Only one way to say it. I suck at predicting. And Pooja and Deepali? What crap. I have decided to start voting after Javed Akhtar's comments. Charu well, I had predicted. But still did not deserve to be eliminated.

Round 4

Well, its goin to be hard to choose the bottom 3. Most of them sang really well. Chang outdid himself. But Prashant I felt was not good enough. Parleen and Abhishek were so-so I felt. So Prashant I will definitely put in the bottom 3.but the other two will be hard to find. Take a pick from Parleen, Abhishek and Charu.
And what is with Anu Malik badgering Prashant with the question "Are you smoking?" The guy says no and still he lectures him, hopeless!!

Hopeless !!

Yesterday were the results of the third round. Requirements for this round were that the contestant blend performance and singing prowess. It was important to strike a balance.
Most were not really worth talking about. And some were really bad(i felt). Deepali, Ankita, were good. But the most outstanding was Amit Paul. What singing ! And to think that he was almost out. Now, Smita was not bad either. Infact she had finally managed to sing with her eyes open. Very few of the contestants know the importance of the expression which can be conveyed through the eyes. Many try to jump and dance around and end up spoiling their song. But the audience chooses to chuck out Smita. No idea why. It was not for dirth of other underperforming contestants. Parleen was bad or rather lacklustre, Prashant was not good either and I thought Charu murdered her song 'Mehboob mere'. Emon also I thought did not sing well, felt he tried to do too much in the performance aspect and ended up losing his breath and not pronouncing some parts properly. I had put Charu, Parleen and Prashant in bottom 3. But it turned out that while only 2 were correct, the third one was the one eliminated. The system's flaws are very apparent now, especially when a candidate clearly deserving to go to the next round is eliminated at this crucial stage.
And why does Anu Malik sing??? He was making a fool of himself at the end pretending to sing the song with Udit Narayanan. He did not even know the lyrics.
Shabana Azmi was a good substiute for Javed Akhtar. Giving balanced comments and even rebuking Anu Malik for being a pain in the a**.

Flaws in the System

What do I say, my friends finally managed to find time in their schedule to get together. It was a bit hurried, but all the same, it happened. All plans seem to work if made fast, on the fly. If you plan extensively, then it never works.
Now, Indian Idol gala round is not turning out as impressively as I thought it would. Emon has become overconfident, Prashant's weaknesses are becoming apparent. Charu is struggling to find her feet and Chang is frankly not up to it I felt. Deepali and Pooja improved. Smita, well now she does nothave an excuse any more, what with the makeover and new wardrobe.
After watching Friday's episode, I thought Jolly Das would probably go out. Smita deserved to be in the bottom 4, but Emon and Deepali, damn !!! The reason this is happening is, they are criticizing them more. Look at Parneel. Seriously, "Your the best"????. What crap !!!! That guy was damn flat. And Prahsant, "Aap trained nahi ho, phir bhi itna accha gaate ho." Audience thinks "maan that's impressive." Not being trained does not entitle one to become Indian Idol.
My favorite part was when Ankita was singing. The others were green with envy. They cannot bear to see that an untrained singer can perform and manage to stay more or less on key.
Emon tried to do that but when he held Pooja's hand she did not play along. It backfired. May be he picked the wrong girl.
Let's see what happens next.

Total Crap

Richa Aneja the 16 yr old from Amritsar is th first casualty of the Galas.
Ever since the time I saw her at the theater round, her falling out with Prashant Tamang in the duet round, I have been hoping that she should go. It was based on me not liking her personality, felt she made a fuss and that she was childish. But today when she was eliminated I actually felt bad. Not because she was eliminated. That was a long overdue. I felt for her because she has come to this stage of the competition, singing in the same 16 yr old voice. She was even complemented on several occasions for this very fact and it became her USP. Now, at this stage of the Galas, the judges start stressing on this fact. Javed Akhtar alone pointed out that at this stage it made no sense to criticize her for something not in her hands. He alone was saying that she was not ready for playback singing in the earlier round. Anu Malik tells her now.
Unfortunately for her the audience listened to him. Basically, what has been done is she has been told, "You sing really well, better than many of these other people. But, we are sending you home because you are a kid."
If they felt she was so underdeveloped, they should have spotted this in the audition itself, not made a big deal of it now.

What's with these judges?

Before you read this be aware of the fact that I am not a trained singer. What I have written is from whatever I felt(regarding the performance) and whatever I heard from the judges. Also some things are such that even a deaf person could spot them.

Well, just saw the first episode of the Gala round of Indian Idol 3. I must say I did not find anything extraordinary in todays performances. Though there were plenty of surprises.
The usually bankable Emon was a bit off the target and Pooja, the seemingly unshakeable girl, ended up making the huge mistake of the day and proved that she is human. But, while the really good singers like Deepali, Charu disappointed, the underdogs came through(to prove my previous post right). Javed Akhtar even said to Meiyang Chang, "Mujhe bahut khushi hogi agar aap jeete". Smita sang well. But, she has to stop singing like she is in a sound proof studio and start reaching the audiences at home. This is done by looking at the camera and not shutting one's eyes to the world. Parneel managed the performance well, but lost out with his song choice, and his singing.
But coming to the main issue, what are these judges doing? It's as if they do not want a single opinion to reach the audience, or for that matter the contestants. What with Javed Akhtar and Anu Malik aand Alisha giving a different opinion and then arguing. What is the contestant supposed to say? When Hussain asks Deepali, she says,"I am very sorry Anu Sir lekin mujhe samajh nahi raha hai, lekin mai koshish karoongi galati sudharneki". How can she do that if she does not understand what the mistake is? And which judge do the audience believe?
One more thing, getting Abhishek's parents on stage was a cheap gimmick. I just did not like it. These thnigs are not done in front of the nation.
Last of all, I did not like the video much. Seems too artificial.

Who is going out? Your guess is as good as mine.