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Reality TV on megabuck territory
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The hunt for the super singers reaches a new high as it moves into the final phase. PREMA MANMADHAN catches up on the excitement and heartbreak that the participants go through in the Super Star and Star Singer contests on Amrita and Asianet TV channels
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That irrepressible urge to peep into people's discomfiture, joys and sorrows has made reality TV big time everywhere. Inspired by the American Idol and Indian Idol, we have the Idea Star Singer on Asianet TV and Brooke Bond Super Star on Amrita TV, wooing viewers.
The unhappy episode of two girls running away to participate in such a show in North India, ending up in the death of their father, recently is no deterrent to television's newfound method to survive plus thrive.
Amrita TV's biggest crowd puller is the Super Star show, telecast Monday-Friday from 8.30-9.30 pm. On Asianet, Star Singer is beamed on Sundays, from 7-7.30. From Sunday next, that is August 27, when the contest gets hot with the last ten fighting it out for the goodies and cash, the show is on till 8.30, says B. S. Praveen Kumar, Sr. Manager, Asianet. What's best is that the viewer feels involved, part of the whole process, with her/his SMS vote. Some singers in the shows on Amrita and Asianet have reportedly garnered up to 7,000 votes from viewers. A blend of SMS votes and judges' choices decide who gets past the winning post.
High stakes
From around 3,000-3,500 girls and boys who tried their luck, on both channels, the numbers are down to ten as the judges and audience sweat to eliminate one by one, in the process to reach the super star and star singers. While there will be one super star, there will be two star singers, representing both sexes. The stakes are high, running into lakhs of rupees. Amrita's super star will take home something like Rs. 5 lakh with a one-year contract for music programmes. All 15 finalists can hope to get some music assignment with the exposure that they get. The Asianet star singers will walk away with a combined booty of cash and kind worth around Rs. 8 lakhs. The runners-up get a chance to sing in Ranjit's next movie and all the finalists will perform on campuses in the State and maybe elsewhere too.
When the 3,000-odd aspirants were pared down to 40 on the Asianet show, they got training and grooming free for the next round. Crash courses in yoga, speech training, voice control and plain attitude saw then blooming into confident young men and women. They had Girija Nair for yoga, Vidyadharan Master for voice training, besides Franco Simon, Ranjini Jose, Shaan and Anoop Shankar to groom them. A jury headed by singer-composer M. Jayachandran, with Sugithi Menon and Chitra Iyer, took charge of the initial rounds, while the last ten have celebrity judges K. S. Chitra and Tamil singer Tippu with Jayachandran.
For the super star show on Amrita TV, judges are music makers Deepak Dev, Balabhaskar and Alphons, who groomed the final 15 from the sea of star-hopefuls. A weeklong preparation for the lucky 15 included training in body language, voice, and even how to hold a mike. Mithu Manoj, 19, among the ten left, says the trade secrets that Alphons shared with them improved her performance. Music jargon is familiar to them now. What's a vibrato? Mithu sings a tune, demonstrating it, explaining how you shake your voice to get the correct curves and speed.
Stage behaviour
Deepak Dev, whose hits many of the participants sing, says the change in the performance of the contestants after training is tremendous. "Forming good habits during a performance, before you start out is important, thus the stress on stage behaviour to create a pleasing presence," Deepak pointed out. In TV yug, it is not enough to sing well, but also to present oneself well on stage, which is a dual responsibility, which all may not be capable of. That is what super star is looking for, he says. "Without an individualistic voice, one reaches nowhere. If you can sing like Chitra or Janaki, well, who wants you, when they are there", is Deepak's argument. "We were more like friends, not judges, and in the initial rounds, we did rag them, but only those who can withstand such pressures can make it. They have to be thick skinned and able to perform anywhere, if they are stars. Though there was a lot of criticism, we kept quiet because it was part of the super star plan," says Deepak.
Star fiddler Balabhaskar's acute sense of musical notes and pitch often finds him catching the participants for almost inaudible lapses. But the firm and friendly way he puts it across to the participants makes them take it well. "Yes, they are usually not offended by our comments because we treat them like friends. There is a lot of interaction too. All the finalists are genuinely interested in music and highly talented," he says.
Tippu, who is a judge for the Asianet star singers in the final rounds, says he really enjoys the experience. "It was difficult to pick the winners, as they are all amazing and it was very different too."
Amazing camaraderie
Says Vipin Xavier, the senior most participant from Kochi, who has been in the music field for ten years, "I run a shop in Mundanvely and do musical programmes too. It was a wonderful experience and all of us became such good friends." Vipin has sung three film songs, one of them in `Thommanum Makkalum', which goes, Thakida thaka...and another song, Bomma Bomma in a Tamil movie.
The senior most among the 15 finalists on the Amrita super star show was Jaideep M. R., a software engineer, who was voted out a week ago. His sister, Mridula M. R. is in the final 10. There are students and professionals among the finalists in both shows. The youngest on Amrita is Ajay Sathyan, a 16-year-old from Mumbai. Job Kurien is an engineering graduate who is into singing at hotels too.
Unnatural body language
In the Amrita show, among the different rounds, the performance round was very different. The unwritten rule that the attire must match the mood of the song was interpreted in different ways too. Some came in clothes that did not match their persona, in a bid to be `one with the crowd', resulting in unnatural body language. On the Asianet show too, this flaw was obvious. But the new kids on the small screen are happy and optimistic.
So deep has the camaraderie among the contestants grown that even after they are dropped, they keep calling up their friends to give them tips and encouragement.
Watching young blood react and perform on prime time TV is the current addiction of soap-sodden couch potatoes.
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