Hridaynath Mageshkar’s Mesmerizing Shoora Mee Vandile (शूरा मी वंदिले)

Past two evenings have been really mesmerizing. Thanks to the excellent program by Zee Marathi on their Saregamapa Little Champs special for sixtieth Republic Day of India. Zee TV on this occasion of Republic day took all the little champs to NDA in my home town Pune. They also invited parents and siblings of the Martyrs from Indian armed forces.When the champs started singing, each song was followed by some really touching experiences from these parents and an appeal to all Indian parents to send their children to join the armed forces and to the young generation to join.

I was particularly touched by two incidents about the way our army men are fighting war in Siachen glacier and the mishaps of MIG 21 fighter planes. I am sure these must have brought tears to millions of viewers watching the show. Finally Hridaynath had to wake us up to the reality that the theme of the show is bravery and we should not shed tears but celebrate our freedom and the martyrdom of those who died for our country like they did. From there the program really took a different turn and we were all charged up listening to songs and then stories of Shivaji Raje and Veer Savarkar.

This was followed by second episode of the same theme today. While watching the program I was in the same era of Shivaji, 17th century and the Adilshahi, Mughals and the wisdom of Shivaji, his justice, his vision and what not. But then I made a mistake of switching to the news channel after the program and I was awaken by harsh reality of today.

On one hand we have a media channel, which was telling us about the glorious past and trying to bring spark of nationalism in us and on the other hand we had the news channel reporters shooting the heinous incident of few goons beating up the girls and women in a pub calling them prostitutes. The media it seems knew about the incident but did not inform the police and did not even try to stop those goons from attacking the women. Two exactly opposite characters in the same business.

For most of the time we see the name of Shivaji being used by the political leadership in Maharashtra. No doubt Shivaji was the greatest king in India, but all those stories of winning the wars and all get much too attention than the ruling system Shivaji implemented in Maharashtra. So we know the Shivaji at war with the then Yavani, Mlenchh rulers of Maharastra but we don’t know much about the Shivaji during the peace time. We have war going on at the borders almost on daily basis but what about the war inside? The Marathi leaders are waging war against each other. Hardly few think about the welfare of the state. So how does Shivaji in peace time should affect them? Do let us know if you want those principals to be followed.

Finally, about the quote of Winston Churchill, Hridaynath was siting – Don’t you think that despite all the efforts taken by the revolutionaries and freedom fighters, India has become a land where humans live like animal herds? We get angry at his remarks, but eventually they are becoming true. So we have still not won the war against this British man. Like one of the mother of a martyr pilot said: Not everyone needs to take sword in his hand, but if he does his job well and feels his responsibility towards the country, it is more than enough. Going forward, I would say, we also now need to unite and make others perform their duty. The good human beings do not tolerate injustice.

Zee Marathi – Finally some sense prevailed

Finally yesterday some sanity prevailed in Zee Marathi Saregamapa Little Champs with the declaration of all 5 little champs going to the mega finals. I was getting nervous and so was everyone in the family when we saw Arya going to number 2. Considering the percentage of SMSes she gets generally. I have been inactive for last quite a number of days primarily due to some personal problems. But I was getting lot of comments on both blogs (blogspot & wordpress). Now for all those Arya fans who are not voting using SMS as they do not want to pay the cellphone companies… here is the link to vote online. Go ahead and vote for free. Don’t just sit and wonder why she is not getting enough votes. I have enough comments on the blog to have a feeling that she is everyone’s favourite but then she needs votes as a proof.  पोरगी कितीही हुशार असली तरी परिक्षा पास व्हायला मार्क हवेतच का नाही? आर्यानी पेपर उत्तम लिहीलाय पण तपासल्यावर आपण गुण द्यायला विसरतोय.

To summarize my comments on last few weeks,

1. Arya is already our superstar. Reasons – sheer quality of singing, choice of songs, versatility, attitude to learn and excel. In fact the lesser number of votes was helping her excel. For her there is no scope for complacency as there was not much backing from judges till last few episodes, the vote count put her on edge making great singing as the only option and she stood up to that challenge. Bravo Arya! keep it going.

2. Prathamesh is not at his best. As AG pointed out, he is passing through the transition phase. He is becoming monotonous and suddenly sings shockingly exceptional songs like the koli song of yesterday. For me he is at number two purely because he has not shown much versatility and we are longing for more. Singing quality is of course top quality.

3. Two statements got my immediate agreement – first one coming from Avanti Patel. She said she would not have done same level of preparation in ten years had it not been for this competition. Very true and same would be case for all participants and it will definitely take them further in life. Second one from Vaishali which seems to be the root cause for yesterday’s decision. All the children are now friends with each other and singing together for so many days but everyone has kept his/her identity. That is simply unbelievable. Think about it. At such a small age when we are imitating everyone we like or find good, how do these children learn as well as not imitate? Off course they have great singers to follow the footsteps but still… I think this is a great attribute to gain and these children are really lucky.

4. I am still surprised how Rohit is getting so high marks. He is singing all sorts of songs and proving that he is jack of all trades but then he is master of none really. He has to focus on getting correct “sur” than focusing on expressions, and emotions. He made a good attempt at “ek chatur naar” but if you listen to the original song after or before his, you will notice that he was out of control in many places and just on sheer energy he pulled it. But that is not good enough at this stage. I hope he takes note of this and improves his singing. Yesterday Avadhoot showed him the real difference and after long time I heard a right comment from Avadhoot. Now that no one is getting eliminated, the pressure on judges to give prescribed comments will go away and we will get more true comments and suggestions.

5. Kartiki is getting unnecessary popularity. She is one-dimensional. She has the folk music in her blood but then she is not working on other aspects of singing. I wonder if she would be trying all Hridaynath and Khaleji’s songs in the finals. All this praise and popularity will make her a folk singer whereas the ease with which she sings she is capable of doing much much more.

6. Mugdha is the little baby and at her age, she is doing great. But this is a competition and she has many years to go in her childhood itself. From absolute singing view point, she has lot more to learn and I believe she is not a candidate to win this competition just yet. She will probably win in another 4-5 years eventually. Let her be the small child she is.

7. The comments I am seeing on the blog… I am unable to read the new lingo. What spellings man…. come on folks… spend some time on typing few more key strokes… better yet type in Marathi if possible but don’t convert the Latin script as phonetic. The script itself is too limited. Devnagari is much better.