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Idols and the sms
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Public voting through SMS should not be the yardstick in a contest where talent triumphs over the rest
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Singing sensations Amit Paul and Prashant Tamang
For weeks they danced to the tune of the judges and sang their heart out to impress them and the audience. But finally what prevailed were the nimble touch of a few buttons on the mobiles and land phones and the transmission of electronic text messages.
The Indian Idol-3, the show hosted by Sony Television to select the new singing sensation of the country drew to a close on September 23 with the people voting for Prashant Tamang, the lad from Darjeeling.
With the elimination of one challenger after another over the last few weeks the stage was set for a showdown between Prashant who works for the Kolkata Police and 24-year-old Amit Paul from Shillong.
Amit who was not only consistent throughout the competition and the favourite was finally edged out by the ‘boy next door’ from Darjeeling in a crunch finish, thanks to the public votes.
Though many favour the decision and feel that Prashant’s simplicity prevailed over Amit’s flamboyance they also suggest that the public voting system should not be the yardstick in a contest where talent triumphs over the rest.
“I am not against Prashant. He is a good singer but when it comes to pure talent and singing capabilities he scores below Amit. The final should have been between Emon Chatterjee and Amit. Both Amit and Emon score higher than Prashant when it comes to voice quality and singing capabilities,” says Prajit a professional track singer.
Nandita who was selected for the Indian Idol-3 but missed the bus in the second round opines that the final decision should not be left to the public through the voting system. “In the end real talent suffers. Voting through SMS could be flawed and biased. It happened to Sumedha in the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest (a similar show on Zee TV). She lost out because she hails from a small state like Chattisgarh, where network connections are yet to be established in a big way. It would have been ideal if the selection procedure was a combo of the voting system and the judges’ choice,” says she.
Though Prashant, Amit and rest of the 13 finalists have become celebrities overnight, a few feel that the voting system has become a sort of a campaign.
“The SMS campaign overshadows real talent. There were reports that the Mayor of Mirik, T.B. Rai had spent over Rs. 10,000 for SMS voting and the Kolkata Police were given over 30 mobile sets to take up the voting vigorously. Rallies and signature campaigns were organised both in Darjeeling and Shillong to raise funds for the voting. In such a scenario genuine talent is edged out and only the telephone companies make huge sums. Just imagine for the final result over 7 crore votes were received and the system was on for the last couple of weeks. The companies would have made over a few hundred crores in the last two months,” says Prajit.
David who is also a professional singer suggests that the voting system should be limited to one vote per mobile. “People send multiple votes within a few minutes,” he said.
Harbinger of divide
While there is a huge debate going around with the voting pattern a few students of an engineering college are of the opinion that the voting system is the harbinger of divide within the country.
They strongly feel that it is wrong on part of each of the contestants to motivate their home state to vote for them in a live show.
“One should not forget that he or she is an Indian first and the contest is an all-India competition. Already we have so many divides in the name of various political and social reasons why deepen it further in the guise of music? Music is known to transcend all boundaries, so let the deserving win,” they voice in chorus.
SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE
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