Ok people…after a long gap here I am once again!
So…where was I? Haan..yes..the second day of the theatre round at NCPA. Right.
We all left at the same time in the morning (again with our luggage) and reached NCPA earlier than the previous day. All of us got out and everybody startd practicing with their duos and trios. Pinky started getting really worried. She was like “Lets practice….we really have to perform well..” bla bla (like we didn’t already practice a zillion times!! Heheh)
Any ways so all of us after a brief practice session outside the hall went into the building. As usual we had to wait for hours before our turn. And meanwhile I was busy looking at all the other pairs…practice…fight…bitch about one another …again practice,….cry….being shot by the cameras…and so on!
Hmm…soo much happened that one day…where do I begin? Ahh…yes…the all time favourite Richa-Prashant Duo.
Ok let me give you a brief about what we thought about the two of them when we saw them getting paired for this round: “Awww soo cute…Richa is such a sweet and small little girl…and prashant..umm..well..dunno much about him..can’t say!”
Scene 1: The day before, just as they both stepped out of the auditorium after all of us found our pairs, she begins crying. Why?
1. She couldn’t find Prashant…(poor guy must have gone to take a leek)
2. She is a “well-trained-classical” singer, and he ain’t
3. She doesn’t feel comfortable with him (hello madam..how long have you been with him to know your comfort level? Two minutes?)
After I saw her crying and moaning about the same things to the camera more than once…I realized that a girl of SIXTEEN who is in the ELEVENTH standard…cannot be sooooooooo IMMATURE and KIDDISH!!! PUH-LEEZ!!
And on our way back to the hotel also she didn’t sit in the same bus as Prashant ’cause her dad thought he was a cannibal and was going to eat her!! GOD!!!
Anyways..back to day 2…yea..Ms.Richa Aneja was sitting next to me on a bench at NCPA (If you have seen the images given under my profile at sify.com you would know exactly which bench we were sitting!!! Hehe! I am too lazy to upload it here!). All of a sudden this lady starts crying. I was like…”ok..now what?” I saw Rithika (one of the associate producers) calling a cameraman through her headphones: “Papuli…come quick …we got a byte to catch!”
Rithika: (bends down towards Richa and asks) Kya hua Richa?...Kyun ro rahi ho? Kisine kuch kaha?
Richa: (still weeping): Nahin…main nahin bataoongi camera mujhe acha nahin lagta...*sniff*sniff*
Rithika: Theek hai..(turns towards Papuli sir) .camera bandh karo..
What does Papuli sir do? Just folds the screen of the camera and sits down with it….position is fixed…and camera is still on!
Rithika: (sitting down…asks sympathetically) Ab bathao mujhe …kya hua?...tumhaare saare problems batao mujhe…
Richa: (still weeping) Jo kuch bhi aapne kal shoot kiya…mujhe acha nahin laga….bla bla….Prashant ye….bla bla…Prashant wo..bla bla (and she went on!)
I got up from there thinking people should not see me laughing in that frame and I shouldn’t spoil that excellent reality byte!! Hehe!
After a little while Prashant also joined them and he was consoling her saying that he wouldn’t spoil their performance. So sweet of him. And what did she do? Shrug him off when he sympathetically put his palm on her head. Does she even have regard for the fact that he is very much elder to her? God..talking about her gives me goose bumps (the irritating kind) !
Then came this another interesting couple, Suhith and Charu. I saw Suhith come out in a huff and puff…swearing like crazy!!!! I didn’t dare go near him…I have heard it’s better to leave people alone in such cases rather than be slaughtered by their swearing! Later on I came to know from Aisha (‘cause Suhith had spoken to her) that Charu just put the blame of forgetting her lyrics on Suhith’s head. Wo ho! Talk about total co-operation. She blamed him for telling her to concentrate more on performance and not on singing. And he denied saying any such thing. Hmm…never mind!
Now I was walking around doing my vocal exercises and observing everyone else. So many of them were making formations and practicing their steps for their performance. I thought to myself ‘My!...They are actually choreographing for their performance..while I’m relying plainly on my innate talent for performing on the stage..!” Some of them were busy crying about how their performance was going to be, some were de-stressing with their guitars.
We all went one by one into the auditorium, finished our performances and came back to wait for our results. This is the worst part, we had to wait for hours!
We had our lunch, did some socializing with each other and the crew members. I was busy clicking away with my camera. The guys formed a group and started singing a medley of songs along with Shantanu playing the guitar. It sounded so heavenly especially since all of them were sitting at this dome-like area in NCPA and all their voices were echoing in synchrony. I didn’t miss the chance to shoot it with my Cybershot. Here’s the amateurish version of their group singing (don’t mind some of the ‘bumpy’ and ‘out-of-focus’ portions…I was trying hard not to let my shadow come into the frame of the shot, the Idol crew were trying to capture…and if your wondering why there are no gals there? Well..they were too busy brooding over their performances and bitching about one another…while the guys freaked out! Damn I wish I was a guy!)
Enjoy!
After all this we began going one by one to the stage and the judges were telling each of us how we fared, individually. It was a long wait till Pinky & I went on stage. We walked in and saw all the judges smiling. Annu ji asked Pinky what she thought of her performance, and lo..she started crying! I was like…"ok…what was this for?...umm…did I do anything unknowingly? ..was she going to do something like what Charu did to Suhith?..Ok..I’m so not prepared for this…” I began consoling her. She told them that she had not given her best that day, and that she is very sorry (she had forgotten her lyrics…not as much as some of the others..but we somehow managed and got back on track together!). But after all this crying they announced (boringly dramatically) that we were IN….phew! Relief!
Finally after everyone’s results were announced the now top 46 were called back into the auditorium for yet another ‘briefing’ by the judge maharshays. They now told all of us that the following day we would have to sing one of the three songs they had chosen for us, and that to solos this time. And out of the 46 of us only 24 lucky ones would go to the next round (yes..not 28…will tell you how it became 28 later!).
I chose “Sajna ji vaari varri” from Honeymoon travels and was very happy about that song being there in the list. ‘Cause I already knew it! Poor Vani…she was so upset with the fact that we couldn’t sing what we have already sung in the previous rounds or auditions. She also knew Sajna ji vaari very well, but since she had already performed it at her audition, she couldn’t sing it again. Instead she chose ‘Aawaara Bhawnre’ from the movie Sapney. It’s a beautiful song…and that Panni (umm…it means pig in Malayalam…that’s what we lovingly call each other! Hehe) was getting so annoyed thinking about the pitch in which she would have to sing. I told her a hundered…no…a thousand times not to worry about this teeny-weeny matter which would be solved once we have rehearsals with the two-piece band the next day!
Anyway …after that looooong and tiring day we sat in our buses and left for Sahil. I sat next to Aisha in the bus, that was the first time I was sitting/interacting with her. Come to think of it…I actually didn’t get a chance to ‘interact’ with her…’cause she was busy singing her song ‘sajna ji vaari’ on the phone to someone, all the way till we reached Sahil. Ok…now that’s a new way of practicing I have never seen before. Singing to someone on the phone!! How cool (and expensive) is that!! Weird….but nevertheless cool!! Hehe
Until next time… it’s me Rashmi signing off!!
Good night…Khudahfis…Shubhraathri!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
ROI 3: Contd...(theatrical performances...I)
For those of you who are visiting this blog for the very first time...a very warm welcome! Please do read my earlier entries by scrolling down, before you start on this one. Or else you would not get te feel of continuity and might feel left out!! hehe!
And for my other regular readers....hows the new look of my blog??? :)
Moving on...
Before I start on the second theatre round, let me tell you how ‘joyful’ my ride back to the hotel that day was. Pinky & I were selected, now we got our song to prepare “Janam Samjha Karo” from Asha Bhonsle’s album. Both of us knew the song so we were comfortable with it. We sat in the bus and for the next 20 minutes…oh my god…I had the ‘best’ time with her sitting right next to me.
She began practicing….no no…let me rephrase this…’Performing’ in the bus.. on the seat. Like proper performance…moving her hands and her body and all. And loudly too. She was telling me what portions to sing and what not to…how and how not to… bla bla. I realized that it was better to follow her than to lead…’coz she looked like she would pounce on me any minute. The other contestants around us were slowly getting a little irritated with her loud performances. They too were trying to listen to their songs for the next morning and softly hum the tunes. The couple sitting in front of us, the guy turned back suddenly and said “PLEASE…aap thoda dhere gaaenge? Hum bhi practice karne ki koshish kar rahe hain!” …Phew!! I didn’t know how to thank him, ‘coz immediately after that she stopped and went off to sleep. I thought I had peace now, but the very next minute she got up and told me to meet her when we reach Sahil to practice and prepare the song with performance in her room. Naaahiiiinnnnn!!!!
We reached Sahil, and the first thing all of us had to do was to find out our rooms for that day. Like I told you earlier we had left in the morning with our luggage na, so now we had to shift into new rooms with new roomies. I was praying to God that my roomie shouldn’t be…you know…and He heard!! J My new roomies were the babes from London, Harshida and Rekha. Damn sweet girls! Since all of us had only that one night to prepare our songs with our partners, every one was busy singing. In rooms, in the corridors or on the stairs. And yes..the reality crew were busy doing their job of capturing every single bit of what was happening.
Now, it was around 11 when we reached our rooms. I had to un-pack and re-pack a lot of stuff for the next day morning. Plus I had not even freshened up, before that Ms.Pinky arrives at my door and asks me to come for practice. Fine. I went. There was no one in her room and so according to her we could practice ‘peacefully’ while I had only one thing going on in my head…”HELPPPPP!!!”. She started off explaining how we should perform, and I was also giving my ideas. Now there came a point when she said,”you know rashmi…you do these moves to me and I’ll do the same to you (..umm..I am even embarrassed to say what those moves were!!)…it will look nice and sexy on stage!”….I was like..”umm..no way am I gonna do that pinky…’coz I don’t want people to doubt my ‘straightness’ …so…nope.. we ain’t gonna do those steps! Sorry!”. Then she says, “ no…it’s a love song so we have to act like you are the guy and I am the girl…”…I said “NO WAY!!!! We can act like two friends talking about our lovers…that’s much better!!” and she agreed to that…Phew!!!! Man that was some performance in her room!!
I was just going back to my room when the reality crew caught hold of me and said ..”Hey rashmi..we havn’t shot you practicing right”.. I hadn’t even changed my clothes man!!!! They said it was ok…and again Pinky & I did a little bit of our song (I looked soo tired singing…while she overtly performed!). And then they were still not satisfied, so they wanted to take my interview too.
Q: So Rashmi…tell me how do you feel the paring/grouping has been done for tomorrow? Is it fair?
A: I think it’s perfectly fair!!!
Q: Now tell us something about your partner Pinky…how is she? What’s her nature like and …
A: Oh…Pinky… she’s a wonderful person…got a great voice..and yea..I think we are gonna do a great job on stage tomorrow! (with a twinkle in my eye)
Hehehe…I knew they wanted some hot gossip out of my mouth…and then go and get the same from Pinky..but I wasn’t gonna let them spoil my image on screen!! :D Moreover…come to think of it Pinky ain’t all that bad…she has just got toooooooo much of energy within her which she releases all at once!!! And without notice too! Otherwise, she is a very genuine person with no hard-feelings for anyone, very religious, and pure from the heart. I felt bad when she told me that her previous roomies had told the camera behind her back that their roomie (pinky) looks like am ghost. C’mon I think that was very very rude on their behalf. No one ever has the right to comment about how anyone else looks. Poor thing she even over heard them say this…how horrible a feeling it would have been. But she was mature enough not to react on it and wished the two of them good luck for future (they didn’t get selected). Way to go Pinky!!
Back to my room. I came back at around 1:30 or so and Rekha, after her tiring session with Rehan, had already slept off. Harshida was still outside practicing with Padhmanabh. Their pair I felt was the cutest! She can’t speak Hindi all that well and his pronunciations are also worth listening to!! Still both of them did a jolly good job I must say!
So I fini…s..h..e..d my ..un/re-pac..k..i..n..g, *Yawn*, fresh..e..n..ed up a..n..d we..nt o..f..f to *yawn* s..l..e..e..p.
…
…zzz…
…zzz…
…
…
…zzz…
…zzz…
…
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… Oh…oops…sorry…I really went to sleep! This afternoon heat in Dubai makes me drowsy…so while you people wonder what happened next….let me take a small nap!!! Oh! And one more thing, I am flying to Kerala tonight so you might not get another entry from me for a day or two…but don’t worry…yeh silsila jaari rahega…tab tak ke liye aap leejiye ek chota sa break!!
Next episode: Richa v/s Prashant…Charu v/s Suhith…and all the other fun moments I had on the second day of theatre rounds! ….Keep it locked to ‘Indian Idol…my way!!!”
And for my other regular readers....hows the new look of my blog??? :)
Moving on...
Before I start on the second theatre round, let me tell you how ‘joyful’ my ride back to the hotel that day was. Pinky & I were selected, now we got our song to prepare “Janam Samjha Karo” from Asha Bhonsle’s album. Both of us knew the song so we were comfortable with it. We sat in the bus and for the next 20 minutes…oh my god…I had the ‘best’ time with her sitting right next to me.
She began practicing….no no…let me rephrase this…’Performing’ in the bus.. on the seat. Like proper performance…moving her hands and her body and all. And loudly too. She was telling me what portions to sing and what not to…how and how not to… bla bla. I realized that it was better to follow her than to lead…’coz she looked like she would pounce on me any minute. The other contestants around us were slowly getting a little irritated with her loud performances. They too were trying to listen to their songs for the next morning and softly hum the tunes. The couple sitting in front of us, the guy turned back suddenly and said “PLEASE…aap thoda dhere gaaenge? Hum bhi practice karne ki koshish kar rahe hain!” …Phew!! I didn’t know how to thank him, ‘coz immediately after that she stopped and went off to sleep. I thought I had peace now, but the very next minute she got up and told me to meet her when we reach Sahil to practice and prepare the song with performance in her room. Naaahiiiinnnnn!!!!
We reached Sahil, and the first thing all of us had to do was to find out our rooms for that day. Like I told you earlier we had left in the morning with our luggage na, so now we had to shift into new rooms with new roomies. I was praying to God that my roomie shouldn’t be…you know…and He heard!! J My new roomies were the babes from London, Harshida and Rekha. Damn sweet girls! Since all of us had only that one night to prepare our songs with our partners, every one was busy singing. In rooms, in the corridors or on the stairs. And yes..the reality crew were busy doing their job of capturing every single bit of what was happening.
Now, it was around 11 when we reached our rooms. I had to un-pack and re-pack a lot of stuff for the next day morning. Plus I had not even freshened up, before that Ms.Pinky arrives at my door and asks me to come for practice. Fine. I went. There was no one in her room and so according to her we could practice ‘peacefully’ while I had only one thing going on in my head…”HELPPPPP!!!”. She started off explaining how we should perform, and I was also giving my ideas. Now there came a point when she said,”you know rashmi…you do these moves to me and I’ll do the same to you (..umm..I am even embarrassed to say what those moves were!!)…it will look nice and sexy on stage!”….I was like..”umm..no way am I gonna do that pinky…’coz I don’t want people to doubt my ‘straightness’ …so…nope.. we ain’t gonna do those steps! Sorry!”. Then she says, “ no…it’s a love song so we have to act like you are the guy and I am the girl…”…I said “NO WAY!!!! We can act like two friends talking about our lovers…that’s much better!!” and she agreed to that…Phew!!!! Man that was some performance in her room!!
I was just going back to my room when the reality crew caught hold of me and said ..”Hey rashmi..we havn’t shot you practicing right”.. I hadn’t even changed my clothes man!!!! They said it was ok…and again Pinky & I did a little bit of our song (I looked soo tired singing…while she overtly performed!). And then they were still not satisfied, so they wanted to take my interview too.
Q: So Rashmi…tell me how do you feel the paring/grouping has been done for tomorrow? Is it fair?
A: I think it’s perfectly fair!!!
Q: Now tell us something about your partner Pinky…how is she? What’s her nature like and …
A: Oh…Pinky… she’s a wonderful person…got a great voice..and yea..I think we are gonna do a great job on stage tomorrow! (with a twinkle in my eye)
Hehehe…I knew they wanted some hot gossip out of my mouth…and then go and get the same from Pinky..but I wasn’t gonna let them spoil my image on screen!! :D Moreover…come to think of it Pinky ain’t all that bad…she has just got toooooooo much of energy within her which she releases all at once!!! And without notice too! Otherwise, she is a very genuine person with no hard-feelings for anyone, very religious, and pure from the heart. I felt bad when she told me that her previous roomies had told the camera behind her back that their roomie (pinky) looks like am ghost. C’mon I think that was very very rude on their behalf. No one ever has the right to comment about how anyone else looks. Poor thing she even over heard them say this…how horrible a feeling it would have been. But she was mature enough not to react on it and wished the two of them good luck for future (they didn’t get selected). Way to go Pinky!!
Back to my room. I came back at around 1:30 or so and Rekha, after her tiring session with Rehan, had already slept off. Harshida was still outside practicing with Padhmanabh. Their pair I felt was the cutest! She can’t speak Hindi all that well and his pronunciations are also worth listening to!! Still both of them did a jolly good job I must say!
So I fini…s..h..e..d my ..un/re-pac..k..i..n..g, *Yawn*, fresh..e..n..ed up a..n..d we..nt o..f..f to *yawn* s..l..e..e..p.
…
…zzz…
…zzz…
…
…
…zzz…
…zzz…
…
…
… Oh…oops…sorry…I really went to sleep! This afternoon heat in Dubai makes me drowsy…so while you people wonder what happened next….let me take a small nap!!! Oh! And one more thing, I am flying to Kerala tonight so you might not get another entry from me for a day or two…but don’t worry…yeh silsila jaari rahega…tab tak ke liye aap leejiye ek chota sa break!!
Next episode: Richa v/s Prashant…Charu v/s Suhith…and all the other fun moments I had on the second day of theatre rounds! ….Keep it locked to ‘Indian Idol…my way!!!”
Thursday, June 21, 2007
ROI 2: Theatrical Performaces...I
Ok…D day number 1 (each day contestants will be eliminated). We had to check out (you heard it right…check out with our luggage) from Sahil at 6:30 in the morning, start off by 7:00, and reach the venue (NCPA auditorium, Nariman Point) by say 7:30-45ish. And the reason we had to carry our luggage? Who ever gets eliminated on that day, takes his/her luggage from the venue itself, and is taken away back to the hotel into different rooms. So we sat in our bus (a double decker!!!!!) and began our journey.
I saw marine drive on our way!!!!! Heard soo much about it…was thrilled to see it! You know my music master, Shiva sir told me “watch carefully…you might see my ghost sitting on the rocks doing my riyaz!” Hehe!
Finally we reached Nariman point, end of marine drive where NCPA is located. Now, the bus stopped, the venue we had reached, but still…no body was getting out…why?? Because they wanted to do some “reality” …YELLING..sorry…energetic shots of us putting our hands, heads…and (if possible) legs out…waving like lunatics!! They did this around 3-4 times till the reality crew were satisfied with our “energy” level!! Only then did they let us get out of that bus.
We get out of the bus and they go “Run …people run!!!! Show some excitement!!! You’re seeing NCPA for the first time in your lives…PEOPLE RUN!!!!” wo..wo..wo..chill.. ok …I’ll give you guys energy man!! yeeEAAAHHH!!! WOW…KYA JAGAH HAI YAAR!!!!
All of us sat down for a while, then, got into the auditorium where the auditions were held. We got a briefing from Nivedith Alva sir (Creative director, Miditech) about who’s in-charge of what, and how to position ourselves on stage in groups of 10, etc…etc. By the way, the auditorium was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!!! There is this huge chandelier right on top, it looked so pretty. And the set on the stage!!!! WOW!!! It was simply fantastic!! I was actually going to sing on that beautiful stage!
And we saw…there…right in the middle of the auditorium…4 familiar chairs. Two minutes later, the famous Indian music begins playing…and there…from behind the wings…4 familiar faces walk on to the stage, off it, and onto their chairs…Annu Malik, Alisha Chenoy, Udit Narayan and Javed Akhtar…the Idol judges!
We all gave them a standing ovation and then Annu ji, told us the rule for the days performances. We were going to be given around 30-40 seconds, and within this time we had to impress the judges with our singing. One song…30 secs…that’s it…you’re in…or out. We were 126 of us. Neither knew what the other had planned to sing. No one wanted to repeat the song. This and more ran through everyone else’s mind, except mine. I had decided that I would sing “Dekh le” from Munna Bhai, and would directly start off from the second verse to avoid repetition.
All of us went in batches…sang…and came back and sat, watched the others, waited for everyone to come back and then we had a 2 hour lunch break while the judges decided the results. Now during lunch itself there were soooo many gloomy faces among the crowd. “Maine acha nahin gaya”….”Mera gala theekh nahin tha!”…etc etc. Are yaar…jo ho gaya so ho gaya…uske bare mein baat karke tension kaiko lene ka?
So many were crying thinking about what the results were going to be. Oh God!!! This is not the end of the world people!!!! I tried rubbing some positive energy to who ever I saw crying or tensed, it did work a little…I guess.
After lunch we all went back into the auditorium and another Miditech official spoke to us. He said that the judges weren’t one bit happy with the performances. That we were all taking it too lightly. That we don’t realize how big it is to get selected from 50,000 people at the audtions. After this he asked us who all felt that their performances were not upto the mark and what they think were the reason for it. Three people spoke. Parleen, Bhargavi and another girl. All three of them said that they were very serious about that days performance, did a lot of riyaz, but somehow they couldn’t give it their best shot on the stage.
Fine. They said what they had to. Now what did the sir from Miditeck say after this? “You people don’t realize that this is a matter of life and death here…it’s a make or break situation…all your dreams, hopes and aspirations are at stake!” Hello!!! At this point I raised my hand, took the microphone and told the crowd that as much as I agree with him to be serisou about the purpose we are here for, I definitely do not agree with him about the “life or death” matter. I told him that I have seen with my own eyes people getting dejected at the audition and saying stuff like “I will never sing ever in my life again”. Making it through any such audition or any other contest for that matter, for a good singer, is all a matter of luck. I know that there must still be a hundred other much more deserving people out there who have not been given a chance to the next round, while we have been chosen. Yes we have to realize that this is not a small platform, Indian Idol is a huge national level competiton, but not the “end of all opportunities”. The most important thing is to keep a cool, and give it your best shot when needed. The things that we can take control of like, keeping our selves calm, we should. There are other things like luck and fate that are not in our hands and about which we should not think and work ourselves. Do your best…and leave the rest. We all were there for a purpose…agreed…but in that process we mustn’t forget to have a little bit of fun. After all what else can we take back with us apart from the good time we had with the newly made friends?
I heard applause from all 126 contestants as soon as I kept the microphone…like I have never heard before! I could even see Kunal from the back giving me the thumbs up sign. Hehe! As soon as I sat down, another girl got up and told the crowd that she practiced real hard, was perfectly well the previous day, but when she got up in the morning her throat just wasn’t on her side. What could she do? She went up on stage and was unable to give her best. She said that the minute she walked down the stage she thought to herself that she would never take the microphone to sing ever in her life, but…after listening to what I had said, she decided that even if she doesn’t get through this round, she will consider it hard luck and try again next year! That’s the spirit girl!!! Was I happy or what! J
Immediately after this the judges came, took their positions and told us that from 126 we would be reduced to a mere 66 and that some of us really really impressed them while others had them depressed!
Again all of us went through the same process of going and standing on the stage, 10 at a time. This time the judges too k more time ‘dramatizing’ the whole result announcing thing. Called a few of us to the front, and then created a bit of confusion in our minds as to which line (front or back) would get selected/rejected. God! It got irritating after a point and I just felt like screaming “GET ON WITH THE RESULT NOW WILL YOU!!!” anyways I did get selected (like duh…this blog entry is coming soo late ...everyone by now already knows what they are reading!! Hehe)
Among the Dubai contestants, only Vanita and I were taken to the next round. Sad. Among my friends, Bhavin, Parleen, Geetesh & Vanita gpt selected. My roomies, Appu and Bhoomi, Shilpa and Sheena they got rejected. And worst part was, I didn’t even take their contact details! I felt like an idiot!!I didn’t even get to see them! What stupid rules…eliminated aren’t supposed to meet the others!!! Bull!!! Can’t do much about it now can I!
So all the selected contestants came back into the hall, and the judges ‘briefed’ us about the next theatre rounds performances. They divided each of us into pairs (girl-guy/guy-guy) and trios. And my partner was…like most of you know…Ms.Pinky!!! (Oh I didn’t mention how she yelled “I love you ANNU ji…when she saw him the first time in the hall now did I? hehe!!! She even sang Whitney Houstan’s “I will always love you” with all the possible classical notes she could add!!! Hehe..we all had the time of our lives….now…gulp…she was paired with moi!! God…save me!!!!)
I saw marine drive on our way!!!!! Heard soo much about it…was thrilled to see it! You know my music master, Shiva sir told me “watch carefully…you might see my ghost sitting on the rocks doing my riyaz!” Hehe!
Finally we reached Nariman point, end of marine drive where NCPA is located. Now, the bus stopped, the venue we had reached, but still…no body was getting out…why?? Because they wanted to do some “reality” …YELLING..sorry…energetic shots of us putting our hands, heads…and (if possible) legs out…waving like lunatics!! They did this around 3-4 times till the reality crew were satisfied with our “energy” level!! Only then did they let us get out of that bus.
We get out of the bus and they go “Run …people run!!!! Show some excitement!!! You’re seeing NCPA for the first time in your lives…PEOPLE RUN!!!!” wo..wo..wo..chill.. ok …I’ll give you guys energy man!! yeeEAAAHHH!!! WOW…KYA JAGAH HAI YAAR!!!!
All of us sat down for a while, then, got into the auditorium where the auditions were held. We got a briefing from Nivedith Alva sir (Creative director, Miditech) about who’s in-charge of what, and how to position ourselves on stage in groups of 10, etc…etc. By the way, the auditorium was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!!! There is this huge chandelier right on top, it looked so pretty. And the set on the stage!!!! WOW!!! It was simply fantastic!! I was actually going to sing on that beautiful stage!
And we saw…there…right in the middle of the auditorium…4 familiar chairs. Two minutes later, the famous Indian music begins playing…and there…from behind the wings…4 familiar faces walk on to the stage, off it, and onto their chairs…Annu Malik, Alisha Chenoy, Udit Narayan and Javed Akhtar…the Idol judges!
We all gave them a standing ovation and then Annu ji, told us the rule for the days performances. We were going to be given around 30-40 seconds, and within this time we had to impress the judges with our singing. One song…30 secs…that’s it…you’re in…or out. We were 126 of us. Neither knew what the other had planned to sing. No one wanted to repeat the song. This and more ran through everyone else’s mind, except mine. I had decided that I would sing “Dekh le” from Munna Bhai, and would directly start off from the second verse to avoid repetition.
All of us went in batches…sang…and came back and sat, watched the others, waited for everyone to come back and then we had a 2 hour lunch break while the judges decided the results. Now during lunch itself there were soooo many gloomy faces among the crowd. “Maine acha nahin gaya”….”Mera gala theekh nahin tha!”…etc etc. Are yaar…jo ho gaya so ho gaya…uske bare mein baat karke tension kaiko lene ka?
So many were crying thinking about what the results were going to be. Oh God!!! This is not the end of the world people!!!! I tried rubbing some positive energy to who ever I saw crying or tensed, it did work a little…I guess.
After lunch we all went back into the auditorium and another Miditech official spoke to us. He said that the judges weren’t one bit happy with the performances. That we were all taking it too lightly. That we don’t realize how big it is to get selected from 50,000 people at the audtions. After this he asked us who all felt that their performances were not upto the mark and what they think were the reason for it. Three people spoke. Parleen, Bhargavi and another girl. All three of them said that they were very serious about that days performance, did a lot of riyaz, but somehow they couldn’t give it their best shot on the stage.
Fine. They said what they had to. Now what did the sir from Miditeck say after this? “You people don’t realize that this is a matter of life and death here…it’s a make or break situation…all your dreams, hopes and aspirations are at stake!” Hello!!! At this point I raised my hand, took the microphone and told the crowd that as much as I agree with him to be serisou about the purpose we are here for, I definitely do not agree with him about the “life or death” matter. I told him that I have seen with my own eyes people getting dejected at the audition and saying stuff like “I will never sing ever in my life again”. Making it through any such audition or any other contest for that matter, for a good singer, is all a matter of luck. I know that there must still be a hundred other much more deserving people out there who have not been given a chance to the next round, while we have been chosen. Yes we have to realize that this is not a small platform, Indian Idol is a huge national level competiton, but not the “end of all opportunities”. The most important thing is to keep a cool, and give it your best shot when needed. The things that we can take control of like, keeping our selves calm, we should. There are other things like luck and fate that are not in our hands and about which we should not think and work ourselves. Do your best…and leave the rest. We all were there for a purpose…agreed…but in that process we mustn’t forget to have a little bit of fun. After all what else can we take back with us apart from the good time we had with the newly made friends?
I heard applause from all 126 contestants as soon as I kept the microphone…like I have never heard before! I could even see Kunal from the back giving me the thumbs up sign. Hehe! As soon as I sat down, another girl got up and told the crowd that she practiced real hard, was perfectly well the previous day, but when she got up in the morning her throat just wasn’t on her side. What could she do? She went up on stage and was unable to give her best. She said that the minute she walked down the stage she thought to herself that she would never take the microphone to sing ever in her life, but…after listening to what I had said, she decided that even if she doesn’t get through this round, she will consider it hard luck and try again next year! That’s the spirit girl!!! Was I happy or what! J
Immediately after this the judges came, took their positions and told us that from 126 we would be reduced to a mere 66 and that some of us really really impressed them while others had them depressed!
Again all of us went through the same process of going and standing on the stage, 10 at a time. This time the judges too k more time ‘dramatizing’ the whole result announcing thing. Called a few of us to the front, and then created a bit of confusion in our minds as to which line (front or back) would get selected/rejected. God! It got irritating after a point and I just felt like screaming “GET ON WITH THE RESULT NOW WILL YOU!!!” anyways I did get selected (like duh…this blog entry is coming soo late ...everyone by now already knows what they are reading!! Hehe)
Among the Dubai contestants, only Vanita and I were taken to the next round. Sad. Among my friends, Bhavin, Parleen, Geetesh & Vanita gpt selected. My roomies, Appu and Bhoomi, Shilpa and Sheena they got rejected. And worst part was, I didn’t even take their contact details! I felt like an idiot!!I didn’t even get to see them! What stupid rules…eliminated aren’t supposed to meet the others!!! Bull!!! Can’t do much about it now can I!
So all the selected contestants came back into the hall, and the judges ‘briefed’ us about the next theatre rounds performances. They divided each of us into pairs (girl-guy/guy-guy) and trios. And my partner was…like most of you know…Ms.Pinky!!! (Oh I didn’t mention how she yelled “I love you ANNU ji…when she saw him the first time in the hall now did I? hehe!!! She even sang Whitney Houstan’s “I will always love you” with all the possible classical notes she could add!!! Hehe..we all had the time of our lives….now…gulp…she was paired with moi!! God…save me!!!!)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
ROI (Rash on Idol) 1: First time ever...in the City of Dreams!
Hello Hi Namashkar!! Main hoon aapki dost Rashmi Vijayan...aur aap dekh rahen hai Indian Idol ...my way!!!!
24.04.07...02:00am...Chatrapati Shivaji Airport...Mumbai.
Mumbai...finally I was there!!!WOW!!! Too bad I landed so early in the morning I couldn't see the scenic beauty of the city (on second thoughts I have heard that every passenger landing in mumbai is greeted by the beautiful images of neatly clusterd slums!! HeHe!).
I reached Sahil hotel in Bombay central I was happy to see Kunal and Samrat standing opened armed to greet me. Kunal was soo happy to see me, after all the 'trouble' I went through trying to get to mumbai. Yea...loong story..I wasnt supposed to be there at Idol coz of some damn contract I had signed...took time to sort it out...and finally when things were ok and I got the green signal from SONY I packed my bags and left for mumbai!
I went up to my room and saw (actually no..I couldn't see them clearly coz the light wasn't switched on...c'mon the time read 3:30...the poor things were sleeping!!!) my roomies. The first two roomies I have ever had. Bhoomi Trivei from Baroda and Aparna from Bhubaneshwar. Real sweet girls. I have never stayed in a hostel or with anyone apart from family ever. And boy was I excited about this or what?? :)
Ok...fast forward al the minute deatails to the evening we were taken out(too bad I didn't have a comp access there to blog!!) We were told that there would be a boat party and stuff, so Aparna and I gave our names down for it. Bhoomi wasn't keeping well and also wanted to study for her exam so she didn't come with us. We (almost 50 contstants, which is not even half of the entire lot) were all crammed up in one 'excellent'...'luxurous'...NON A/C bus!!!!
Throughout the journey one of the associate producers, Rithika, kept making all of us give her energy and excitement shots for the camera!! "People...shout!!...scream!!...I want to see ..ENERGY...scream....INDIAN IDOL!!!!!!!AHHHHHH!!!" She actually made a few guys and gals put their heads out an scream "INDIAN IDOL!!!" .. hehhe!!! I wasn't a part of it and I'm glad about that.
We reached our destination…Gate-way of India! Finally..I saw at least one famous landmark in India. The crew members had a hard time trying to ‘tame’ us apart from being distracted by the glaring crowds that wanted to see what we were up to! I made friends with this other sweet girl from Bhubaneshwar, Shilpa, and found out that she was actually studying in Coimbatore (my hometown) in a college very close to my place! What a small world!
We all waited there by the GOI, clicked pictures of each other, and were slowly beginning to talk and get to know each other. I had known only the seven contestants from Dubai (Vani, Bhargavi, Karishma, Pooja, Prashant and Anna) and Bhavin from Mumbai, I had known him since last year when he too kpart for SRGMP, Middle east Muqabala with me.
So where were we….ah..clicking pics. Oh yes..Bhavin has this serious obsession to my darling little cybershot. He keeps wanting me to click pictures of his…or he clicks it himself…and also comes into the frame of every other pic I clicked!! God!! He was irritating me that day! Hehehe Moreover he kept saying…”kaise ghatiya chees detain hain yeh dubai ke log…ghatiya logon ke liye aise hi cheesen milti hai” …hehehe! Never mind!
After about an hour of waiting we finally got onto the boats, or what is known as in Dubai as the Dhow. It was prettily lit up with tiny lights around the corners, and was a double decked one (all dhows are double decked I suppose!). Any way, we made ourselves comfortable. I , as usual began socializing with everyone on top of the boat, then when I felt it was getting too boring I went down and that’s where the party started! Some one played a very horrible sounding deck, never the less we had MUSIC!!! And we started moving and grooving and shaking our legs like crazy!!! During the dancing I made friends with Sheena from Baroda, and excellent dancer and Geetesh from Nagpur, a sweet Iyer boy and not bad a dancer too! We had soooo much of fun I can’t tell you.
While we were dancing the reality producers were also having a blast shooting us, and then one of them asked us “what do you people wanna tell the guys who are back at the hotel and have not come here to enjoy with you’ll?” …all of us said they are missing out on something awesome and that we are having loads of fun blab la… but my answer to this next question was what the crew members loved…
Q: “Kya aapko lagta nahin hai ki wo log wahaan hotel mein practice kar rahe honge aur aap yahaan masti kar rahe hain ..to…kya kahenge aap iske bare mein?” (Don’t you think that the contestants who have stayed back at the hotel would be busy doing their ‘riyaz’ for tomorrow and you guys are having fun here…what do you have to say about this?)
A: “Hum log aapko achi-khasi masti walli footage dey rahen hain….wo log nahin!!” (we are the one’s giving you exciting and fun-filled reality footage…not them!! ;-)
I must say…that night I had fun like I have never had before…I danced like I never did before! Missed my friends in Dubai while dancing. Got reminded of how crazily we danced for one of our inter-college fests!!!
Any ways, after this masti I came back on top of the deck and people were busy eating this time. I was too tired to do anything so just sat on one side and admired the calm waters and the cool breeze going through my hair. Right across where I sat, infact directly opposite, there sat this cute guy, with a rather stern look on his face. He was gauging outside the boat and I guess he was admiring the waters too. But the look on his face was a one, a dejected and heart-broken lover would have. ‘Hmm…interesting’ I thought. This must be one interesting guy to talk to.
On our way out of the boat , I came to know that Bhavin was that ‘cute-guy’s roomie and he began talking to me about some wague topic, that was the first time he spoke to me. Then we got out, and al of us were walking towards the bus and I found out that Parleen Gill (that’s his name), was just 19!! (although he looked like he was in his early 20’s) And that he was doing Bsc. IT 2nd year at Delhi. Not bad, a good looking, smart, slightly introvert, intelligent boy…seemed like the person I would like to have as a friend.
So at the end of day one I had a ball of a time on the boat ride…and made 6 new friends! Aparna, Bhoomi, Shilpa, Sheena, Geetesh and Parleen (the last one still looked like he was in a shell...needed an ice-breaker session badly!) Not a bad start I must say…not a bad one at all!!!
24.04.07...02:00am...Chatrapati Shivaji Airport...Mumbai.
Mumbai...finally I was there!!!WOW!!! Too bad I landed so early in the morning I couldn't see the scenic beauty of the city (on second thoughts I have heard that every passenger landing in mumbai is greeted by the beautiful images of neatly clusterd slums!! HeHe!).
I reached Sahil hotel in Bombay central I was happy to see Kunal and Samrat standing opened armed to greet me. Kunal was soo happy to see me, after all the 'trouble' I went through trying to get to mumbai. Yea...loong story..I wasnt supposed to be there at Idol coz of some damn contract I had signed...took time to sort it out...and finally when things were ok and I got the green signal from SONY I packed my bags and left for mumbai!
I went up to my room and saw (actually no..I couldn't see them clearly coz the light wasn't switched on...c'mon the time read 3:30...the poor things were sleeping!!!) my roomies. The first two roomies I have ever had. Bhoomi Trivei from Baroda and Aparna from Bhubaneshwar. Real sweet girls. I have never stayed in a hostel or with anyone apart from family ever. And boy was I excited about this or what?? :)
Ok...fast forward al the minute deatails to the evening we were taken out(too bad I didn't have a comp access there to blog!!) We were told that there would be a boat party and stuff, so Aparna and I gave our names down for it. Bhoomi wasn't keeping well and also wanted to study for her exam so she didn't come with us. We (almost 50 contstants, which is not even half of the entire lot) were all crammed up in one 'excellent'...'luxurous'...NON A/C bus!!!!
Throughout the journey one of the associate producers, Rithika, kept making all of us give her energy and excitement shots for the camera!! "People...shout!!...scream!!...I want to see ..ENERGY...scream....INDIAN IDOL!!!!!!!AHHHHHH!!!" She actually made a few guys and gals put their heads out an scream "INDIAN IDOL!!!" .. hehhe!!! I wasn't a part of it and I'm glad about that.
We reached our destination…Gate-way of India! Finally..I saw at least one famous landmark in India. The crew members had a hard time trying to ‘tame’ us apart from being distracted by the glaring crowds that wanted to see what we were up to! I made friends with this other sweet girl from Bhubaneshwar, Shilpa, and found out that she was actually studying in Coimbatore (my hometown) in a college very close to my place! What a small world!
We all waited there by the GOI, clicked pictures of each other, and were slowly beginning to talk and get to know each other. I had known only the seven contestants from Dubai (Vani, Bhargavi, Karishma, Pooja, Prashant and Anna) and Bhavin from Mumbai, I had known him since last year when he too kpart for SRGMP, Middle east Muqabala with me.
So where were we….ah..clicking pics. Oh yes..Bhavin has this serious obsession to my darling little cybershot. He keeps wanting me to click pictures of his…or he clicks it himself…and also comes into the frame of every other pic I clicked!! God!! He was irritating me that day! Hehehe Moreover he kept saying…”kaise ghatiya chees detain hain yeh dubai ke log…ghatiya logon ke liye aise hi cheesen milti hai” …hehehe! Never mind!
After about an hour of waiting we finally got onto the boats, or what is known as in Dubai as the Dhow. It was prettily lit up with tiny lights around the corners, and was a double decked one (all dhows are double decked I suppose!). Any way, we made ourselves comfortable. I , as usual began socializing with everyone on top of the boat, then when I felt it was getting too boring I went down and that’s where the party started! Some one played a very horrible sounding deck, never the less we had MUSIC!!! And we started moving and grooving and shaking our legs like crazy!!! During the dancing I made friends with Sheena from Baroda, and excellent dancer and Geetesh from Nagpur, a sweet Iyer boy and not bad a dancer too! We had soooo much of fun I can’t tell you.
While we were dancing the reality producers were also having a blast shooting us, and then one of them asked us “what do you people wanna tell the guys who are back at the hotel and have not come here to enjoy with you’ll?” …all of us said they are missing out on something awesome and that we are having loads of fun blab la… but my answer to this next question was what the crew members loved…
Q: “Kya aapko lagta nahin hai ki wo log wahaan hotel mein practice kar rahe honge aur aap yahaan masti kar rahe hain ..to…kya kahenge aap iske bare mein?” (Don’t you think that the contestants who have stayed back at the hotel would be busy doing their ‘riyaz’ for tomorrow and you guys are having fun here…what do you have to say about this?)
A: “Hum log aapko achi-khasi masti walli footage dey rahen hain….wo log nahin!!” (we are the one’s giving you exciting and fun-filled reality footage…not them!! ;-)
I must say…that night I had fun like I have never had before…I danced like I never did before! Missed my friends in Dubai while dancing. Got reminded of how crazily we danced for one of our inter-college fests!!!
Any ways, after this masti I came back on top of the deck and people were busy eating this time. I was too tired to do anything so just sat on one side and admired the calm waters and the cool breeze going through my hair. Right across where I sat, infact directly opposite, there sat this cute guy, with a rather stern look on his face. He was gauging outside the boat and I guess he was admiring the waters too. But the look on his face was a one, a dejected and heart-broken lover would have. ‘Hmm…interesting’ I thought. This must be one interesting guy to talk to.
On our way out of the boat , I came to know that Bhavin was that ‘cute-guy’s roomie and he began talking to me about some wague topic, that was the first time he spoke to me. Then we got out, and al of us were walking towards the bus and I found out that Parleen Gill (that’s his name), was just 19!! (although he looked like he was in his early 20’s) And that he was doing Bsc. IT 2nd year at Delhi. Not bad, a good looking, smart, slightly introvert, intelligent boy…seemed like the person I would like to have as a friend.
So at the end of day one I had a ball of a time on the boat ride…and made 6 new friends! Aparna, Bhoomi, Shilpa, Sheena, Geetesh and Parleen (the last one still looked like he was in a shell...needed an ice-breaker session badly!) Not a bad start I must say…not a bad one at all!!!
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