MUMBAI: Abhijeet Sawant, who became an overnight sensation after winning the first season of singing reality show, Indian Idol recently shared his opinion on the ongoing controversy around the show. Though he highlighted the fact that reality shows these days bank a lot on sobbing, emotional stories, he also shared that it is not entirely the makers fault as the audience likes watching these things. Abhijeet Sawant added that now that the viewers have started criticising these tactics of reality shows openly on social media, eventually makers will realise that the audience wants to watch singing and music in a show and not someone's emotional story. He also opened up about Amit Kumar's comment on going as a special guest on Indian Idol 12.
"I feel the important part of any singing reality show should be singing. But you have to understand whatever stories the reality shows are creating or showing like the love angle, sob stories about the contestants is because people love to watch this masala. It’s not just about the reality shows in our day to day life, people are interested in sob stories. The audience loves to watch such stuff apart from singing and that’s the reason it’s included on the show. It’s our duty, the audience’s duty, to come forward and say that we don’t want to watch these love, masala or emotional stories. The makers will always make something which the audience wants and loves to watch. If they say that they want music then they will have to go back and make shows only with singing. Like when I also meet people at shows or events, they ask me about contestants who had emotional stories during my journey. Like we had a contestant in our season who was a painter. People remember such stories and they actually walk up to me to ask me about the contestants rather than appreciating their singing talent," he said.
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Abhijeet said it is unfair to compare newcomers to legendary singers like Kishore Kumar and ridicule them on social media at the beginning of their career, "With social media now people are coming out and speaking their mind and saying that they don’t want to watch emotional stories and it’s the best thing to happen. Eventually, the makers of the show will have to concentrate on music now. I also want to add about the recent Kishore Kumar controversy. The audience needs to understand that he was a legendary singer and it is impossible for a newcomer to match his talent. We can’t compare the new singers with him and there shouldn’t be a comparison. These kids are talented and they are doing a fabulous jobs but it’s not right for a beginner to be a legendary singer. They have just started their careers. It is unfair to make such comments and ridicule them. And even if the singing goes a little here and there it’s fine because that is live singing and they are new singers. I don’t think people should blame the newcomers," stated he.
Abhijeet also revealed that regional music reality shows or the shows in the western countries do not play on emotional or personal stories of contestants, they only focus on music, "As a musician when I see reality shows in different regional shows, they only and only focus on singing. Their aim is just to make music rich and add creativity to the show. When you add such fake and unnecessary stories then the creativity dies on the show. It gets suppressed. I always believe that providing great music through the show should be the aim and once we start airing only singing we will be able to come out from these sobbing stories. Even in the West, reality shows just have pure music and singing. In fact, they just have judges and there are no guests on the shows like how every week we have someone or the other," he shared.
Abhijeet, who has worked closely on Indian Idol and was the first winner of the show, feels that Amit Kumar being a legendary singer holds a position in the industry where if he doesn't like something he can immediately point it out to the makers and get it rectified instead of later criticising it. "I have been on Indian Idol as a contestant and I’ve hosted the show and I was also part of the judges panel in a few episodes in the past. I know the in and out of the show, how it works and how it is made. I feel if Amit Kumar ji would have even once mentioned that he is not liking the content, singing or the show can be done in a better way, I am sure the creative team would have definitely listened to him. He is such a renowned singer of our country and he is in that position where he can communicate to the makers what he is feeling. I don’t think it is right to speak after the episode has aired.
Also so many youngsters and fans of music are watching the show, they consider these legendary singers as their God, idols so it becomes our responsibility that if ever we go on a show as a guest we should be honest to our jobs," shared the singer.
When asked if after the reality show, the contestants get enough opportunities to earn their livelihood, Abhijeet hailed reality shows and said, "I am a singer now but if I would have not got a platform like Indian Idol or a reality show, I would have not been able to show my talent or reach where I am today. And especially, in our country we have very few platforms for singers. Every person who sings well is always under the pressure of becoming a playback singer. That singer's definition is judged only when he becomes a playback singer, otherwise he is not considered a singer. I don’t think there should be a restriction on any singer. A person with great singing talent can become a Ghazal singer, Indipop singer. Two of my famous songs have been music albums Junoon and Aap Ka Abhijeet Sawant but people still ask me how much playback singing I’ve done. There’s this myth and it should be changed. Just think how many playback singers we have in every generation; it is only 7-8. But just look around the talent in India and not everyone can be a playback singer. If these singers don’t choose other aspects in music as a profession, they will die of poverty. Thanks to the reality shows, they are at least getting a platform to perform. Many of the reality show contestants have made this as a profession and are earning very good money. There are many who are doing stage shows, pop music, music direction. If you don’t have a Godfather in this industry it gets very difficult. But it’s good that you are getting a platform like a reality show. For example Pawandeep used to do small shows but now he is earning well. Not just music there are so many singers who have been actors, celebrities and are earning well doing different things like Meiyang Chang, see Rahul Vaidya today."
Abhijeet also commented on Sonu Nigam and Abhijeet Bhattacharya's constant complaint that few actors and music composers run a lobby in the industry, to this he said, "I feel everyone likes to work in his or her own comfort zone. Be it a music director, or a singer, they like to work with people with whom they are comfortable and are at ease. And this is not the case in the music industry but I feel it is prevelant everywhere, in every field. I don’t think that it is lobbying or favouritism. A singer takes a lot of time to enter that phase where he is comfortable with many actors, music composers. That’s why I feel that a singer should not be pressurised to just become a playback singer. I feel as humans it is our nature to work with people who we know and are comfortable to work with. I feel new singers take time to get into that comfort zone and that is what struggle is. Struggle is not when a singer’s song becomes a hit, bagging a song is a struggle."
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Credits: TOI
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