ROI 4: Theatrical Performances...II

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!