahe” got bad review from Anu malik and other judges except Javed. Over all he could have done better.

My Pick of the Day :  Rajdeep , Bhavya , Priyanka , Prasenjit

December 20

Who is going to be eliminated today ?

Watch out. Already i heard a shocker news . Before I key the name here , i will wait till i watch it on screen. So lets wait a little bit more .

Rajdeep is in danger zone !!!! Beat it !

Mohit safe.

Remo safe.

Torsha safe.

Priyanka safe.

Sourbhee safe.

Kapil safe.

Kuldeep safe.

Bhanu safe.

Bottom 4 : Rajdeep , Bhavya , Prasenjit ,  Shini

Prasenjit and Rajdeep safe.

Today’s Shocker Elimination : Shini

December 12 – December 13

December 12

Ok so we are in the second gala round. I was little late to catch up with the programme , got held up with work but my darling wife kept me updated ! Thanks sweetheart !

Tulika : The bengali beauty sang “Chamma chamma ” , was an ok performance. Had bad review from the judges and apparently the lady was nervous hearing all this.

Priyanka : One of my favourite sang ” Babuji dheere chalo ” My wife said it was ek dum bakwas performance !!! Anu found the notes missing. Other judges agree too.

Bhavya  : Looks refreshingly good in a punjabi outfit and sang a punjabi number “dua na koi” and sang good as usual.

Sourabhee : The nimble north east gal stole the show with nimbida nimbuda  and got a standing ovation from Anu malik and Sonali !!

Prasenjit : Kholapur ka raja sang the Jab we met hit ” Nagada Nagada” Sang well with a punjabi spirit !

Torsha  : ” Lambi Judai “  sang soulfully . All the judges except Khailash ker found it good !

Shini : Sari clad shini sang a high voltage “sawan ki”  Sang with full josh and was good. Judges felt she could have done better though she sang well.

Kapil : The good looking  Jawan sang ” paradesi ” . It was not upto the mark but then am sure he will go to the last 3 atleast coz of the vote politics!

Rajdeep : Mr.Pepsodent sang … sang .. well i couldn’t get what that song was .. he sang soulfully … i never heard the song before so have no comments on it . I jus found he could have done bit better.. though Anu found it great as usual. If someone knows the song do let me know ..

Mohit : sang “Kaike paan ” with loads of masti . He bagged all the good compliments from the judges and well mine too.

Bhanu : Rajasthan ka pratap sang with lots of soul . Again i cannot recollect what song that he sang. He got good words from all the judges and also for his focus and quietness.

Kuldeep : Sang a old dileep kumar number from ganga jamuna  really good. I think the song is Nain Lad Jai Re

My Pick of the day : Sourabhee , Prasenjit , Mohit , Kuldeep.

December 13 , Saturday

Since  I am travelling , i could not catch up the programme live . So i missed this saturday’s episode. Anyways my wife updated me again with the result .

The danger zone singers : Tulika , Shini , Bhanu , Tosha , Prasenjit , Kuldeep.

This week’s elimination : Tulika .

The talli gal bids alvida. Good bye , Tullika.