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Surfer's say: Musical Competitions
Programes featuring musical competitions have become a regular source for getting more eyeballs for many channels, writes Vivek.
Programes featuring musical competitions have become a regular source for getting more eyeballs for many channels. Earlier we had barely one popular program, called SaReGaMa, hosted by Sonu Nigam which had quite a fan following. The program unearthed such good talents as Shreya Ghosal and Sunidhi Chauhan apart from honing the skills of Sonu Nigam itself, and making him a darling of everybody.
The original program had a fixed format wherein participants sang in various rounds. The three rounds usually were solo, a duet and then a judge's choice round. Out of the usual 6 participants, three were boys and three girls, usually in their teens (occasionally, there used to a special program for gifted child singers as well). During round-1, each of the 3 boys and 3 girls came and sang a song of his/her choice.
In the second round, Sonu used to give a duet song and the participants were called upon in pairs, to sing one stanza each. Thereafter in the third round, each participant sang the song requested by the judge. Usually, the judge used to ask for participant to sing another song of his/her choice.
Afterwards, the judge(s) used to score marks for all and choose one girl and one boy participant as the winner.
Usually the judges used to offer some advice and also state, invariably, that the choice was very difficult, and that all of them sang beautifully and should continue to practice and get better and better. It used to be an inspiring evening for even the losers.
None of the judges used to disparage any of the participants, nor make fun of their singing abilities. Usually, it was observed that the quality of the chosen participants was very good, and the viewers were not taken through the whole process of selection of those 6 participants.
The winner participants (from each program) were later invited to compete in one or two regional semifinals and then the grand final. In the extravagant final show, the organizers and Sonu used to invite various famous names in the Indian music industry; the program itself was held live at some out-location, a big stage and amidst invited audience, and at times on an open-air, grand stage, with attendant lights and sound effects.
