Contestants humiliated on Carnatic Music Idol TV Show

Carnatic Music Idol, a music competition that gets telecasted on Jaya TV unearths youth talent in the Carnatic Music across the world. There are some contestants who’ve come from overseas to take part in the competition and the winner walks away with two concert slots – one at Jaya TV Markazhi Maha utsavam and other at Cleaveland Thyagaraja Aradhanai.

The first season of CM Idol was held last year, and it unearthed potential singers like Barath Sundar, Sriranjani Santhanagopalan, Brinda Manikavasagam, etc. Now the second season is on and Balaji the comparer of the show proudly announces the new tagline of the show in every episode, “Carnatic Music Idol - It is not a competition but it a career”. Let us assume what Balaji says is true, then Carnatic Musicians seated on the judges panel are all would-be colleagues for selected the participants, Am I right?

The initial round of selection was done by Sashikiran and Gayathri Venkatragavan and the next level of screening was done by Sowmya and Ganesh. A contestant turned up in a trouser and shirt for the selection since he came from Sholinagur (more than 100 kms away from Chennai and had travelled by train). When he came on the dais Ganesh and Sowmya derided him without giving an opportunity to explain or magnanimity to understand. Such is the quality of the judges on the panel.

Now the semi-final is on and the panel of judge consists of Sowmya, Sashikiran, Gayatri Venkatragavan, Ganesh, Kumaresh and Neyveli Santhanagopalan. But sadly none of them on the panel except Neyveli Santhanagopalan exhibit maturity, respect and even worth a seat on that panel.

Why did Sowmya, Sashikiran, Gayathri Venkatraghavan find a place on the panel? Is it because they have a personal equation with the show producer? Is it because they charge less to make appearances on such shows? Is it beacuse they have a glamor quotient? What have these guys achieved in their professional to sit on the panel? Do they have all the qualities what it takes to be a judge? I have seen more than half of the seats empty in Sowmya and Sashikiran’s concert. Are they crowd puller or crowd chasers? Well after this behavior they can only be crowd chasers and fall in the category of tear gas, pepper spray, water gun, etc.

Imagine you are going for a job interview and your senior colleagues on the interview panel make fun of your education, attire, skill set, bully you throughout the interview while trying to show off their seniority and experience and humiliate you in front of thousands of viewers? Is this a very professional way of interviewing and understanding your potential? Then why does comperer Balaji refer to this show as a career and not competition? Would you ever want to join such a profession and have these people for colleagues? May be that is why Carnatic Music is still restricted to a few cities, a few communities and cliques.

All on the panel except Neyveli Santhanagopalan are unprofessional in their approach, attitude and behavior. It is easy for him to get carried away, but Santhanagopalan comes across a true teacher, magnanimous senior and one who stokes passion, learning and explore new dimensions of Carnatic music. He methodically explores the depth of their patanthra, asks questions to make them think (not humiliate) in different dimension and slowly hold them to walk out of the puzzle. There is so much of learning and encouragement for not just the participants but thousands of viewers and rasikas of Carnatic music. This approach to learning turns a spark in the contestant into a fire, and what follows is perseverance and passion.

Here is another instance where Sowmya asked the contestant to sing Kambodhi Varnam. The contestant lacked clarity while singing the sahityam “Sarasauku ra ra”and Sowmya displayed here sarcasm and poor sense of humor and asked the contestant if Sarasa was her next door neighbor. Is this what you call constructive criticism? Not educative but belittling!

Why is it that they behave in such a demeaning fashion? It is often proved that the abused turns into abusers. Does this hold good for Carnatic Musicians too? So were these guys selected through such rounds of insults and abuse? Do they behave in such a way to increase the TRPs for the show? It looks more like a cheap reality show and not a career making platform. Are they threatened that they would lose their chance and popularity with new talents in the horizon?

When the show was first launched I felt this was like GRE, GMAT, US MLE exams that students take to go study overseas. It is highly competitive, but is it professionally healthy? Today so many youngsters come from all over the world to participate and if such is the treatment meted out to them, then Carnatic Music will soon be a forgotten art and Markazhi season will turn the summer of Carnatic Music thus defeating the very purpose of the show.