Same time, same place

The good, the bad and the desperate hit your TV screens as Indian Idol returns, says our correspondent
Sulakshana Gupta


JUDGES aren’t supposed to be partial, but Farah Khan was so impressed by one contestant that she decided to hire him. So, even though Prajapati from Mira Road won’t win a platinum recording contract, he is now Khan’s personal chef.

Indian Idol is back and so are popular jury members Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan with their scathing remarks and critical feedback directed at the scores of aspirants who want to live the Abhijeet Sawant dream.


‘‘This time the level of desperation is at an all-time high,’’ says Nigam, who entertains frequent calls from complete strangers requesting personal auditions. It’s come to a point where he’s even willing to change his cellphone number.

With a whopping 30,000 contestants tried, and people who refused to leave the judges’ room even after being eliminated, the trio were forced to come up with ingenious ways to get the message across.

So they’ve turned to accessories for help, for the times when words aren’t enough — toy guns to shoot with, oversized headphones worn when the singing is just too painful, placards that say aap ghar jaao and assorted fruit to hand over while being shown the door.

‘‘With so many people each day, we didn’t want to seem repetitive, so there’s this element of fun,’’ says Khan.

No one’s assaulted Malik yet, but a lot of tears have been shed. In the very first episode, we run into Jigar Kapadia, a young stud in tight jeans and a bandana, accompanied by his cheerleader mom. Unable to stomach his rejection, she storms back in and demands a second chance.

Nathu, a daily wage earner from Jalgoan, sold his vessels to come to Mumbai without informing his family. In the second round, we see him in bad shape because his sick wife has not eaten for two days.

Having watched one season already, the contestants are more savvy and know exactly how each jury member responds. ‘‘Last year people got aggressive, this time they’re trying the emotional blackmail route,’’ says Nigam referring to a Delhi girl who threatened to commit suicide unless they allowed her into the theatre round. In his mild and diplomatic manner, Nigam has sent her and the rest of them packing.

But for the most original one-liners, the audience always turns to Anu Malik. To one contestant he remarked, ‘‘Let there be fire power or you go home and take a shower.’’

With his locks having grown a few inches, Malik’s the only one who looks different from last season. And he loves it that the oestrogen quotient’s shot up.

‘‘There are loads of girls this time, I’m quite sure that the Indian Idol will be a woman,’’ he says.

It wouldn’t be the same if the odd-balls didn’t show up. In the first few episodes we also catch of glimpse of 16-year-old Mohit Tyagi from Delhi popularly known as Kashish by his peers because of his love for curled lashes and long bindis.

Alok Tyagi, a 19-year-old bespectacled lad from Faridabad has a penchant for wigs especially a long red mane which he wears to the audition.

Until the last round, the format remains the same. In the top 12, however, the judges have decided to pick an equal number of girls and boys to even out the chances.





** SN is "mild and diplomatic"...heh heh...good to hear that...=) and its very interesting to hear that he gets calls from complete strangers...where do they get his number??? someone tell me please...i wanna call him...not for "personal auditions" mind you...you'll have no competition there...i cant sing. period.