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Just like it’s predecessor, the Indian version of American Idol, obviously called as Indian Idol should be gripping. Having witnessed first season of American Idol closely in the US, I would have preferred to change the format a lil bit to suit the viewers of the peninsula. This one looks like Munnabhai MBBS dubbed into all 4 languages. There aren’t many changes to the format and presentation.

The Indian Idol is being broadcasted from 9 pm every evening in the Sony TV. Chennai viewers without CAS are the ones who are fortunate/unfortunate enough to not view it. They are still on the prelims so live auditions haven’t started yet and I am not sure if they are bringing in the vote-over-phone feature in this version.

The judges. Sonu Nigam, Anu Malik and Farah Khan. We know that Sonu Nigam has a mesmerizing voice, his new found hair style makes him look like Zhakir Hussain. He takes on the Randy Jackson image of American Idol. Our famous(!) Anu Malik takes on the bad boy Simon Cowell‘s image. Anu Malik sticks his neck out in rejections. In acceptances, it’s Sonu. I am able to mark this pattern clearly.

The disaster, per me, comes as Farah Khan. She plays the similar role of Paula Abdul. While I love Farah as a choerographer and even as a director, she may not fit in here. They could have went with the likes of Sadana Sargam or Alka Yagnik. I did watch Farah’s Main Hoon Na and was impressed by the commercial movie she was able to put together. Again, Main Hoon Na was a collage of Matrix and other stunt stuff but was fairly commendable by a debutant director. Here in Indian Idol, she’s not even being authoritative as Paula. She is just nodding heads to the opinions of Sonu Nigam and Anu Malik. Probably a bit xenophobic among the musicians.

With all such trivial issues, Indian Idol seems to have got the frenzy of the audience. I know people who watch even the repeat telecasts of the same show. In a country with so much population, I am sure there is tough competition ahead. Good Luck to those dudes!!.

[Pic – chennaionline.com]

I was expecting this article quite sometime back on Hindu about the Cinderella Pattu Paavaadai[silk skirt] of RMKV Silks which is THE sensation of this year’s deepavali.

Cinderella Pattu Pavadai has Cinderella’s fairy tale story twined in silk on the borders of the skirt. The latest ad with the young girl in a green Cinderella pattu pavadai is a big hit, already. Ramya had a post on this sometime back.

Young school girls are said to be crashing the gates of RMKV to have a look at the pattu pavadai. Priced around 1500-3000 bucks the orders are overwhelming and if you are planning to get one for your kid this deepavali, you might not. My colleague who wanted to get her daughter this fairytale silk skirt, found the current delivery date might be aroud 20th November. Book your orders for Pongal, now.

Did someone say fashion gets recycled ?. We are getting back to where we were before. This one is a good comeback.

With over 250 young aspiring film makers, television achors, news readers and all other available professions in media, the chennai version of Footprints 2004 was a roaring success, yesterday. Usually in such day-long seminars, either just one session would be the highlight or every other program is as boring as the other. But the dudes at Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication did bring in the variety at the seminar which made the whole day whiz past us in minutes.

K Balachander, who inaugrated the seminar said, did come with a written speech something our present day film makers lack. Though it was a short speech and he had to leave, he did give a good start by defining creativity and it’s spread. It would been a pleasure to listen to him, more.

Krishnan Menon from the advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather, started off the first session named Does creativity in advertising kill or build brands ? He started off with the Simon says game and did get to the crux of the issue soon. He was probably the one who stuck to the topic thoroughly. Attribute it to the industry he comes from, Krishnan, was able to get the attention of the crowds so easily. His presentation had more ads than slides which probably made it seem so lively. Who doesn’t love ads. It was with groups of such ads he distinguished between the good idea and bad idea, the strong idea and the weaker ones. Using the Hutch [Dog and The Kid] campaign, that O & M handled, he explained how a strong idea helps boost the brands. And finally, he did play a audio clip of clients abuse them in advertising through which he communicated, think before you jump. But jokes apart it was a session so gripping just like the ads.

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