Musings on Airtel Super Singer

Super Singer3 Grand Finale Winner: Sathya Prakash

2011-10-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sathya Prakash emerged the clear winner in the Grand Finale performances! The second song he performed from the movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya was absolutely brilliant. What was amazing is that he chose an unconventional song for a competitive final round. The original song had so many tracks overlaid on one another to give the final effect, and Sathya was able to capture the essence of the original with his own multidimensional singing!

It is now difficult to listen to the original without getting reminded of Sathya's version. He started the song off in a completely different way than the original -- it took a while for me to realize that he was about to start Omana Penne! It was so refreshing. Then he added some rap portions for this performance, which was just an okay but an very apt addition to this song.

Then came the mindblowing portion where he started a carnatic piece and then slowly transitioned to a western style! It was a brilliant vocal interpretation of the original where there was a mild nadaswaram piece in the background of the song. It took a while for people to realize what he had accomplished! He had created a new song entirely with his own interpretation of the original. It was brilliant! Whoever taught him this song deserves all the accolades. If Sathya conceived of this song on his own then any praise from me for his immense creativity will fall short! It was a creative daring experiment ever in a competition -- something I would have expected only from a very confident veteran professional singer. Sathya delivered!

Sathya Prakash is the Super Singer 3 Grand Finale Winner! Period.

My pick: Sathya Prakash -- Airtel Super Singer 3 pre-finals

2011-09-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

Have been following Airtel Super Singer 3 but have not written much about this in the past year. It was long drawn out process to get to the pre-finals. I particularly enjoyed the performances in the wild card round. The performances from Praveen and Srinivas in these wild card rounds have been phenomenal. They both really gave their best in these rounds and it was a pleasure listening to them in these rounds.

In the pre-finals my pick will be Sathya Prakash. Before the prefinals round I would have picked Pooja or Saicharan, but Sathya has proved why he is in the finals.

Peppy Songs
Santosh and Saicharan were extremely dull for me in the first round with their peppy numbers. Saicharan sounded very offkey and uncomfortable in the "Something Something" song. In some portions it felt as if he was just reading the lines and not singing. For Santosh the choice of song was very bad. There was nothing enjoyable in that song "dho da" -- that song is at best a filler in a stage program, and it has no place in a competition like this. A wasted chance for Santosh here. Pooja made a good attempt at the "September maadham", but it was extremely bad in some places where she was trying to sing Asha Bhosle's line. Also she seemed to struggle switching between the male and female portions. Totally bad choice of song here.

Then comes Sathya Prakash who make a brilliant choice of a rarely heard song in competitions from the movie Mr.Romeo. He brought the whole house down with his singing. The switch between Udit Narayan and Hariharan voices were scintillating. He added a lot of improvisations not found in the original and it sounded very appropriate for this peppy song. Absolutely delightful and he seemed very comfortable in the song.

Classical Round

First the song that I absolutely loved: Chinnan Chiriya Vanna Paravai! Sathya Prakash's histronics (esp. when he starts of the TMS portion) combined with his control of the final portions lifted the song to great heights. He was so much at ease that it didn't feel like he was actually singing a difficult duet (S Janaki-TMS)! He handled both the singers lines very well. He made is look so easy. His command over the singing style was very apparent.

Compared to that the others were not that impressive. Pooja with "Marairundhey Paarkum" seems a little forced; the feel of the original song was not captured well by her singing. Santosh sang a often heard track in Super Singer: "Isai Kettaal". Unfortunately his version did not stand out when compared to the others we have heard before. Saicharan choice was good (a song that clinched the junior Super Singer finals a few years ago), but it sounded a totally different song when he sang it. There were artificial breaks introduced and things he added to the song that deviated from the beauty of the original classic song.

Unplugged Round

Saicharan's rendition of "Meera Varuvaala" (Manadhil Urudhi Vendum) was very interesting. I loved some portions esp. when he says "Meera varuvala" in the first line -- everytime he said it I was totally moved. But the choice of song was kind of odd for this unplugged round as the original was classical and it seemed a little forced into this round. I can listen to his version just for the way he sang the word "Meera" throughout the song.

Pooja and Santosh stuck to common songs and so the freshness factor was lost the moment they started their song! Also Pooja was just about okay in this song. We have heard better singing from here before. The same song "Kalvarae kalvarae" have been sung better by other singer (guest singers in fact) before. So she does not get high marks here from me. Santosh went with a song he has sung probably attempted in the earlier Super Singer. His voice is great and this performance was a pleasure to listen to, but nothing extraordinary or new that takes your breath away. So unfortunately Pooja and Santosh ended up not impressive because of the choice of songs.

Sathya again scored in this round. He captured the core of the song "Aaruyirae" (Madraspattinam) with his version. In some portions he sounded much better than the original (Sonu Nigam) by adding expression to match the meaning of words (which probably the original singer could not understand). I was lost in the middle of the song listening to the orchestra and Sathya's singing. It was very effective and convincing. He could have easily sung the original song in the movie! If any current music director was listening to this why wouldn't they call Sathya to sing these types of songs?

My Pick

Having seen the whole season, my pick would be Sathya Prakash. He is unique to this Super Singer. All other singers have been on other channels and other programs before, or they have been in super singer and lost out. Sathya is the fresh deserving finalist of this season. He is the find of this season -- Congrats to the various judges who have identified him and groomed him to get to this stage! He deserves his share in the industry and shower us with many great songs in the future!

Looking forward to a great finals the coming weekend!

Wild card selection

2009-04-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

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!

Prasanna - "the" Super Singer

2009-04-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

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!

Semi Final Round -- Thoughts on the Final Three

2009-04-08T14:04:00.001-07:00

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.

Random thoughts on prelim rounds - 1

2008-08-07T20:05:00.001-07:00

Now that all the prelim rounds are done, here are some things that stood out in those rounds.

I thought about writing about one participant who was eliminated in the early round by Srilekha and SP Shailaja. She sang the song from Indian "akkadanu naanga". I believe her name was Ratipriya. I am guessing her name based on other conversations that were shown. They never mentioned her name directly when she was selected (by Srilekha) or when she was eliminated later.

She did a great job in the first round. She seemed very involved in her song while singing and it was joy to listen to her. But unforunately she was eliminated when she sang "appadi podu". It was sad to see her go so early. They should have given her another chance. When they were announcing the names from the waiting list, it was clear that she had had a very hard waiting period. Her eyes were bloodshot, possibly from crying. The disappointment was apparent, as she knew that she could not showcase her talent well. I was hoping against hope to see her in the prelim rounds of other cities, but it was not to be. What a waste..

I am sure she will definitely do well in future.

Chennai: final selection round

2008-08-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Judges: Deepan Chakravarthy and Sunitha Sarathy

Videos courtesy: usertubefan

Chennai: extra final selection round

2008-08-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

Some more rounds in Chennai in Airtel Super Singer 2008.

Videos provided by usertubefan

Videos courtesy: techsiterocks123

Chennai -- more prelim rounds

2008-07-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Judges: Deepan Chakarvarthy and Sunitha Sarathy
(A little bit of screening by Prashanthi, Vinaya and Rajalakshmi)

Thanks to usertubefan for uploading the videos.

Additional video from usaukca in youtube.

Chennai initial episode

2008-07-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Airtel Super Singer's Chennai prelim episodes.
Judges are: Deepan Chakravarthy and Sunitha Sarathy

Videos courtesy: latha46

Videos courtesy: usertubefan

Tiruchirapalli/Trichy -- final selection

2008-07-25T21:56:00.001-07:00

Vijay Super Singer's Trichy final selection round. The judges are Mahathi and Mathangi. The videos are courtesy usaukca who has uploaded these on youtube.

Tiruchirapalli/Trichy -- prelim rounds

2008-07-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

Again the prelim selection judges were: Prashanthi, Rajalakshmi, and Vinaya
Final round judges are Mahathi and Mathangi.

Thanks to 'usaukca' for posting these on youtube.

This videos in this column are courtesy 'kainrazial' in youtube

Coimbatore/Kovai -- final selection round

2008-07-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

Judges S P Shailaja and Srilekha are together now.

Again thanks to kainrazial for this set of videos.

Kovai/Coimbatore prelim episode

2008-07-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

First round Judges are Rajalakshmi, Prashanthi, and Vinaya.
Prelim roud judges: S P Shailaja and Srilekha Parthasarathy

This column has set of videos were uploaded by "kainrazial" in youtube.

This column has videos uploaded by "kainrazial" in youtube.

First episode of Airtel Super Singer 2008 (recap of 2006 season)

2008-07-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

The first episode was just a recap of the first season of this program. Thanks to 'ilikesharing', who has uploaded the episode on youtube, here are the clips from episode 1.

Part 1 of Episode

Part 2 of Episode

Part 3 of Episode

Part 4 of Episode

Part 5 of Episode

Part 6 of Episode

Airtel Super Singer 2008

2008-07-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

The journey begins yet again! A new edition of the Super Singer has started in Star VijayTV in July 2008.

Right now the prelims rounds are being aired on VijayTV. As the competitors list narrows down in the future rounds I will start writing in more detail. For now I will try to collect some of the video links to the program as and when I find them. If you have spotted or even uploaded some of the clips from this program please let me know so that I can provide an update here.

How were winners selected?

2006-08-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Given the final results and having seen all the final episodes (prize and focus on winner episodes), I am left with this nagging question as to how the winners were chosen.

It is said multiple times in these episodes that Anitha won the maximum of votes.
Sowmya won the judges' votes (jury award). So how come Nikhil is declared the winner? He was neither selected by the viewers nor the judges. So who selected him. They never categorically answered this in any of these programs. Will we ever know what went on in the final selection process?

Singing in the Final episode of Airtel Super Singer in Vijay TV

2006-08-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

The final episode had five singers singing 2 songs each. The format was a 5 minute back-to-back singing of two songs -- one fast and one slow. Surprisingly most singers chose new songs to sing in the final round that they have not tried in earlier rounds.

Maya started off first. She sang a fast number (gundu maanga) first. She had too much going in the song (dance, cheering crowd) etc. that seemed a little distracting. But she sang really well. The second song was a lesser known P Susheela song. It was not enjoyable and had rhythm variations that Maya did not handle properly. In melodies she add a nasal tone that seems annoying a little bit. She can improve a lot. Wonder why she did not stick to her time-tested songs (like kaaka kaaka songs). She didn't show her confident self in this round.

Harish came next. He started off well with Uyire Uyire. Again his singing style of adding electric improvisations at end of each line does not suit this song very well. Also he breaks lines (pauses added) at different points and this affects the flow of the song. After he adds the improvisations at the end he looks at the judges and audience -- as if asking for their feedback or approval. This style of singing might be influenced by his interest in ghazals. But it is not enjoyable at all for songs we are already familiar with in a different formal or flow. Shreenivas commented that Harish kind of sang the song in a happy tone. This again I think comes from this ghazal like singing (where even saddest of lines in the ghazal are sung with a smile and with pauses and improvisations!) Malaysia Vasudevan praised him and added a comment that was interpreted by moi as "you sucked the life out of uyire!" The less said about his second song the better. There was a lot of yelling from him. The song is essentially a pathos song packaged in a disco format. Harish missed the point completely on this song. Also he was out of breath at the end of each line that made the yelling more prominent. He didn't seem confident through out the song.
Harish might have been at a slight disadvantage as he joined the group of 4 a bit late and didn't go through the same training or video taping like the others. I guess he would have had support of his friends for the votes like in the semi-finals.

Anitha sang her "ezhu swarangalukkul" which she had sung in earlier rounds. She was just okay in that song. Chitra mentioned at the end that she was not sticking to the raaga. I don't know about the raaga part but it was clear that Anitha did not stick to the original song at many places. Her improvisations were not confident and her returns to the original line in the song had a lot of room for improvement. Her second song was interesting "kotta paaku". She was a little fast in the song and the musicians couldn't keep up with her. But for some reason I believe she is good in folk numbers rather than melodies (which is termed as her strong point through out in the program). She sings the folk numbers with great feel and pronunciation is also very good. "kanna aatha engal mari aatha", "enna vida" (virumandi), pithamagan song, and this "kotta paaku" shows that she can sing folk numbers well. Her performance was not worth winning the finals.

Gautham was brilliant. He sang poomalai which he had sung well in an earlier round too. He did surprise me. He had transformed a lot in the finals. His kanukkula song from Dhil was full of energy too. He justified his being in the finals very well. But since his performance in earlier rounds were just okay he had not connected well with the viewers, he might have a tough time garnering votes. He was in complete control in the Dhil song. His body language and style had completely changed. His normal swaying motion (which caused the songs to all have the same tempo) was not to be seen. He performed well over all. Good work Gautham!

Nikhil came in last and started off a little off key or flat in the Thendrale Thendrale song. I have always felt that the original song itself (from Kadhal Desam) was a little unimpressive (Mano and Unnikrishnan) so there was little to blame Nikhil (other than the song selection!). But he redeemed himself in the middle of the song when the song goes into high pitch. There was no yelling and he is great control. Also he seemed to be deep concentration for his next song -- ennadi meenakshi! Hearing that song after a long time and thoroughly enjoyed it coming from Nikhil. I thought his pronunciation and accent would falter but he sailed through really well. The end at the high pitch had the required pathos and feel as well as voice control. Nikhil nailed this one! I still had doubts if he would get enough votes but looks like he impressed a lot more people and managed very well with the votes! Also like Gautham, Nikhil seems to have changed his posture and style a lot in this finals. He was not his normal slouching posture and he was singing full-throated style. Good luck to him and looking forward to hearing more melodies from him.

It was a great end to the show with some impressive performances. Don't know if we would get to hear these singers again in follow-up programs?

Nikhil crowned as 'Airtel Super Singer' on Vijay TV

2006-08-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Nikhil crowned as 'Airtel Super Singer' on Vijay TV

Indiantelevision.com Team

(7 August 2006 9:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The wait is over and Nikhil Mathew from Chennai was crowned as the Airtel Super Singer by popular singer S.P. Balasubramaniam. He was prized with a Maruti Swift car, and a trophy apart from the grand opportunity of singing for music director Harris Jeyaraj.

Vijay TV launched Airtel Super Singer in the month of April 2006 with the motive of finding the one unique voice out of 6.5 crore Tamilians. The grand prize for the winner is an opportunity to sing for Music Director Harris Jeyraj in his forthcoming film.

Auditions were conducted across the entire state of Tamilnadu targeting three major zones, viz., Kovai, Madurai and Chennai. The mode of entry of participants for the audition was through CD's and cassettes, Airtel registration, and also on spot registrations.

The judges' panel for the initial ground auditions was constituted by personalities in the music industry such as, singers Malaysia Vasudevan, S.P. Sailaja, Jensi, Dr. Seergazhi Siva Chidambaram and music director D.Imman, Singer Malathi and singer Mahathi. These judges short-listed the candidates in various zones to proceed to the next level of the competitions held in Chennai, informs an official release.
The next levels of competition saw the participants going through a series of extensive rounds testing their skills in music. These levels were judged by a special panel of judges constituting playback singers Anuradha Sriram, Srinivas and Unnikrishnan, who follow the progress of the participants through their journey in Super Singer. Singer Chinmayi anchored the show, the release adds.

Anitha was announced as the viewer's choice, as she had got the maximum number of votes and awarded a trophy and a Laptop. The jury award was given to Somya Mahadevan who participated in the show and was given a trophy and an E-Go electric bike. Sowmya has had classical music training for the past 5 years. She is a student of Meenakshi College, Kodambakkam.

Judges in Airtel Super Singer contest

2006-08-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

The intial rounds had several judges whose names are not mentioned in many articles. Here is an attempt to list all the judges who have been spotted during the various episodes. This list might be incomplete.

Chennai
- Gayathri Girish
- S P Shailaja,
- D Imman,
- Malathi

Coimbatore
- Malaysia Vasudevan,
- Mahathi

Madurai
- Prasanna
- Jency,
- Seerkazhi Siva Chidambaram,

3rd round, 4th round, Semi-finals
- Anuradha Sriram
- Srinivas
- Unni Krishnan

Group round
- Vani Jayaram

Emotive round
- Silambarasan

Celebrity round
- Tippu
- Harini
- Sriram Parthasarathy
- Pop Shalini

Finals
- Chitra
- Malaysia Vasudevan
- Ananthji

Nikhil is Airtel Super Singer -- newindpress.com

2006-08-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here is an article from NewIndpress. The last sentence seems extremely derogatory. Is that sentence worthy of being in a news item article? If that is someone's personal opinion on the show it should have been stated clearly (maybe in a separate opinion column) rather than present this as a news item? Will NewIndPress clarify? Also, there is no mention of the author of this piece of information.

Nikhil is Airtel Super Singer

Saturday August 5 2006 10:29 IST

And the winner is Nikhil Mathew, the MBA student from Satyabhama College! The Airtel Super Singer finalist, who was crowned winner by SP Balasubramaniam, walked off with a Maruti Swift car, a trophy and the biggest prize of all - a chance to sing in a film in which Harris Jayaraj is music director.

Anitha, one of the other finalists, was voted the viewer’s choice and took home a laptop. Conducted by Vijay TV, the Airtel Super Singer contest, which begun in April this year, toured many cities.

The initial ground auditions were scrutinised by an eminent panel of judges including Malaysia Vasudevan, SP Sailaja, Jensi, Seerkazhi Siva Chidambaram, D Imman, Malathi and Mahathi.

Subsequently, the contest moved into high gear and Anuradha Sriram, Srinivas and Unni Krishnan tracked the performance of the candidates. One of the highlights of the contest was the SMS round, where friends, family, neighbours and probably even their dogs, voted in favour of their favourite candidate.

Nikhil wins!!

2006-08-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

I wrote that Nikhil could pull a fast on and could be saving the best for the last. And he has! He is the Airtel Super Singer in Vijay TV!.

My comments on the final will be here later.

Here is an excerpt from the Vijay TV's website on the winner

Vijay TV website says:

Here is your chance to congratulate the Airtel Super Singer - Nikhil Mathew!

Name: Nikhil Mathew
Contestant 09
An MBA student (Sathyabama college), he draws inspiration from his mother (a singer). He has been learning music for nearly 10 years from his guru Mr Veeramani. He has learnt to play the miruthangam and has participated in several stage shows. Hariharan is his favourite singer and source of inspiration and A R Rahman, his favourite music director.

Also the following picture at the site shows that Sowmya has won too as a runner up along with Anitha.

Voting for lifeline episode

2006-07-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

It was unfortunate to see that the voting was so close. Harish's campaign on the internet was more the factor is getting him through. Sowmya was unlucky. She was improving a lot and tried harder to get through the emotive and celebrity rounds. It is unfair to see someone who has not gone through the levels and having got a backdoor entry, going through with some voting by his friends.

Anyway the episode itself was another waste of time showing the other four finalists having fun in the city. The part with Ananthji was interesting -- wish they had spent more time with him and sharing more information about voice culture and voice grooming. That portions were too short. Seeing Vikram was okay -- but was it worth wasting an whole segment on his singing and eating with the contestants? It might be worth it for the contestants but for the viewers...?

Anyway, we are so close to the finals. Everyone has a chance. Gautham's chance are tough. Nikhil might be saving his best for the last and might spring a surprise. Maya and Anitha are strong contenders. Now with Harish's luck and friend's backing, he might throw in another ugly surprise.

--

Lifeline episode of Airtel Super Singer

2006-07-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

The lifeline episode was stretched to two whole episodes for no apparent reason. The first episode of showing the singer that have been recalled and given a lifeline was extremely long and painful to watch at times. Too much time was spent on nothing. Silly antics of Harish and his friends (they are the ones who needed the kick in the behind!) and the "surprise" enactment of Harish and Archana in the cafe in Bangalore all had nothing to do with their singing abilities. In fact if they had shown them singing something their chances of getting some votes might have increased.

Now lets come to the actual singing Lifeline episode.

First Sowmya sang the Chandralekha song. She was good but as one of the judges said she was not as brilliant as she was in the earlier episode when she was rejected. But still she sang the song very well and had some of her own variations. She has been trying to improve throughout the competition and show her versatality and range. (she was unsure of her range in earlier episodes). She deserves to be in the final.

Harish singing Ennavale was very much below par. He made several mistakes. His singing is essentially flat with some surprising improvisations. His brilliance comes in flashes. But that is about it, overall the song is not impressive and he sounded off key in a lot of places. He doesn't stick to the beats as well. He seems very average. We have not seen a lot of Harish in this competition, but if this song was his best then clearly he did not use this recall chance very well and will not show up in the finals (or win it for that matter).

Was suprised that Archana was recall that too by Unni. Her singing is inconsistent (within the same song). The volume of the song changes at will without any warning! She seems to yell out and there is no melody in her voice. Also she sang a song that we have heard several times from her and other participants. She did not attempt anything new. The song itself was mediocre. She will not get through unless she controls her "volume" and "volume variations" in her singing, to put it mildly.

Vijay Krishnan botches up yet another one of his many "recall" chances! He got into the song and lost himself. His singing was off key. He chose a very popular song "nilave va" and made several obvious mistakes even to a layman. His friends are the only hope of him getting into the final not his singing.

Nitin Raj was the only one who seemed to have done a good job. He is good imitator of the original song. He did no variations and created a good replica of the original "kana kandenadi". He seemed to show confidence. But he is not versatile enough to win the competition. There was nothing flashy in the singing that the viewers could connect to.

Maybe the original voters who gave Sowmya her Lifeline will get her into the finals as well. The other singers did not hold up to the promise.

Lets see what the final rounds have in store for us. Hope Vijay TV does not waste the episode in unwanted "drama" like this lifeline episode and actually show some real singing from the participants.

Super Singer's magic four - The Finalists (NewsTodaynet.com)

2006-07-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Contest judges - Anuradha Sreeram, Shrinivas and Unnikrishnan announcing
the finalists for the �Airtel Super Singer� contest, in the city, yesterday.

Photo: T Shankaran" />

Super Singer's magic four

Gowtham, V Anitha and Nikhil Matthew from Chennai, and Maya from Coimbatore, are the finalists for the 'Airtel Super Singer' contest being conducted by the mobile phone service provider and Vijay TV. Their names were announced yesterday by a panel of judges comprised of Unnikrishnan, Shrinivas and Anuradha Sreeram.

The winner of the contest will get an opportunity to sing for music director Harris Jayaraj, in his forthcoming venture.

'It was indeed a tough call to reject many contestants as they all gave their best. We decided on the final four after coming to a consensus,' said Unnikrishnan.

Shrinivas said that the entire process of selection was an enjoyable experience and said that the contest was the first of it's kind in Tamilnadu, while Anuradha Sreeram said, 'It was a good opportunity for the youth to showcase their singing skills and we could see that the confidence levels of each of the contestant increase with successive rounds.

Also present on the occasion was Ananth, a voice culture expert from Mumbai. He assisted the judges in assessing the contestants. 'Innate musical capacity was the chief criterion for choosing these four finalists, ' he said.

Super Singer - Details of the Finalists - IndianTelevision.com

2006-07-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Super Singer - Details of the Finalists

IndianTelevision.com, July 13 2006

--------

Gowtham Bharadwaj. V
Registration Number: 05
Zone: Chennai

Selected from the Chennai zone, through Airtel mobile registration, Gowtham is pursuing his degree from Guru Nanak College. Gowtham has had training in classical music for the past 5yrs from his guru Mr. K.V Ramanujam. His ambition is to become a renowned playback singer. Gowtham's strengths in music are his individualistic voice and his versatility. His talent in singing fetched him a gold coin in the 4th level of the audition i.e. the 'duet round', wherein he was spot selected for his performance.

Maya
Registration Number: 03
Zone: Coimbatore

Maya was selected from the Kovai zone through On Spot registration. A student of the Coimbatore Institute Of Technology (C.I.T), she has been learning music for the last 8 years from her guru Smt. Meera Kedarnathan & Sri K.R Kedarnathan. She has learnt to play the veena and keyboard as well. Her ambition is to become a renowned playback singer. Her strengths are her voice and versatility to sing any kind of song with a unique style of her own. Maya's performance in the duet round was much appreciated and was also awarded a gold coin. Singer Tippu who made a special appearance in the celebrated round, called Maya as his favourite singer.

Anitha .V
Registration Number: 04
Zone: Chennai

Anitha was selected from the Chennai zone through CD voice registration. She is currently working for the service industry. Anitha has had training in classical music for the last 5 years and is a student of Hindustani music for the last one year from her guru Ram Moorthy / Megna Dandekar. Anitha's ambition is to become a popular playback singer. Her strengths in singing are her uniqueness in rendering any kind of song. Her singing talent won her gold coins twice during the auditions, one in the 4th level of the audition i.e. the duet round and the other in the 5th level i.e. group round.

Nikhil Mathew
Registration Number: 09
Zone: Chennai

He was selected from the Chennai zone through CD registration. He is pursuing his Masters degree in Sathyabama College. He is being trained in music since 10yrs from his guru Veeramani. His ambition is to become a playback singer. His strengths in music are he can sing melody and classical songs. He has got spot selected and won a gold coin in the 5h level of the audition i.e. group round.

Details of the contestants competing for the Lifeline

Archana Iyer
Registration Number: 13
Zone: Chennai

An architecture student who has had training in Carnatic music for the last 8 years. Anuradha Sriram has called Archana as her favourite contestant and awarded her a gold coin in the duet round, wherein her style of rendition was much appreciated by the judges.

Harish Sivaramakrishnan
Registration Number: 14
Zone: Chennai

Harish works for a software company in Bangalore. He is passionate about singing and his talent has been much appreciated and he has had training in Carnatic music for the past 8 years.

Sowmya Mahadevan
Registration Number: 07
Zone: Chennai

Sowmya has had classical music training for the past 5 years. she is a student of Meenakshi College, Kodambakkam. Actor Simbhu who made a special appearance on the Super Singer show appreciated Sowmya for her performancein the emotive round and also awarded her a gold coin.

Nithin Raj
Registration Number: 08
Zone: Madurai

A student of Literature, Nithin Raj is truly passionate about singing and hopes to become a famous playback signer. Singing melody songs are his forte.

Vijay Krishnan
Registration Number:
Zone: Coimbatore

Vijay Krishnan is a student of the PSG college, Coimbatore. He has had Classical training for the past 5 years and has been appreciated by the judges for his style of adapting the existing song.

Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer - Finalists At a glance

2006-07-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer - At a glance

IndianTelevision.com, July 13 2006:
Vijay TV launched Airtel super singer in the month of April 2006 with the motive of finding the one unique voice out of 6.5 Crore Tamilians. The grand prize for this on going event is a golden opportunity for the winner to sing for Music Director Harris Jeyraj in his forthcoming venture.

Preliminary rounds
Auditions were conducted across the entire state of Tamilnadu targeting 3 major zones, viz., Kovai, Madurai and Chennai. The mode of entry of participants for the audition was through CD's & Cassettes, Airtel registration, and also On Spot registrations.

The judges' panel for the initial ground auditions was constituted by eminent personalities in the Music industry such as, Playback singer Malaysia Vasudevan, Playback singer S.P.Sailaja, Playback singer Jensi, Playback singer Dr. Seergazhi Siva chidambaram, Music Director D.Imman, Singer Malathi and singer Mahathi. These judges short-listed the candidates in various zones to proceed to the next level of the competitions held in Chennai

Main Auditions
The next levels of competition saw the participants going through a series of extensive rounds testing their skills in music. These levels were judged by a special panel of judges constituting playback singers Anuradha Sriram, Srinivas and Unnikrishnan, who follow the progress of the participants through their journey in Super Singer.

In the first level of auditions contestants were asked to sing their choice of songs in various genres.

In the second level they were taught a new song by the judges and were tested on their grasping abilities.

In the 3rd level they were paired up with another contestant in a duet round were they were tested on the grounds of how they adapt to a co-singer.

The 4th level was a group round where, they were tested on how they harmonize and how well they adjust to performing in a group. The special judge for this round was the evergreen singer Mrs. Vani Jayaram.

In the 5th level they were given an existing song and asked to change the emotion of the song without tampering with the tune or the lyrics. This was to see how well they improvise and bring out the emotions and feel of a song. Actior Silambarasan (Simbhu) was the special guest on the show and he gave his opinions from the filmmaker's viewpoint.

In the 6th level they were made to perform with established playback singers. The playback singers who made an appearance on the show and groomed the participants, were Sriram Parthasarathy, Pop Shalini, Tippu and Harini with whom the participants sang in the celebrity round.

The Finalist
The hunt for the Super Singer has now narrowed down to 4 finalists. Maya, Goutham, Nikhil & Anitha were short-listed by the panel of judges based on their performance in various levels.

Lifeline round
All participants who were rejected from the 5th level onwards were eligible for a second chance to re enter the competition through public voting. These contestants were given registration numbers so that viewers can also cast their votes to select their favourite contestant through SMS voting, tele-voting as well as online voting.

Along with which each judge was given a chance to bring back one contestant whom they think might have a potential but have been rejected in previous levels.2 participants with the maximum number of vote got to enter the lifeline round.

The participants who compete in the lifeline round are:

Sowmya - who has won the maximum number of votes.
Vijaykrishnan - who has won the second maximum number of votes.
Archana Iyer - chosen by Mr.Unnikrishnan for a re entry
Nitin raj - chosen by Mr.Srinivas for a re entry
Harish Sivaramakrishnan - Chosen by Mrs.Anuradha Sriram for a re entry

In all, 5 participants have been given a lifeline out of these the public would decide on the one to be sent to the finals through public voting.

One among these 5 gets the 'life- line' a chance to become the 5th finalist to perform for the grand finale. And they await their results.

Prizes
The singer who is adjudged to be the one with the unique voice gets crowned as the Super Singer and gets the golden opportunity to sing for famed music director Harris Jeyaraj. And a Maruthi swift car sponsored by Vijay TV.

The First runner up will receive a Laptop sponsored by Twice Digitale And a special prize of an E-GO Electric bike sponsored by Prithvi Motors for one of the finalists.

Apart from these the contestants who have impressed the judges with their performances in various level of the competition and got "spot selected" received a 2 gram gold coin sponsored by Shree jewellery.

Super Singer judges Harini, Tippu, Shalini, Sriram

2006-07-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

The episodes with judges (and co-singers) Harini, Tippu, Shalini, Sriram was a little disappointing for me. Mainly for two reasons. a) Most of the performances were below par. b) the selections/rejections were not satisfactory

I thought Vijay sang well with Harini but he was rejected. He tried to have variations in the Azhagana Rakshasiye which seemed nice.

Maya was very ordinary. But she got through to the finals.

Priyadarshini was correct in her singing but the judges wanted more out of her songs and so she was rejected.

Nikhil was singing his normal self and was trying to add some extras here and there which did not seem adequate. His selection was fine as others had performed worse than him. But how he got through the earlier round (emotive skills) is a mystery. I would have preferred to see Nitin come through to this round.

The second episode with Sowmya was heartbreaking. She was singing well and she deserved to go to the next round. Just a wrong selection of a song should not be the criteria to reject her.

Anitha's singing was just ordinary and she knew she was going to be rejected. but the judges selected here.

Aruna was the only one who seemed confident and positive. But she was rejected. Sriram had dominated the duet a lot.

Gautham had some enthu in his singing and he was sejected. He is not versatile and he has got through with some ordinary singing but with excellent song selections. Pop Shalini's singing was nice and made the song enjoyable. Gautham in the finals seems unreal -- given the talents of the other singers who were rejected.

Lets see what the final has in store for these four singers -- Gautham, Anitha, Nikhil and Maya.

Maya and Anitha have my vote for the finalists!

Is Harris Jayaraj going to be in the next episode? Will all the winners and runner ups be chosen in the next episode or will this program run till August?

I think there will be some drama added with the voted out participants coming back again (I think Swathi, Sowmya, Vijay, Harish, Nitin might come back in the wild card round and there will an elimination round among them before we see the finals).

Great program, nice concept and nicely executed! Well done Vijay TV.

The Silambarasan episode

2006-07-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Silambarasan episode was little more interesting than what I expected. The singing from Sowmya when pushed by the judges was impressive. She delivered much more than what the judges were expecting. The other singers were treating this very lightly and made a big joke of the song they were given. Swathi was terrible -- she could have just sung the original song as-is and got through but she tried some unrelated alaap and increased tempo and made a mess of the song.

Wonder why Simbu was there only for the girls round and did not judge the boys round.
Vijay Krishnan was so calm -- I feel this guy does not practice and just delivers what is in his mind. The other participants probably hate him! Remember what Priyadarshini was saying about Vijay in the duet round?. When Shenaaz and Maya voted him out they had uncharitable words for him. That guy was in total control of the song. The pauses and additions he made to Ilamai Idho Idho was out of this world. He totally understood what was expected and delivered really well.

Swathi and Nitin Raj were utterly dissappointing for me. Nitin in spite of having multiple chances to prove himself did not utilize the chances well. The judges were trying hard to retain him for the next round but his singing was just plain and did not care for the rules of the round! It was sad to see him go; but he is not a selfless singer and his own negative thinking was his downfall. He always seemed to be someone who was not happy with others doing fell and that reflected in his singing today.

Aruna on the other hand made use of her second chance very well -- recalled even when she was voted out by her team. She had a positive attitude and she sang really well.

It was sad to see Kilgin go but he did not do anything special to merit a recall even.

Lets see what the next round with Tippu, Harini, Pop Shalini and Sriram has in store for us.

Vote for Vijay TV Super Singer contestants

2006-07-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Vote for super singer

You can vote at Vijay TV's site for your favorite singer.

Here is your chance to select the Airtel Super Singer!

The voting for Airtel Super Singer has just begun. Ensure that you go nowhere... Just enter here and vote for your favourite contestant on Airtel Super Singer. To know more about the show and the voting procedure, Click here.

On Airtel Super Singer this week, two more contestants are out! But you can get them back on the show with your valuable votes! So don't miss this chance...

Final list of contestants from The Hindu -- more spoilers

2006-07-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

The Hindu has broken some suspense by listing out the finalists (almost). They have mentioned about two of the upcoming episodes. How these contestants got to the next round will still be interesting to watch.

Singing to win

Vijay TV's "Airtel Super Singer contest" enters the next stage this Friday and Saturday. After last week's tough competition among 12 contestants eight have moved into the next level. This week's episode, to be aired on July 7, at 20.00, will have playback singers, Harini and Tippu, as special invitees besides the show judges, Anuradha Sriram, Srinivas and Unnikrishnan.

Contestants Maya and Priyadarshini get some useful tips from Tippu. And Harini trains Nikhil Mathew and Vijay Krishnan. Among these four contestants two will qualify for the final round.

The next episode, to be aired on July 8, 20.00, will have playback singers, Sriram Parthasarathy and `Pop' Shalini as special invitees.

Sriram Parthasarathy trains contestants Aruna and Anitha while Shalini guides Sowmiya and Gautham . Out of the four two will be selected for the finals. Viewers' votes will decide the winner.

For Airtel subscribers, who would like to register their valuable votes can call 6463 (01 - 12) or SMS SS (01-12) to 6464. Viewers, other than Airtel subscribers, can log on to www.indya.com. Voting opens on July 8, 21.00 and closes on July 9, 20.59.

To know the winner of this contest, viewers have to wait till August 4.

Rejected contestants from the last 15

2006-07-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

Looks like we can see expect to see the rejected contestants back in the contest -- but only one of them will go to the next round. My guess is that rejected contestants to be reselected will be Archana, Harish, Shenaaz, Febin and Swapna. What do you think?

Excerpt from article:
Silambarasan as judge for Super Singer -

The eliminated eight contestants are given a second chance to perform and give their shot at becoming the Super Singer. It's now the turn of the viewers to choose who among these eight will make it to the Wild Card stage. While the viewer polls will help two of the eight contestants to go to the next stage; each of the judges will choose one contestant of their choice from the eliminated eight.

Therefore, a total of five will be given a second chance and they will perform at the Wild Card stage. From these five participants, only one will be chosen by the viewers (via SMS/televoting) to go to the finals to compete with the final four for the coveted title of Super Singer.

Silambarasan as judge for Super Singer - ChennaiOnline

2006-07-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

ChennaiOnline had an article last week that gave away the list of participants in today's show. It also talks about the format of the contest today.

Silambarasan as judge for Super Singer -

TV’s music talent hunt show 'Super Singer' has reached the stage where there are now final 12 contestants who were divided into two groups each consisting of six members. This episode, which is marked by tough competition, sees a special invitee to the show to cheer up the contestants on the episode which would be telecast on June 30 and July 1, 2006, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Vijay TV.

The celebrity is Tamil actor Silambarasan. The star interacts with the participants and listens to their songs and finally selects a singer based on their performance and then gifts a gold coin. Watch out to see who impresses him most.

The 12 selected contestants are given an existing song and will be asked to change the emotion of the song to check how well they are able to bring out the situation involved in the song. These contestants had to choose between two songs given to them. Choice No.1, ‘Manmatha Raasa’ to be sung in sorrow, and choice 2, ‘Poraley Ponnuthayi’ to be sung with cheerful rhythm.

The first six participants are Rajani Saranathan (02), V Anitha (04), Sowmya Mahadevan (07), Swathi Sridharan (10), N S Aruna (11) and Priyadarshini (12).

The second set of six participants are Kilgin (01), Maya (03), Gowtham Bharadwaj (05), Vijay Krishnan (06), Nithin Raj (08) and Nikhil Mathew (09).

These contestants have been given numbers so that viewers can also take part in the selection by sending SMS. For Televoting, viewers can call a set of numbers to register their vote. Viewers can log on to a website and register voting to select their choice of singer out of the 12 contestants and can win fabulous goodies for the right choice.

After these elimination rounds, the final 12 contestants get reduced to 8 and will move to the next round. From this eight, four will be eliminated and the rest of the 4 will be selected for the finals.

Harish will be back in the Super Singer competition

2006-07-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

Harish who had walked out of the competition after being selected in the last 15, is now back into the competition. Read his blog at Out and In.

He also mentions that the voting will be open to public in the next few rounds.

Video of Airtel's Super Singer on Vijay TV - Vani Jayram episode

2006-07-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here are two clips in YouTube of the episode in which Vani Jayram was the judge.

The above is the introduction to the show. Vijay Krishnan rejoining the team; new makeup and the new stage!

The Chennai team's Bak Bak Bak song (intial few seconds).

Super Singer news in The Hindu and "Vallavan"

2006-07-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

The Hindu has an article that talks about the contest in the upcoming episode of Vijay TV's super singer.

Is Simbu a good choice for this show? I don't think so. Have you heard his singing in the latest Vallavan? That kind of singing would have been rejected in the first round of Super Singer! There is a remix of the song "kaadhal vandhirichchu" (from Kalyanaraman) and he makes a mess of it -- funny song does not mean that he can go off key! And what is up with Yuvan and remixes? (that is the topic of a separate blog I guess..)

Vote outs in Vijay TV's super singer

2006-06-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Have been keenly following Vijay TV's super singer program since it started. This week it ended with two teams having to vote out one person in their team. It was left with no decision as four singers got two votes each. Looks like the participants were not expecting a vote out and were reluctant. It was interesting to see the conversations before the vote out between the participants. Was Swathi trying to walk out ("I have other opprtunities...")? Was Archana going to quit on her own (Another participants suggested this)? Lots of things were talked about which were not music related at all.. Lets see what will happen.

I was kind of expecting some voting to occur. Vijay TV has done something similar in other reality shows or contests of this nature. Vote out is definitely going to create some animosity going forward.

Coming to the singers themselves. Swathi was not at her best at all. She has stage fright and is not comfortable at all. I want to see her go through to the end but she might not..

Earlier rejection of MK Balaji was unfortunate. He was not confident at all in the duet round. In fact he was singing well the song from Pasum Pon "thamara poovukum". If you listen to the original song you can make out that MK Balaji and Sheenaz did a very good job. MK Balaji was very smooth and he faltered at a simple line. If he had sailed over that one word he would have been through.