Zee Marathi Saregamapa – Mockery of callback

Did you see yesterday’s callback episode? I was completely frustrated since the beginning. We all were waiting to see the finalists like Ketaki mategaonkar, Shalmali Sukhtankar, Shamika Bhide, Kartiki Gaikwad and not so keen on Sagar Phadake, Radhika Nande and Neha Karmakar. Yesterday itself when Shamika was out of the competition, one more down due to good voting to Rohit Raut who is in parallel improving his singing skills, she was not crying because she was going to appear on the callback next day. But then suddenly we saw only three of the seven and announcement that two of them will go ahead!!! What!!!! I said.

Though Pallavi cleared that the rest 4 did not come due to personal reasons, it was not convincing enough. After all a day before Shamika says she will be there tomorrow and the next day she is not there! Who in the world will lose such an opportunity! Things look suspicious here. However the episode went well with a great contribution from Honorable Yashwant Deo. His comments were really guiding at the same time had perfect balance to tell you who is where. Kartiki’s first song looked like it is copied from some Hindi song but then it was sung by Dnyaneshwar Meshram – another Saregamapa champ. She sang with lot of energy which I felt was unnecessary but for her age she was good. Radhika Nande was a complete surprise. Although she still needs lot of work on pronunciation, her singing has really improved and she was showing that she is not going to go without a tough fight. Shalmali as usual was great but the comments given by Yashwantji were really apt asking her to reduce some of the over expression. I personally feel that with lot of emphasis from Avadhoot & Vaishali on expression, these children are trying to bring that in without really understanding it. Same is happening with Arya Ambekar as well, I feel. With this guidance, they should be able to come back to normal.

But in the finals, the entire result was a great disappointment. It was difficult to send one person back so the start itself was on wrong footing. With great singing from Radhika, the decision was even tougher. Finally when all were declared winners, I said, why bother with the 1.5 hour episode? They could have straight away declared that result in the beginning. I was also surprised that Kartiki went ahead straight and there was a tie between the remaining two. All in all I felt that because of public pressure, zee had already decided that Shalmali and Kartiki need to go ahead. And I guess when they declared that two of the contestants will go ahead, those who did not agree with it or read between the lines simply dropped off calling it waste of time. Zee Marathi needs to come up with lot of explanation. Off course if they feel responsible. Like Deo saheb said, in old times, Radio officers would ask them even if the recordings were short by 1.5 minute. I feel the same commitment should come from Saregamapa Little Champs’ producer/director.

9 thoughts on “Zee Marathi Saregamapa – Mockery of callback”

  1. Completely agree with Hemant. i was expecting that Shamika will come back again as she is really a very good singer. And she unable to come in the very next episode is something look suspicious here.

  2. There is nothing surprising about the SRGMP. What I got to hear from my acquaintance (and this is something I did not believe it even after I read it here) is that participants are being asked to pay up to advance. The acquaintance is neighbor of one of the competitors. I always knew that something must be rigged.. but this was flat out blatant.. and that too with these innocent kids!! I guess that’s how you take their childhood away. What bothers me is how do all the biggies allow and be a party to all this? Any views on this? Like you blog though…

  3. Definitely whatever happened was totally unfair with Shamika Bhide and has remained behind scenes. SRGMP would never come up with explanations. All great music lovers missed Shamika wholeheartedly in that episode and all to come hereafter and saw other moderate singers to go ahead. The very episode in which Shamika got eliminated was surprising as crowd fav Mugdha was having only about 4% sms whereas Avanti hit 46% sms amazing!! And in the very next episode Avanti was eliminated. Who would believe so amazing extreme results??

  4. I agree…. I used to watch the show with great interest… but its lost its credibility completely….

    One – the callback was a FARCE. If they have any shame or responsibility – Zee should clarify why Shamika, Sagar, Ketaki and Neha didnt come for the callback. We can understand 1 or 2 having some personal problems – but 4??? That sounds outright fishy…

    Secondly – the way Rohit is being promoted – he gets the best comments from judges – gets opportunities to sign with stars – Avadhoot and even Vaishali (whom i thought was quite sensible) is going overboard in promoting Rohit… like the other day – when he sang laaga chunari pe daag – his pronounciaition of the word “chunari” was not correct – but still – none of the judges comments on it… He is being praised – left – right and centre…. Really surprising.. Yes – he has improved.. but the amount of praise going his way is completely strange…. and the judges never praise other contestants so much – especially shalmali… even Arya – she sings superb – but all she gets is a DHA… and good singing… for Rohit – the reaction and comments are out of the world – it does have an impact on viewers….

    Anyways…. I for one – who never used to miss a show – dont bother watching the show these days… Its good – but the interest is gone…

    As far as I am concerned – Prathamesh and Arya are the BEST – top 2…. Of course – I will not be surprised if Arya gets eliminated – as she does not get good comments and good marks from the judges – which impacts the sms votes – Arya always gets the lowest SMS votes… and yet she is still on the show – only because of her superb perfomances…. Way to go Arya….

  5. i think the compitition it is just a formality, and Kartiki Gaikwad is winner. it is already fixed.
    is it Kartiki Gaikwad better than prathamesh? why she got higher marks than prathamesh?

  6. i wolud like to say that zee marathi has organised really good show…
    about contestant… i will say that all are good in singing but my favourite is kartiki, she sings good (this is my personal comment, i dont know what is the technical quality she has).
    we hope that winner will be right contestane in all ways as singing & performing… we expect right justice from Zee Marathi.
    all the best to all contastant & thanks to Zee Marathi.

  7. Yesterday’s episode (Jan 19, 2009) showed a feeble attempt by ZEE to clear its name out of the controversy of the call back farce…. They called all the other 7 finalists and made sure that the judges (Avadhoot and Vaishali) as well as Pallavi – say on television that they would have loved to see all the contestants for the call back – and how that was a great opportunity missed by the 4 who did not turn up…. – Samika, Sagar, Neha and Ketaki… Making it sound that it was entirely the fault of the contestants… Zee also made Shamika and Ketaki say that they could not come for the callback because of of some reasons – and again made it sound that it was the contestant’s fault and not of ZEE…

    Does ZEE think that we people are stupid…. In fact by doing so – they have accepted their mistake in a way… I can understand 1 or 2 contestants not coming – but 4 out of 7 not turning up for the call back? Especially Shamika who was eliminated just one day before…

    Obviously the contestants and their parents also realise that this was a great opportunity for their kids – the entire set-up of the programs and the call back was a superb opportunity and any person would have participated…

    But still 4 of them didnt turn up…. and ZEE wants the public to believe that it was the foollishness of the contestants not to come for the call back??

    Obviously there is much more than what is being made to appear…

    People are not fools – NOT to see thru this…. The judges (avadhoot and Vaishali are puppets and they just said what they were told to say – and even the contestants – Ketaki and Shamika were MADE to say that they missed the call back because of some reasons – and it was sad for them… Although Shamika’s and Ketaki’s voice and expressions gave some hints of the manipulation…

    Its really cheap on the part of ZEE to resort to such manipulation…. In fact the very fact that they had to do such kind of thing – proves that they know they are guilty….

    If they have any guts and any respect for the public… they should clearly come out with what was the REAL reason as why those 4 didnt participate in the callback??? I also wonder why media has not taken up this issue and interviewd those 4 to find out the real reason……

  8. but what could possibly ZEE gain if they don’t show up? I am sure their viewership is a lot more if all the popular kids such as Shamika, Neha do indeed show up. I don’t understnd the hyper comments here….

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