Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wild card selection

The selection has been announced. Ranjani, and Vijay had moved into the wildcard by default. The three judges have made their choice for the wild card round. Shreeni has chosen Santosh, Sujatha has chosen Prasanna, and Unni has gone with RaginiSri.

Note that the wildcard round has a voting from the viewers, so we might need to wait more than two weeks before we know who the finalist would be from these five.

Voting also puts an unfair advantage for participants who are already popular with the audience. I am not sure how much the performance in the wildcard round would affect the voting. Santosh would feel this handicap more as he was eliminated early and was not part of the final rounds. So he will have to pull in a major performance to upset the other four. Ranjani and Vijay have made to the last step and so they fresh in the minds of the audience. RaginiSri's exit in the unplugged strings round was disappointing to many (esp. after her brilliant performance in classical and western rounds), so some of her supporters would love see her back in the finals. I reserved Prasanna for the last for obvious reasons! Having the popular Prasanna in the mix is bad news for Vijay, Ranjani and Santosh! RaginiSri is the only one who can give Prasanna a run for the money.

Given that these are the five singers, what do you think they should sing in the wildcard round?

Prasanna: Personally I would love to see him sing a sad song in this round. The song should also have nice variations (not monotonous) and have deep meaning lines. I think Prasanna is the only one in the group that can carry a song like that. A song like "oora therunkitten olagam purinkitten kanmani en kanmani" (Padikkatavan). But in reality, I think he will go with a peppy number to bring down the house! Whatever it takes to get the votes in!

Vijay: I would prefer to see him sing some kind of folk song. Something outlandish, Rajasthani type of song. I think he gets so involved in those types of songs. He has the power to move you in high pitched songs interlaced with detailed notes. He can also go for some upbeat number as he is capable to engaging the audience. But choosing a song where no one knows the lyrics of the song would be to his advantage!! (he always messes up the lyrics!).

Ranjani: I wish Ranjani would choose an song from yesteryears from PSusheela. Something like "gangai karai thottam kanni pengal kootam" (Vaanampadi). There is ample scope for her to show her talents -- sangatis, tune, high sustaining notes and more importantly a variety of emotions! It would be divine to hear this song again in Ranjani's powerful voice.

RaganiSri: She can sing so many varieties. Best would a song in the western genre in which she can showcase her voice very well. She can use that break in this voice very well and it would fit nicely in a westernized song. Wonder if she has tried "sei yethavathu sei" (Billa) on stage before -- it would be great to sing that song. Or she can even go a semi-classical in the mold of MLV and leave a powerful impact. She can surprise us with any song like she did in the uravugal sound or classical round. Would love to see her do a "googly" again!

Santosh: He has to go for a soulful number. Hope he stays away from kuthu and fast songs. Wonder if he will sing the "enna solla pogirai" (Kandukondain Kandukondain) and hit the high notes. It would be great to hear him sing this song of his idol. He can get the right feel, and I have seen him hit the high notes which would go straight to the listener's heart.

That is my take on what I would like to hear them sing in the wild card to get my vote!

Good luck to all!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Prasanna - "the" Super Singer

Lots can be and needs to be written about Prasanna in Super Singer. He is a phenomenon. His earlier prelim rounds, his early exit, reentry, grand performances, then the final exit.. He was the main character in this super singer drama.

He can get into a song and make you feel it completely. The song can be anything --sad, happy, devotional etc. -- it really doesn't matter. He will totally get into the song, and bring it out from his heart. He has a great talent for this.

You can feel the full import of the Tamil lyrics whenever he sings the songs. He is at a loss in other languages (English words in songs gets eaten up! His attempts at Hindi or Malayalam would be disastrous unless someone explains the words to him.) He seems like a self made singer and probably likes to practice all alone. When he sings Tamil songs you first clearly hear the words, and above that he clearly emphasizes and emotes the words he is singing. His amazing talent and intelligence comes through clearly.

He unfortunately gets nervous when he is tested on stage. He has never passed any impromptu tests on stage. It looks like he needs time to digest the song's concept to do a good job of it. He is not an "instant singer" althought he is very intelligent singer and delivers what is needed.

Even more unfortunate is the branding of him as "kuthu" specialist or a "performer". This just injustice to his talent which is understand the importance of the message of the song. If he picks a song the message of the song will reach the audience. But the program has focused only on his performance and kuthu songs more giving an impression that he can make anyone dance when he is on stage. The indirect implication here is that he will be bad behind the microphone in the recording theatre. What is missed by this preception is the fact that he can make people understand the song and also cry when needed. Another point that is overlooked is the confidence that he has on stage. That was his sole strength not "performer" or "kuthu". Once he understands the song, and builds up his confidence there are no barriers.

Sometimes for the sake of creating a feel he does lose control of the song. This was evident in the early part of the super singer show. It was not the case in the latter half (final eight, super sever rounds) of the program. So with proper guidance he can correct himself.

What impressed me most was when he was finally let go from the program in the Uravugal round, he first thought of his supporters. He was not crying for himself but he felt for his fans. Even in that hard moment he gathered up enough energy to sing a song and it ended it with "kalanguthamma en manasu"! Wow! It takes more than courage and talent to do that. He showed great compassion for his audience, which is very important trait for him personally that will allow him to grow as a singer. (It looked like he had pretty much prepared himself to exit in the previous classical round and in this round he faced the decision with a lot of courage).

I am sure we will see a lot more of him in Vijay TV in future (for New Year and Diwali special programs!!). Hope to hear his songs in movies soon. It will be a delight for him to have a hit of his own and not just sing other people's hits on stage.


Following are some of the songs of his that I love.



Prasanna singing "vazhe mayam" and "madai thirandhu" in emotions round. Is there any doubt here about his talent? He makes your cry first, then immediately makes you jump up and dance. What an amazing singer!



Prasanna singing with Ravi in one of the earlier rounds. Amazing how he holds up against a great talent like Ravi



Aha aha... the evergreen "nilavu oru pennaagi" from Prasanna. Prasanna erases any doubt that he can be completely original here. There is no trace of TMS in his singing. What feel! What involvement! I can never forget this song from Prasanna.


Sometimes you have to wonder if his "Perumal" is working in his throat when he is singing the following "venkatachala nilayam" song! S Janaki used to say she does not know how she sings some of the songs, and that she believes that it is her "Kannan" singing. This must be true for Prasanna here.



Here is Prasanna singing "lajjavatiye" (Malayalam)! (he singing from around 3:00 in the first video). This is another case where he goes head to head with Ravi and comes out on the winner. Great singing from both of them. Enjoyable episode with some wise-cracks from everyone involved (esp. in the second video which has the comments from the judges and hostess Chinmayi)!!

RaginiSri -- Relive and Revive!

It was unfortunate to see Ragini be ousted in the semi finals round. RaginiSri has a lot of talent and versatility, but she lacked the confidence. Unfortunately, it looked like she started to believe all the negative criticism and comments. Instead of proving that she could sing all types of songs, she just accepted that she had limitations. I still believe she can sing all the melodies and typical heroine songs if she wants to.

She unfortunately attributes her good and bad performances to others -- like her trainers, judges etc. She tends to forget that ultimately she is the one with the talent and who is doing a great job. It is not the trainer who was singing, it was RaginiSri. It is not her family members or the judges on the stage, it is only her RaginiSri on stage. Once she realizes that there will be no stopping.

As Ananthji said in the program "her voice is the future of playback singing". It is not enough for Ananth to say it, RaginiSri has to believe that statement to make it a reality.

I was glad that she came back in those recall rounds. I absolutely loved her performance of "ellaam inba mayam" and "vegam vegam pogum pogum magic journey" in the Classical and Uravugal rounds. It was magical to hear her go through those difficult numbers.

As a personality it is very clear that she loves music. She appreciates anybody's singing and enjoys it. It is always a treat to watch her when others are singing on the stage. It shows her humility and love for music. A truly likeable personality.

Hope she picks up the pieces and comes back with a bang in the wild card round before the grand final. She can beat the other three in so many different genres if they go face to face in the final round. She is capable. She just has to believe in it.

Her lack of confidence was very evident when she was singing in front of singer Chitra in one of the earlier rounds. Chitra pointed that immediately and said that her posture and facial expressions screamed out: "please eliminate me!". That was very true. This was the major reason for her bad performances earlier in the program. She has to change her body language and show more confidence. She just has to remember what a capable singer she is and was earlier.

I have seen her in other program, especially the one where she was singing with SPB. She was so cheerful there. She was so confident. She did not hold back on anything. I remember her "dol dol thaan" and being completely blown away. I would recommend her to go and view those videos of her singing with SPB. She needs to relive those magical moments; she needs to revive the magic again!

Good luck RaginiSri!


Some of her memorable songs for me:


Duet with Ravi in Super Singer. Look at the involvement and enjoyment!




Dol Dol Thaan in other program with SPB. (look how cheerful she is here! Please go back to being this RaginiSri!)




The absolutely beautiful "Vegam Vegam" in super singer (the phrase "kaana kaan inbam inbam" was vintage Usha Uthup style!)




"Elaam inba mayam" in the classical round. Absolute delight!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Semi Final Round -- Thoughts on the Final Three

I followed the super singer but was not writing actively about it. One of the main reasons was because it was too long. It had one wild card round where lots of rejected participants came back into the program (some choices were good for the program) and that pushed the program ahead. Then they are now talking about another wild card round! The program has almost stretched out to an year. I was more looking forward for the "super singer juniors - part 2" to start earlier this year. Looks like that has been pushed out as the regular Super Singer got popular and longer!

Anyway, now that we are the semi finals, I am starting to write down my thoughts. The final three singers are Ravi, Renu and Ajesh. Good singers all of them. But I am wondering what Yuvan Shankar Raja is going to do with them? None of these singers seems to fit into the mold that Yuvan operates in.

Ravi has perfection but his voice seems too thin/sharp and seems to lack a base. He also seems too rigid and into classical a way too much. You can't find mistakes in his singing but at the same time it is not extraordinary to enjoy.

Renu has a great voice, but has not shown any inclination to experiment or come out of her comfort zone. She gives the feeling that it will be very difficult to extract anything out of her.

Ajesh is not versatile at all. He has a long way to go. He has a good grasp of singing basics, but does not exude confidence.

These three choices are not the best of the lot. Yuvan could have done a lot with voices of Vijay, RaginiSri and Prasanna. It was hard to see Ranjani go out the door. Ranjani's powerful voice can be molded easily for great songs that will stay in people's mind. Yuvan could have benefited from these four singers rather than Ravi, Renu and Ajesh.