Thursday, September 15, 2005

Sirasa's Not So Super Star

Sirasa Super Star has been ripped off American Idol - pure and simple. What made American Idol so wildly popular still eludes me - I never found it all that entertaining. But damn, most of those people can really sing and it is a good concept to help out aspiring artistes. But TV program standards in Sri Lanka have sunk to a new low with Sirasa Super Star.

Let me start with the judges - there are three of them (just like American Idol). There's Jagath, Rukantha and Nirosha. Unlike AI - all three are relatively young, well known singers. Of these three, only Jagath is a songwriter/composer/singer and I believe I have seen him in a couple of teledramas as well. Alright then, he's got a little bit of talent going for him.

What about the other two? What makes them qualify as judges? Sure they can sing and so can a few million other people on this planet. Most of them may not have recording contracts or CDs selling at the supermarket - but why choose two people whose sole talent is singing? And even that, it's just recycled pop songs.  At times it's painfully obvious that both Rukantha and Nirosha deliberately try to sabotage Jagath's reviews of the contenders and prevent them from proceeding to the second round.

Since of late, Nirosha's reviews have been more decent and positive - she seemed to get a real kick out of ridiculing people before. Initially it was also clear that both Nirosha and Rukantha have somewhat of an inferiority complex when a contender displays more talent and sings better than they do. Jagath was all out to send these folk into the next round but was vetoed by the other two. So what's the point??!!

What's with the whole language barrier on the program? First you tell the contestants they can sing in any language and then the lovely Nirosha requests a Sinhala song. Now what is up with that? Weren't the judges informed that contestants can sing in whichever language they choose? Is Nirosha's ability to judge limited to the Sinhalese language? If so, why not ask her to refrain from commenting when a different language is used? Sirasa really needs to set up clear and precise guidelines for the judges before the show is broadcast.

Even if the program itself is somewhat loosely based on American Idol, Sirasa should at least get a more diverse group of judges. How hard can it be to find three people who wouldn't mind spending a few hours listening to some people sing and getting paid for it in the process? The better option would be for three classical musicians to be elected as judges - but that is not a very realistic option. After all, this is Sirasa we are talking about.....

Every time I get a chance to watch it, I keep hoping some contestant would come up with a more interesting selection like Snoop Dog's "Drop it like it's hot" or any one of Nelly's but to date, I must say I have been disappointed. I haven't heard anyone attempt "The Rose" by Bette Midler or even "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by the very talented Britney Spears.

I hope more people who are planning on singing on this show will think twice before they do. Is it really worth going on national TV and being told off by a couple of pop singers? For those of you who like acting like idiots in front of the camera and love being labelled as losers with no talent - rock on.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

first of all i'm not a great fan of sirasa super star. but in my point of view it gives a chance for the talented ones to come forward and show what they are capable of.however as you have talked about the qualifications of the judges.why not talk of the qualifications of the peaple who sms and judge who the winner is.please clarify.

Pissu Poosa said...

Hi,

The post you are referring to was made in September at the start of the series when it was in its very early stages.

To me, it seemed the judges were trying too hard to be like the panel on American Idol and that sounded very fake to me because the AI panel conists of one singer and two producers (who can judge the recording potential of the contestant). Also, if the final winner is going to be determined by the public (who need not be qualified because all they have to do is vote for the person that appeals to them), there is no need for them to sound so superior - the impression I got from most of Rukantha's and Nirosha's comments were "You are never going to be as good as us"

HOWEVER - I changed my mind as it went along because - I do agree with you - it was a good stage for aspiring singers to perform. I made two entries in January and again in February regarding this - please visit the main page of the blog and read both.

I too started voting once the final twelve were selected because I was very impressed with the contestants, despite being annoyed at the way it was presented. But I found there was something very wrong with the voting system - including that some numbers don't work (or exist for that matter) and yet the results are announced the next day.

I searched for more articles on this on the web and didn't find that many because the majority of people are not familiar with message boards and blogs.

However I feel cheated after reading the content of some sites (link to this site is found in the latest post on the blog) because it's obvious that it's not a "reality" show as it should be. If Sirasa expects the public to vote for the Superstar, there are so many issues they must clarify first, starting with who counts the votes, who verifies the result and why some Suntel telephone numbers do not accept the SMS vote.

As important and great as it is to provide aspiring singers a platform to display their talents and recording contracts, it should be done in the correct manner. Duping an unsuspecting public to vote by spending Rs. 11.50 (according to my phone bill that's how much I have paid for each SMS I sent out - RS. 10 plus 15% VAT) is unacceptable.

Anonymous said...

WELL I THINK U HAV A VERY VERY WRONG ATTITUDE 2WARDS SSS...IT'S DA MOST HAPPENIN SHOW IN SL 'N ALTOUGH THEY HAV COPIED IT 4RM AMERICAN IDOL DEY HAV DONE IT WELL.LUK 2 DA INDIAN IDOL.THEY HAV ALSO COPIED 4RM AMERICAN IDOL BUT INDIAN PPL ACCEPT IT VERY GR8LY...THIS HAS GIVEN A CHANCE 2 MANY TALENTED YOUTHS 2 CUM 4WARD IN THEIR FIELDS 'N NO 1 HAS DA RIGHT TO GO AGAINST DIS PROGRAMME..IF U AGREE OR NOT THE MAJORITY IN SL SUPPORT DIS PROGRAMME 'N ONLY DA PPL WHO HAV JEALOUSY STUCK IN THEIR MINDS GO AGAINST IT...