Debating the Project of Indian Idol

The third musical talent show hosted by Sony Television ended with the grand finale on 23rd September 2007. Both the finalists were young boys belonging to marginal geographical locations of the country. Expectedly, our own boy from Darjeeling emerged victorious at the end of the day. The Nepali speaking community and other social groups residing in Darjeeling Hills, Sikkim and neighbouring regions are immeasurably swollen with pride on Prashant’s feat. In fact people in and around Sikkim-Darjeeling and its surrounding geographical milieu left no stone unturned in SMSing in favour of the local lad since the judges showed green signal to Prashant many months back. The whole process once again highlighted the fact that regional unity is strength and a way to victory. Surprisingly, Prashant won the grand finale by the margin of three crore votes and broke all hitherto records of similar talent shows. Out of the total votes of seven crore, the lad bagged five crore votes and amazed the world. Members of the civil society in Sikkim, Darjeeling Hills and Siliguri are still celebrating the victory of Prashant. Conversely, the unexpected violence in Siliguri on 28th September was uncalled for and is deeply regretted.

Now that the programme has come to an end it becomes important to reflect on the critical assessments of this popular talent show that has been taking place among the academics, journalists, veteran bollyhood singers and such other personalities. This piece, therefore, briefly attempts to synthesise some of the recent debates that have taken place in the context of Sony Television’s ‘Project of Indian Idol’ and similar other musical talent shows.

First, in the context of Prashant’s case, local critics have once again interpreted the hysterical support for the boy in Darjeeling-Sikkim as a form of communal orgy. They have attempted to fit the Prashant phenomenon into the never ending Nepali Nationalist Discourse within India. They have further attempted to link Prashant phenomenon with the issue of Nepali Identity. According to them, Nepalis have historically been emptied of all other meanings and have been leftover as a ‘Martial Race’. Hence they argue the participation of Prashant in the musical talent show at once acquired a political meaning. In short, Nepali community in India saw in Prashant a unique opportunity to address several historical problems, notably the issue of identity and therefore positioned him as a solution to the problem.

Secondly, not a single political party or any personality (Except GNLF and Subash Ghising) could mobilize the members of civil society in Darjeeling Hills over the years as Prashant Phenomenon did. People in Darjeeling hills were so deeply involved and emotionally charged with the Prashant Phenomenon they openly warned Subash Ghising that he would be sent back from Bagdogra Airport [incidentally Ghishing had gone to Thailand then and was suppose to return back on 23rd September] on the 23rd of September if Prashant failed to emerge victorious in the grand finale. Such a situation has provided enough points to the critics to project the future of Subash Ghising and his GNLF. According to them, there is high possibility that the Prashant factor, if not his political rivals, would be a major cause for the downfall of Subash Ghising in the near future.

Thirdly, at the broader level veteran, singers like Lata Mangeskar are not at ease with such musical talent shows. According to them, such shows are a commercial propositions rather than serious talent hunts. Such shows are the off-shoots of highly commercialised and globalised world. One can hardly imagine the total amount of money Sony TV might have made out of its SMS dependent musical show. Its monetary share in each SMS, the advertisements in between the programme, sponsorships etc fetched Sony several hundred crores of rupees. On the other side of the coin the emotional viewers of the show, especially the regions to which the participants belonged, washed away several tons of money. At the end of the day the winner of the show gets one crore rupees contract to develop an album. S/he, however, would hardly be seen on Sony TV again. Many see such talent shows as the extreme form of capitalism.

Fourthly, majority of the known Hindi film personalities believe that most of the stars of the recent musical talent shows are media created celebrities. The moment the spotlight shifts away from them they disappear. There are copious instances when the winners of such shows, including Indian Idol, have not made much headway after the initial breaks. Winners of the musical talent shows like Amit Sana, Abhijeet Sawant, Debojit Saha etc. are all struggling to sell their self-produced album. Their 15 minutes of fame evaporated quickly. They are the reminder that such success can be ephemeral, unless backed by genuine talent and discipline. Few of them like Sunidhi Chauhan that have tested success in Bollyhood are by and large the exceptions. These talent hunt shows only provide them with a platform. They cannot become a star singer overnight. They have to ignite their own light to get out of the darkness.

The challenges ahead for Prashant are hence numerous. He has to prove several of his critics wrong. He was never among the favorites of the judges and viewers of mainstream India. There were hardly any mainstream Indians who expected him to be the Indian Idol. He has to sustain there for long and show the world that he deserved the popular crown. More importantly, he has to carry along with him huge expectations and several tons of love of his fellow brothers and sisters back home in Darjeeling-Sikkim. He, according to my friend and a promising scholar, Bidhan Golay, sits on the edge of history. Whatever he speaks today is taken as message by his fans and well wishers back home and his every action will seriously be taken and scrutinized by the critics. Prashant is not only a singer for the community/region to which he belongs but a hero and a figure of historical importance. He should take stock of all these critical factors and proceed ahead cautiously to conquer the musical world.


**Published by Sikkim Express, October 2, 2007**