14 Aug 2022. 75th Independence Day Special.
Manoj Muntashir as special guest.
Such touching stories of valour and sacrifice 🙏
Teri Mitti was definitely not a one-off - Manoj Muntashir truly writes amazing poetry!
Samaira and Aryananda. Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon. TBH, they performed better than I had expected. Kudos to them. Nevertheless, I felt their pairing should be avoided in the future because they end up accentuating each other's weaknesses - Samiara's nasal twang and Aryananda's lack of projection.
Rohan and Pratyush. Nanna Munna Rahi, Mere Desh Ki Dharti. I wish I could say the same as above for this one i.e. it was better than I expected. But not really. Big disservice being done to Rohan for this competition, and to Pratyush because he is not learning the right life-lessons.
Faiz. Des Mere Meri Shaan Hai Tu, and Sandese Aate Hain. Every season probably has one contestant that is head and shoulders above everyone else - like Arunita in II12. For SS2 that is Faiz. Oh! The amount of feeling he injected into Sandese Aate Hain. He moved me to tears, just as Pawandeep does with Teri Mitti. I have a feeling that the way Teri Mitti became Pawandeep's II12 highlight, Sandese Aate Hain will be Faiz's highlight. This will be one of the defining performances of the season! Over this weekend, I think he left the powers that be with no choice but to award Team of the Week to Arunita! Very unfortunate that they edited out the comments of the judges and Manoj Muntashir.
Sayisha. Dil Diya Hai Jaan Bhi Denge. A bright future lies ahead of her. Perhaps 12 years from now when she is 19, she will be a contestant in some big contest of that time, and Arunita, having ruled the scene for more than a decade, will crown her the winner. She will say I have seen her growth - just the way Alka Yagnik said for Arunita.
Mani. Teri Mitti. Again, better than I expected after seeing the promos. However, I also felt that this was one song where they needed him to show his prowess on high notes and instead they made him go all subdued. Kalkar and company clearly need a long vacation!
Rituraj. Vaishnav Jan Toh, and Bande Mein Tha Dum. Definitely making up the Top 3 in my books. He is blessed with the skills, I hope that when his voice matures it turns out that he is blessed with the voice too!
Chetanya and Soyab. Rang De Basanti, and Suno Gaur Se Duniya Waalon. Was Soyab a bit off colour in the first song? Overall, both feel good songs that carried the day for them - but no great shakes in their performances.
Pranjal. Ekla Chalo Re, and Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein. I wish they allowed him to sing more of the first song. It's in his comfort zone and he was doing very well. He did well in the second one too, one of his better performances in recent weeks.
Team of the Week. Arunita! Finally!
Medals. Samaira. Aryananda. Pranjal. Mani. Faiz. Well, can't agree with most of these!
Aside: other than Sayisha'a dress, none of the other orange / red dresses even came close to the shade that should have been. Sad that somebody's political agenda has coloured their judgement - channel or TCT.
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