Going for a song!!

Saturday nights are battles for the remote. I was at my father in laws house and he had invited some friends over. We were moving from Idol to Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. At Idol I noticed Emon being eliminated. Prashant and Amit Paul remained composed and so did the young Emon. People muttered under their breath about biased voting and not fair. We also switched to Voice of India where apparently a Saradr singer is making waves in his community. But somewhere beneath the surface can we not see what is going on.

Regional states which have been marginalized of an identity are finding a new way to express themselves. The sms vote at 3 to 6 Rupees makes for great empowerment. Shillong, Darjeeling are becoming a reality, a living breathing entity beyond the customary bamboo dance shot in national integration videos. So as judges grind their teeth and fans react to their idols exit, the faces in Shillong and Darjeeling will be glowing tonight. I remember when we were shooting Public Demand and would travel to Ambala, Shimla, Ajmer the response would be much better than jaded Mumbai and Delhi. The urge to be on camera, to share the spotlight, to be noticed was so much more. And so the magnified resposne via sms!!

When Debojit won Sa re ga ma pa year before it was the same thing. The only fallout was that everyone from Assam still expects him to perform for free their as they CREATED him.

I recently heard that Hindi literacy numbers have improved due to a small innovation in Chitrahaar; it runs with subtitles like a karaoke song. Of course the added benefit is that some parts of India can appreciate the wonder of new age lyricists and can invent their own langaguge: Zubi Zubi, Ding Dong, Pant bhi sexy, Dhamaal, etc.

If Prashant teh sepoy wins the further marginalized will express their voice, I fear they may not have enough mobiles between them. Amit Paul will bring Shillong into the mainstream!! While perhaps better singers fall at the altar of mobile manipulation. 50 lakh smses for Prashant. Lets do a back of envelope calculation!! 50,00,000 X 3= 1.5 crores. Split this into 10% for the rights holder, 30% for channel, the rest split between servcie provider and technology provider.

And if this is per episode!! lets make the regions war for more as everybody hears the cash register ring!! Right now talent is going for a song, or an sms!!