I was so confused by the song selections today. Since Udit Narayan was the special guest I thought they'd sing his songs. Rohanpreet and Harmony Chorus started out with his songs. The rest of the song selection seemed very random to me. 😕 I want to talk about the tutaaris. They're so meaningless and random - anyone gets it. Truly baffled that Chetan got a tutaari and Rohanpreet and Vishnumaya didn't !
Now my rating of the performances:
1. Vishnumaya: This song. OH MY GOD. This song! My jaw dropped to the floor when I heard the opening bars play and I was like - No, she's not singing Kuhu Kuhu 😲 and when she started the opening alaap, I was in awe. Full respect. I have to applaud her courage of choice. Stalwart singers would break into a cold sweat if they had to perform this song live. And this little 12 year old did it. And how! Her harkats could've been better in a couple of places, but she held her ground admirably. You've got to remember she was singing both Rafi and Lata's portions and I'm fully aware of how there's not a moment's pause in the song to take a breath, especially in the intervening sargams. She took off in raag Sohoni and skipping over the interim bits went straight to the last bit in Yaman. I don't know what Shankar was talking about, that she could've done better, she deserves every credit for even trying this song - I think the judges tend to be too harsh on this girl while others giving mediocre performances are praised to high skies and given tutaaris 😡.
2. Zaid Ali: This kid has such sincerity in his singing. I have said this about Rohanpreet too, and I think it's true of Zaid as well. He sings from the heart. And there is such purity, such innocence in his singing. I do think he went a bit off in the latter half of the song, but some of the harkats he did were so breathtaking that those little lapses could be forgiven. That said, I do wish the judges would wait till the contestant has at least sung 75% of the song before voting. It would give them a better idea of where the contestant is going with the song.
3. Hemant: Another song I love. He did absolute justice though it paled in comparison to the original by Sonu Nigam. Still -- commendable effort and Hemant added his own distinctive touches to "Satrangi Re". It is a complex song, but of course for Hemant it seemed like a piece of cake. I like the effortlessness in his singing. I do wish he'd sung "Ae Ajnabi" from the same movie, Udit Narayan's song. I think his voice would be more suited to that one.
4. I was struggling between Rohanpreet and Harmony Chorus for fourth place. I think Rohan scores slightly above them for the song he chose. Pehla Nasha is one of my absolute perennial favorites and Rohan did a good job with it. I thought he could've done better in some places - he sounded flat. The last couple of harkats saved him. He needs to rise a notch above just being good now. He needs to be extraordinary. I see it makes no difference to the votes he gets though.😃. Looks and personality play such an important role these days. 🤔
5. Harmony Chorus: I did like the Akhtar Bros and considered voting them above but the middle interlude Harmony Chorus did when switching songs with Beethoven's 5th was so mind-blowingly original, I had to give it to them for sheer creativity. I was so sorry to see them go, but in my heart I knew they wouldn't last too long. They probably were too westernized for Indian audiences. Like Sandra, their mentor said, theirs is a concept not often heard in India, so there needed to be a shift in perception which could be hard to achieve. With them gone, I really don't look forward to Rising Star anymore. Theirs was the performance that always used to pique my curiosity and I would be eager to hear what new mash-ups they'd do. Sigh!! 😭
6. Akhtar Bros: I like Kawa Kawa. It's such an entertaining song. I liked the bros' rendition of it, though I thought they killed off the fun element of the song somewhat . I don't know how to put it - I cannot fault their singing at all, but that extra infusion of emotion that sets extraordinary singers apart from merely good ones seems to be missing in them.
7. Afreen group: Chetan and they were both dismal, not much to differentiate between them. Either of them could be 7 or 8. I was so mad at Shankar when he said they couldn't vote down for them even though it was their weakest performance yet. What even?? 😡 What are the judges there for? Isn't it their responsibility to see that good contestants are not ousted before mediocre ones? Afreen group should've been the ones to go and were it not for all 3 judges voting up, they would have! Why the F are they given 15% of votes collectively then? So they can use it wisely! His argument just doesn't make sense - just singing in tune cannot be the only criterion for getting voted up by the judges! They have to be more discerning now that the competition is hotting up and weaker contestants have exited. They have to vote down for other factors. I'm truly mystified at the judges' voting choices, and just a little bit disgusted. 😡 Btw, that last minute rise in the votes was totally fishy- I do think the channel is doing that on purpose to create drama.
8. Chetan: Like I said, there was not much to choose between him and Afreen group for me. To think he actually got tutaaris from the judges! 😲😲. I totally question the value of these tutaaris. I just don't understand them. One thing is clear though - the audiences and the judges (more specifically Shankar 😆) hardly ever see eye-to-eye. Rohanpreet gets tutaaris very rarely, but always gets 90% and above, while Harmony Chorus gets tutaaris very often, but the public doesn't vote for them. 😛 The only exception to this rule is Hemant I guess.
Edited by LizzieBennett - 6 years ago
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