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The khoj continues
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Ravi Shastri, Perizaad Zorabian and John Dykes were in the city to judge wannabe cricket commentators for the "Closeup Dream Job — Harsha Ki Khoj"
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The judges at work: Ravi Shastri and actress Perizaad Zorabian at the contest. - Pic. By K. V. Srinivasan
WHEN DO you call someone famous? When someone dominates a conversation even while he or she is not present. Although Harsha Bhogle did not make it to the Chennai leg of the auditions for "Closeup Dream Job — Harsha Ki Khoj," each of those who mattered was effusive and long in his praise of the commentator's ability to talk like a revolving door and make sense at the same time.
The contest is, as the title implies, a search for the "next Harsha" or "a commentator as good as Harsha."
Experience being something that enables one to identify a mistake when someone else makes it (or when he himself repeats it), the abundantly experienced Ravi Shastri and John Dykes were the two ESPN STAR judges flown down to size up the wannabe commentators. Adding colour to the panel was actress Perizaad Zorabian, whose job it was to watch for signs of poise or the lack of it.
She explained: "Looks alone will not do. You should communicate your personality to your audience in a way that will win them over to you. Harsha epitomises the best possible way of reaching them."
Ravi Shastri pretended to call Harsha from his cell and said, "Harsha, did you hear her?" "Ah no! There they go again about Harsha!" you can hear a scribe or two muttering under the breath. Quite probable that Ravi Shastri's ears picked up that imprecation, for he quickly turned to Perizaad and asked the posse of presspersons, "Doesn't she look beautiful?"
Well, what did the philosopher say about flattering a beautiful woman?
"It is the art of telling her exactly what she thinks of herself."
The format
THE FIRST four of the six auditions for "Closeup Dream Job — Harsha Ki Khoj" have now been held in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Two more auditions are to be held in Kolkata and Lucknow. Sixty contestants in all, selected through the six auditions, will make it to the `Jury Watch' round. The lucky 28, out of these 60, will get to do a live commentary, at set times, during the two India-Bangladesh Test matches in December.
While the 28 will be contesting live, ESPN STAR Sports will invite viewers, who might have missed out on a chance to send in their entries earlier, to call and record their commentaries during the match.
Twenty such viewers will compete with the 28 for the next stage or what is called studio rounds. Out of them, 24 will be left in the fray. Six studio rounds, two semi-finals and the final will follow before the search for the "next Harsha" ends.
PRINCE FREDERICK
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