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Airtel Super Singer top 6 (Before the Recall round) Top (From the left): Ranjani, Prasanna and Renu; Bottom (From the left): Rohit, Ajeesh and ravi
Well at last the Airtel Super Singer winner was declared yesterday here in the US after almost a year of the competition. The week began with Prasanna being eliminated and the final three remaining were Renu, Ravi and Ajeesh to compete for the title. It was a really good run for Prasanna and he surely won many hearts with his entertaining performances.
Monday and Tuesday of the competition was basically a tribute to the top 22 contestants and awards were given to best performances in a particular genre. Ironically all the award winners were from the top 10, Santosh, Prasanna, Raghini, Vijay and Ranjani. Even though the others did not win any awards, it was nice to see all of them together in the Airtel super singer set for one last time.
Now coming to the actual finals which happened on Wednesday there were three contestants and it was good that the results were announced on the same day. I unfortunately was not aware of the change in timings and missed the entire performances of the contestants. I just saw the final song sung by Ravi which was from Dasavatharam.
Yuvan Shankar Raja was there along with other celebrity singers such as Chitra, Mahati, Karthik, Krish, Sunitha Sarathy and few others to grace the live event. Finally after few performances from the other super singer contestants the results were announced and Ajeesh was declared as the winner based on the viewer votes. Ravi came second and Renu ended up in the third position.
Personally I would have preferred Ravi to win the competition as he was a better all round singers but Ajeesh wasn’t too far behind. I am not that disappointed with the actual result as Ajeesh also has had a wonderful super singer 2008. Renu for me did not make the cut and I did not expect her to win the crown. I know that I have been really harsh on her in my previous articles but to be frank she did not possess the variety the other two brought to the table. She is a good singer but one dimensional but I think she will be successful in play back singing in the Sujatha mould.
Coming back to Ravi, he is a fantastic talent and has a great range. He has proven his caliber in western as well as folk and classical and would be very successful in the music industry. I wish him all success and hope to hear him sing in the movies.
So the Airtel Super singer 2008 winner was Ajeesh, a fantastic singer with a great voice. Had some issues with the open singing at the beginning of the competition but overcame the same with the help of the voice trainer Ananth I guess. Great future ahead as he is guaranteed a song in Yuvan’s music.
All in all it was an incredible journey which lasted for almost a year. I enjoyed watching the same and I hope that everyone following Airtel super singer had a blast too. I think next we have the super singer juniors and hope it’s also as entertaining as the senior version. Till then this is Giri signing off.
Federer wins French at last
Posted on: June 8, 2009
Federer with the French Open trophy after his brilliant win on Sunday
It was one of the greatest days in the Tennis history when Roger Federer won the French Open title beating Soderling yesterday. This was the fourth successive finals for Roger in Roland Garros and it proved fourth time lucky for him. It was a brilliant performance and he really worked hard for this title.
When Nadal lost against Soderling in the fourth round the pressure on Roger doubled as now he was expected to win the title. He had couple of tough matches where he had to come from behind to reach the finals. Federer was emotional and graceful while accepting the trophy from Andre Agassi (The last player to win a career Grand Slam). His fluency in French was amazing as he did not require a translator to address the audience (An English translator would have been helpful though).
A fantastic player and a great ambassador for the sport, Roger Federer for me has put to rest the debate of him being the greatest of all time. Federer might have just won the French open but he also has played in three finals and one semi-final before this. Federer also equaled Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slam titles and also went on to complete a career Grand Slam which Sampras was never able to achieve.
Congratulations to the greatest champion all time and best of luck for him in the Wimbledon.
The first day of the round two began yesterday here in the US the show began with the elimination of one contestant who got the least votes after the round 1 of the finals. Surprisingly Ranjani was the one to receive the axe. Airtel super singer never ceases to amaze me. Ranjani is one of the best singers in Airtel super singer this year and I have told this numerous times that she is much better singer than Renu. In spite of that she got the lowest audience votes. I guess she isn’t a very popular singer among the viewers.
The fact that she received around 4 times less votes than the third placed Renu is hard to believe. Anyways the initial part of the show was a tribute to her and a much deserved one at that. All the other contestants spoke about her and Ranjani bowed off in style singing “Maiyya Maiyya” song from Guru. Good luck to Ranjani and I am sure that she will be singing in movies soon.
Prasanna was in the bottom two along with Ranjani and I heard that he is the one eliminated next week. Even though he is my favorite contestant, I don’t think that I can complain on his exit. Ranjani’s exit was more shocking than Prasanna’s. Well good luck to Prasanna as well as he was one of the most entertaining contestants in this show and won many hearts with his brilliant performances on stage. I am sure that he has a bright future in the music field as he has started learning music already.
Okay now coming back to yesterday’s competition, unfortunately I was just able to see the performances of Ajeesh and Ravi, the top two voted contestants from round 1. Both gave brilliant performances and especially Ravi’s performance was out of the world. He was able to get the entire audience involved and everyone enjoyed his performance. Ajeesh was also very good. He sang with an open voice and sounded very good.
I was not able to see both Prasanna and Renu’s performance yesterday as I had some issues with my internet but probably will try and catch the same on YouTube some time later. Anyways that ended the day one of the finals and it seems like the Airtel super singer will be crowned next week (This week in India). So that’s good news. At last the organizers have decided to end the competition. Best of luck to Ranjani who unfortunately got eliminated in round 2 and good luck to the other contestants.
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The week 1 of the finals completed here on Wednesday and the third day was very impressive. It was a round where the contestants had to sing classical compositions in movies. The two contestants who I was very interested in were Renu and Prasanna as they were the least trained in classical music.
It was a brilliant night with Sudha Ragunathan as the chief guest. Ravi was brilliant in this round as expected. This is his forte and he did not disappoint. The judges were all praise for him and Sudha Ragunathan said that he has a bright future in music.
Ajeesh was also brilliant. I would say that this was better than the new song round on day 2. Even though the judges were over the top and praising Ajeesh on day two, I thought that it was a okay performance. But in the classical round he was brilliant. He was rightly appreciated by the judges and the chief guest.
Ranjani was good too. Ranjani is a versatile singer and is a trained classical singer like Ravi and Ajeesh. She gave a good performance too. Sudha Ragunathan called is great and so did the judges.
Okay now for the interesting part. Before the round began I knew that the above mentioned three singers will not have any issues in this round as they are all classically trained but Renu and Prasanna were not. I was very interested to see how they would perform.
The first one to perform was Renu. She sang pretty well. Sudha Ragunathan said that her voice was sweet but she had some issues with the classical part of it. She felt that all the Sangadhi’s did not come out well. The judges too felt the same but they kept on saying that her good voice masked the errors. I have never heard more absurd comment in a talent show. The judges are there to judge a singer in comparison with the other singers in the competition. Yeah it was a commendable effort from Renu considering her little training in Classical music but that does not mean that the judges find excuses for her.
I am fed up of Srinivas saying that Renu has a good voice. I think we have heard that thousand times and I am basically fed up of that line. Anyways it was a good performance by Renu.
Next came Prasanna, who like Renu has limited classical training and he sang a not so classical song. The judges rightly criticized him but said that he is a good entertainer. Srinivas also said that it’s not easy to dramatize a song in front of an audience as Prasanna does so successfully. This time I totally agree with the judges and the chief guest that considering how the other singers performed, Prasanna’s song choice was little bit off. Anyways that ended the week 1 of the finals.
I saw few rushes of the performances from the week 2 and the notable absentee is Ranjani. It seems like the contestants are going to be paired with a playback singer. Karthik, Harini, Tippu and Mahati seemed to be the play back singers. Anyways the rushes seemed brilliant and I am really looking forward to week 2 and I hope that the competition crowns the super singer pretty soon as I think that we are nearing 1 year since the 2008 auditions began.
Airtel Super singer – Finals – Day 2
Posted on: May 27, 2009
Well at last I got to see the finals and it was the “New Songs” round and what a great night it was. 5 finalists performed with professionals providing music around them and it was absolutely brilliant. Especially Stephen on Piano was unbelievable.
Coming back to the competition itself, the first singer of the night was Ravi and he started off with “Uyirile” (Movie Vellithirai I guess) and he was brilliant. It was one of his best for me. Expressions were so good and the way he carried the entire song was awesome. Overall it was a mind blowing performance and the judges were all praise for him.
The second singer was Ranjani who sang “Ulundhu Vithakkaiyilae” from Mudhalvan. She gave a good performance. The judges liked her performance and called it brilliant.
The third singer of the night was Ajeesh and he sang “Poi Solla” from Run and gave a good performance. I for once thought that it was okay and nothing extraordinary but the judges though gave him a standing ovation. Well I would say that in comparison to Ravi, Ajeesh’s performance was just okay. But that’s my opinion.
The next singer was Renu and her performance was ordinary last night. I don’t even remember what song she chose. She had severe breathing issues and it was very obvious that she was nervous and it did not sound that nice to me. Srinivas was honest in stating that this was not one of Renu’s best performances.
The final singer of the night was Prasanna and he sang “Piraye” (I don’t know the movie) song and gave a soulful performance. The judges were all praise for him and Sujatha took a cheap shot at him saying that he could have avoided the humming at the start. Unni though said that he liked the performance overall and Srinivas said that he could feel Prasanna’s sincerity towards music in this performance.
All in all it was a brilliant night with some great performances. I would say that Ravi’s was the best performance of the night and Renu’s was the worst. All in all looking forward to the day 3 of the finals as Ananth said that it’s going to be better.
Fairly Tale ending to IPL 2
Posted on: May 26, 2009
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | IPL
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Deccan chargers with the IPL trophy
Who would have thought at the start of IPL 2 that DC and BLR will be in the finals? It was just a scriptwriter’s dream as to how these two teams made it to the finals against all odds. The IPL 2 was a big success considering that it was staged outside India. The grounds were full all the time and the support from the South African public was phenomenal. First of all thanks to the people of SA for the excellent support and hope they were entertained.
When the IPL started the favorites were the RR, DD, CSK and Kings X1 to make it to the last four. KKR was the most hyped team and I never thought they had a chance to make it to the semis. When the tournament reached the final stages only DD and CSK fulfilled their potential. The final four was a surprise to everyone when BRC and DC joined DD and CSk.
BRC’s biggest signing of the year KP was the biggest flop for them in terms of both captaincy and a player. The franchise owners should realize that getting expensive international players isn’t going to help their cause. As Dhoni rightly pointed out, teams with good domestic players will have the edge. KKR does not have a good pool of young Indian players and their over reliance on foreign batters cost them heavily. The fact that they had to play 4 foreign players in the top order forced them not to play Langaveldt and Mortaza till the final two games.
The fairy tale ride for BRC began when KP went back to England to face WI and Anil Kumble was made the captain of the team. Anil led by example and bowled beautifully throughout the series and claimed most wickets for his team with a brilliant economy rate. BRC recovered exceedingly well from an early slump to claim a semi-final birth alongside CSK, DD and DC. They unearthed a little gem in Manish Pandey who scored a brilliant hundred and the first by an Indian in the IPL. He is just 19 years old and I hope that he has a great future.
DC though had a different route to the finals. They started off in a brilliant fashion winning their first four games but had a bumpy ride after that. They needed Chennai to beat Kings X1 to assure them a Semi-Finals spot. Their biggest assets were their youngsters like Suman, Rohit (Who even got a hattrick this season) and RP Singh. Adam Gilchrist made the captain this season also helped Deccan a lot as he led them brilliantly and also was their highest run getter.
DD and CSK though will be very disappointed with their Semi-Finals effort and both the teams lost pretty easily in their respective games. Batting deserted both DD and CSK when they needed the most and the tags of favorites also probably put lots of pressure on the youngsters. DD relied heavily on foreign recruits for their batting as Sehwag and Ghambir were not in great form. CSK though had Matthew Hayden in brilliant form at the top, followed by Raina, Badri and Dhoni who were a great supporting act. All in all it was a brilliant season for the tournament favorites but they will be really disappointed with their efforts in the Semi’s.
The final though was played between probably the worst two teams of 2008 edition of the IPL. It was a brilliant game and both the teams fought tooth and nail for the trophy and finally Deccan Chargers emerged victorious by a whisker. Chasing 144 to win in the finals on that pitch should have been achieved by the BRC batters but the constant pressure applied by the DC bowlers caused them to lose wickets at regular intervals.
All in all it was a brilliant tournament and in terms of cricketing standards, it was better than IPL 1. The games were closer and so was the tournament. 7 teams had a chance to get in to the semis till the last week. Bowlers had more of a say this time. Totals over 200 was achieved only once this year and totals under 120 was defended successfully twice.
Congrats again to Deccan for the brilliant win and also to Adam Gilchrist who led by example and sparked a great turnaround for the franchise.
Airtel Super Singer – Finals week 1
Posted on: May 26, 2009
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So we are in the finals week at last. American Idol which started way after Airtel super singer just crowned their winner last week. That shows how fast AI has moved since it began. Airtel Super Singer though has been stretched a bit too much and I did not even bother watching the show last week where the contestants met Yuvan for the first time.
Coming back to this week, the competition is going to be interesting. To be honest with you guys I did not get a chance to watch the show on Monday as I was not in town. I heard from one of the regulars to my blog that Ranjani has been eliminated after the classical round which is rather surprising and shocking to say the least.
Ranjani is one of the better trained singers in the pack and it’s rather surprising that she has to leave after the classical round. Well I will be watching the show from the second day and will comeback with a better post tomorrow. The singers left in the show are Renu, Ajeesh, Prasanna and Ravi. Even though Prasanna is my favorite, I would like Ravi or Ajeesh to win the competition as they are the most talented of all the finalists.
Anyways best of luck to all the singers for this week and let’s hope the best singer wins.
Chennai the “Super Kings”
Posted on: May 11, 2009
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | IPL
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How things can change in couple of weeks in cricket. I wrote an article couple of weeks back about DD and DC dominating the IPL2, but while DD are still at the top of the rankings, DC is fighting with the rest of the teams for the Semi-Finals spot. CSK have been the biggest movers in the last few weeks. They have now won 5 games in a row to move to the second place behind DD.
CSK have got the right combination going with Jakati and Tyagi being great additions to the team. Batting at the top has been firing for them and the bowlers are doing their job. CSK have almost got themselves at the door for the semi-finals spot. They have 4 games to go and 1 or 2 wins will ensure them a spot in the semi-finals. The only concern for the CSK is their fielding. They have dropped awful lot of catches in the tournament and almost lost the game against Kings X1 due to their bad fielding.
Dhoni was quick to acknowledge the same. They gave an improved performance against the Rajasthan Royals over the weekend but they have a long way to go in that respect. Batting has been phenomenal with Hayden at the top doing wonders for them with great support from Raina, Badri and Dhoni. Bowling has been adequate with Murali doing well with Balaji, Tyagi, Jakati and Morkel doing the support act. All in all it has been a brilliant week for the Dhoni’s men. I hope that they lift the trophy this year.
Delhi has continued their brilliant run in the competition with couple of wins over the past week and has done well without Sehwag. Ghambir has captained the team well and David Warner has done the job for them in the absence of Sehwag. Their bowling also has been consistent with Nannes and Nehra doing a brilliant job at the top and Mishra doing a good supporting act. I would like to see McGrath getting a game in the competition. Probably they can rest Nannes for a game and give McGrath a go as Delhi are almost a certainty for the semi-finals spot.
The Rajasthan Royals though have had a good week too. As I am writing this article they are playing Deccan Chargers in an important game. RR have won 3 and lost 1 over the past week and are currently sitting at number 3 in the rankings. Batting has been the biggest worry for the RR’s and Shane Watson pulling out due to injury would have been a big setback for them. RR though has found a good opening partner for Smith in Naman Ojha. He has been consistent and has looked good. RR though is still to find a consistent playing X1. They are also well placed for a semi-finals spot at this moment.
DC though has had a bad week. After four wins on the trot, they have just won 1 out of the next 5 games. They are barely hanging on to the top four at this moment with Kings X1, Mumbai Indians and BRC breathing down their neck. With KKR totally out of contention, it’s between, Punjab, Mumbai and Bangalore to compete to get to the top four this week.
Bangalore play KKR tomorrow and a win would place them in top 5 and a shot to push for the semi-finals spot this week. All in all it has been another fantastic week in IPL2 with constant changes in the ranking with every game. The top spot has changed at least 3-4 times over the last week which shows how close all the teams are this year. I am happy as my team has finally captured the form which got them to the finals last year and I hope that this year they go one step further.
Airtel Super Singer Wild Card round results – Prasanna and Ranjani in the finals
Posted on: May 8, 2009
Well the long drawn out Wild Card round was over and the results were finally announced this Wednesday. Prasanna and Ranjani were the two finalists chosen to join Ravi, Renu and Ajeesh. Sadly it was the end of the road for Vijay, Raghini and Santosh.
It seemed like they already knew that Prasanna was going to be the popular choice of the audience and had this Judge’s choice thing added in a hurry to choose another contestant besides him. I was in no doubt that Ranjani will be joining Prasanna when the results were announced as there was no suspense in the decision even though the judges thought that they were creating one.
It was three days of singing which wouldn’t have made any difference to the final decision as the judge’s were never going to choose anyone else. Anyways this means that Raghini, Vijay and Santosh sang one last time on Airtel Super singer and I wish them very best of luck for the future.
Hariharan and Leslie Lewis being there might have been an advantage for the Super singers as the duo has started composing for films now and might pick up someone if they like the voice. All in all the results week ended with my predictions coming true and I hope that the final is a cracking one and we get the results pretty soon. As long as the judges don’t decide to have two super singers I am fine with it.
It seems like next week is going to be some light hearted round with the finalists singing with their friends and relatives. So the finals might be couple of weeks from now, unless the organizers decide to push it on a little bit.
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This is the results week and I have a fair idea as to who might make it to the finals. It seems that they are going to have another round for the Wild Card contestants and the judges are going to pick one finalist of their choice. This makes two more contestants who will reach the finals adding to the three already there.
Well Airtel Super Singer always keeps adding people more than the required number. Anyways as long as they don’t have best of three finals, I am okay with it. So I am thinking that it’s going to be between, Prasanna (Viewers vote), Santosh and Ranjani (Judge’s choice). I think that its going to be the end of the road for Raghini and Vijay. It was always on the cards as the judge’s like Ranjani very much which was much evident with their over the top praise of “Porale Ponnuthayi”.
Vijay and Raghini are excellent singers and I hope that they do well in music. I hope that they don’t give up singing. As for the rest of the three contestants, I am guessing that Prasanna might make it to the finals through the viewers vote. The other spot is an interesting one. Santosh shocked the judges with his incredible singing on the day 3 of Wild Card round 1 and now Ranjani might not be their obvious choice.
Ranjani was steady over the three days and I found nothing spectacular in her performances last week. The judges though kept on undermining the rest of the singers to praise Ranjani, which makes me think she might be the judge’s choice. I hope that Santosh gets a chance but I guess Vijay Tv might want to keep another female contestant in the finals with Renu.
Anyways let’s see how it unfolds this week. If anyone already know the result please let me know.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 