Monday, January 30, 2006

Sirasa Super Star - Final Eight

I wasn't a fan of Sirasa's Super Star program (SSS), which was made quite obvious by a previous post, until two weeks ago. I watched the program on a whim and found the Top Ten were pretty good singers - I must confess sometimes I don't really understand what they are singing about - but a couple of them were very, very good. So far I like Amila, Shihan, Malith and the sixteen year old kid.

The producers have changed the format of the show - each round has a different panel of judges, most of whom are relevant to the kind of music used for each program (drama, pop, specific singer etc). The advice offered (mostly positive for all contestants) is quite constructive and unbiased in comparison to what Nirosha and Rukantha doled out before.

My one and only gripe - and it's a biggie - is about the host of the show - Kamal Addaraarachchi (sp??). Try as he might, the man is no Ryan Seacrest and is at least fifteen years too old to be a bubbly, talkative host of a reality tv show. SSS even as a red room (what a coincidence!) in which Kamal chats to the contestants before each steps onto the stage. Most of his dialogue is a direct Engish-to-Sinhala translation of what Seacrest says on American Idol (Season 4). The single most annoying factor about Kamal is his lethargic delivery of the voter's results. In between five second pauses, he manages to squeeze out a single word in order to keep the contestants "in suspense". It's actually very boring because once the results are in, the only proper way to delay the announcement is to thrown in a series of advertisements in between saying "You're safe" or "You're in the bottom three". Kamal, who lacks the charisma of Seacrest, itakes all the time in the world and manages to come up with really corny lines - "You......are......not......going..........home......today..........." - and believe it or not, he says this to each and every contestant save the one who gets voted off. I have never wanted to see advertisements interrupt a program more than when I have to listen to Kamal announce the name of the unlucky chap who is headed home.

Kudos to the producers for choosing twelve excellent contestants for the final - and it is a wonderful opportunity for young singers to be discovered and I hope it will continue next year as well. Just one condition - find a new host!!


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am sending this after seeing last week program songs based on hindi lyrics, i cannot even think how shihan had to left frm the game .I think there is something inside it.We can't find such good singer like shihan forever. Actually that was a really a doubtfull thing.Most of my friends have decideded not to watch SSS again.

Pissu Poosa said...

I was surprised to see Shihan go on Sunday (Feb 26th) as well. The whole thing is a big mess because actually SSS promoted Shihan like anything from the start but there was an unexpected backlash when Manjula was taken out the previous weekend, which SSS did not expect. Almost everyone had complained about the show being rigged and how the SMS voting was a waste of money, so my personal opinion is that taking Shihan out was a form of damage control, which is unfortunate for the poor guy. On the bright side, I have received news that he is already making an album with M Entertainment which will be released in the near future. So even though he is out of the competition, you will be able to listen to his music after all!!

Anonymous said...

sirasa super star totally sux. they put shihan away. how dum are they. they always sux now cause no one is intrested in super star now. shihan should be the best cause he was the most talented one out of them. i am sure that their is a secreat between the vottings.

Anonymous said...

Sirasa Super Star is a lie. I lost the interest and the respect i had for the show after what they did to Shihan. Everyone will agree that Shihan was the best. He has the talent, presentation ability, the looks and you name it he had it all. Shihan is too good for Sirasa, they just didn't appreciate him enough. Sirasa thought that b'cos of the rumours and the paper articles about him that they will get a bad publicity and they dropped Shihan from the show, but i'm very sorry to say this.....Sirasa got an extremely bad publicity by what they did to Shihan. Nobody is interested in SSS anymore, not many people will be voting, as a matter of fact not many will be even watching the show. It's your own fault Sirasa, Shihan is talented and he's great why did you try to mess up his future? We all know that even though the SMS cost was high people still voted, why, b'cos its Shihan. Sirasa is not going to get that kind of a response if Shihan's not in the show. The whole country knows that Shihan would've probably got the highest number of votes last week too, but that was not important for Sirasa b'cos they just wanted to drop him. Sirasa should be ashamed of themselves, they were concerned about rumours and lies and they let down a talented singer who would've done wonders for the channel. These rumours are plain jealousy, its always the case isn't it? Don't worry Shihan all these comes with popularity. Don't give up...Sirasa will definitely regret what they did someday. Even though they dropped you, you are already a winner in everyone's mind. Also deep inside everyone's heart including people at Sirasa, all the people who are going against you and everyone close to you, know that you are the real Sirasa Super Star.

Good Luck Shihan

Anonymous said...

Why do people lament on Shihan when there are much more talented people? Anyway he may even get back in.

Pissu Poosa said...

Hi Dil,

Let's all take a moment and wait until we find out who will take Malith's place in the finals. There is always a chance that Shihan will be back!

Anonymous said...

i just hate sss 'cause it sux. first they put shihan out and now malith is also not well. i think they will give it to ajith bandara who has no talent at all.i wish malith GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!