Airtel Super Singer

Vijay TV is the only channel that I have 'some' regard for. The others are total crap. Nowadays, Super Singer is the only show that I watch with decent regularity (I have not watched the other 3 shows - Neeya Naana, Rose & KoffeeAnu for quite a while). Super Singer seems to be an interesting rev on the A.V.Ramanan show. It is a more direct knock-out type singing competition. The rounds have now progressed to the final 15-16 contestants. When you hear queer words like "throw" "shruthi" "falling sangathis" and "dynamics" you might be forgiven for thinking that this is some sort of a sport activity. But it is not. These terms apparently is the 'lingo' judges use to describe a singer's ability to recreate the notes and the subtleties that the MD envisioned while composing the song.

The Contestants: The winner for this year should be a no-brainer. Ravi is a screaming distance ahead of the rest of the pack. He is so good that the second-in-line is about a billion miles behind. My only concern is that given the obvious gap between Ravi and the rest - the show's PR folks might consider giving it to a less talented person - just to provide a surprise and boost the ratings. It would be unfair if that happened. My #2 spot goes to Prasanna. I was shocked when Prasanna was sent-off in the earlier rounds. I thought he was immensely talented and the reasons for ejecting him were absurd. Thankfully and luckily he has made a comeback. He is in my mind - the 'dark horse'. The thing with Prasanna is that *he thinks* he is actually as good as (if not better) than Ravi. While the rest of the contestants (excluding Ravi and Prasanna) have unnecessarily bought into the camaraderie, bonding type crap and are cheering their competitors - Prasanna clearly is intent on being competitive and seems give shit about the bonding/friendship nonsense (Ravi is probably the same but isn't as explicit). While his confidence needs to be appreciated, I think he has carried it too far with some unnecessary comments (the usual "gay" jokes) during the show ( I have a sneaking suspicion that he is unpopular among other contestants). It is his performance gimmicks (the non-musical part of the performance - believe me there is such a thing in this show) that has so far bridged the gap between him and Ravi. Judged purely on musical content - he doesn't stand a chance.

Arvindh is my #3 guy and is tied with Renu at that spot. Arvindh is too carnatic classical oriented but is developing his range. Renu has a fantastic voice. Among other contestants - Santosh & Ranjini deserve mention as they are reasonably talented. My biggest 'kaduppu' is the selection of Raginishri and Vijay Narayanan to the later rounds. I have nicknamed them 'figure' and 'fruit' respectively. While it is a cliche to say Raginishree is here because of her looks, I would at least be happy if Unni Krishnan stopped mentioning her looks every time he was judging her. Shariram thaan saariram illai. Vijay Narayanan irritates me with his success. I don't like his voice. Period. His unbelievable 'thayir saadham'ness bugs me even more. Every time a judge is reviewing his case, his servitude is appalling. I almost feel someday he will fall in the ground and start licking the judge's boots. Among people who got knocked out - I thought Janani and Febin getting kicked out was unfair. "Dynamics" was the funny fuzzy nonsensical word that kicked out Janani. A judge has got to be more clear than that. Update: If we are using "teginigal" terms - might as well educate the public on what the term means. Using terms like vibrato, lambretta, sulphetaa etc seems very elitist and goes against the intent of the show (which is including the masses in the musical experience).

The Contest: Some aspects of the contest make sense. Such as; the duet rounds, the "can you show me your vocal range/variety" rounds, multi-language rounds, and compose-something rounds. The relationship round was tacky and non-musical for a music show. The performance round is neither here nor there. The "challenge" round was unnecessary. Playback singing isn't a competition. When you introduce a test of competitive skills in this type of show - you end up testing stuff other than musical talent. For example Prasanna challenged Ravi (which was a splendid spirited challenge in itself) and mostly won the challenge because of non-musical reasons. Ravi sang much better. Then the other contestants started copying Prasanna and got their butts whacked (Raginishree challenging a much better Ranjini and losing is an example). I think the contest is longer than necessary and should involve quicker eliminations.

And btw - who the hell are those 5-6 dancers surrounding the singer everytime there is a "performance". The dancers are their to mask the singer's inability to dance and to give a "Smoke & Mirrors" like 'baavala' that the singer is dancing too. Anyway they look like buffoons. All very silly.

Judges: Confession time - I have this terrible insufferable (for lack of a better word) "crush" on Mathangi. My wife thinks the entire floor is filled with my "jollu" everytime Mathangi is on screen. Maybe it is true. She definitely deserves every drop of "jollu" coming her way. I simply love the lilt and the twists, she puts in her sentence. Among good looking chics, she is the assertive, precise, no-nonsense, and "kaanfidant" good looking chic. Anything she does, it looks good to me. Both singers who sang the "Nendhikittu" song in Star deserve a musuem [correction: chinmayi says its by someone else and not mathangi - so I stand corrected]. Let me stop my Mathangi Puranam here. Srinivas is as endearing as ever. I think he is fair and in general has sensible comments. Unnikrishnan - sometimes I wonder if he is judging the musical content at all. I haven't seen him give a constructive criticism. If he can sit there then I too can sit there and talk about Mathangi all day. Mahathi and Sreelekha Parthaasarathy were delightful judges. Their feedback was accurate and their decisions were consistent. I don't know where they picked this Anuradha Sriram from. God! I hate her. I have a much bigger S.Janaki level grievances with her - which I should put in a separate post.

Last but not the least - Chinmayi as the host of the show. You know, I like her voice. I loved many of her songs. However, when I started seeing her as a host and reading her as a blogger (quite frankly except for some of her recent posts, most of the rest were awful) - I started seeing this emotionally unbalanced person within her that is struggling to break free. There is a degree of emotional unpredictability about her that I can't put my finger on - like she could break down and cry for the most silliest of things (like the way she did when Janani was put on the WL - boy! that was appalling). And her "kaatu katthal" everytime she introduces a judge or starts an episode is unbearable. Plus, she should really stop over-hyping the judges and their pedigree and just stop with introducing them. Chinmayi the singer is far better than any other form of showbiz Chinmayi.

Overall, I think they should change the structure of the show and make it more appealing to the masses. Right now, this show is too upper-class. The masses seem to be flocking bad shows like "Ungalil yaar Prabhu Deva". Tamil Nadu's history of producing playback singers needs improvement (it is slowly improving in the post-IR period). The culture of music isn't diverse and is not encouraged in a big way outside of Madras. They are trying their best to do this but if they really want to take singing to the masses - they should innovate. One round - which involved Sriram/Deepan/Shubha teaching the contestants and then testing them - was a good step in the right direction. Otherwise no amount of "superb voice" - which contestants like Bharathiraja possess, is good enough to beat 15 years of precise training that another "Superb Voice" like Ravi might bring to the table.