The Super singer B&W round day 1 completed yesterday in the US (Yeah the show is a week or two behind here) and it was fantastic. The contestants had to sing B&W songs and it was a great performance from all the three singers who sang yesterday. It was also fantastic to see PB Sreenivas coming in as a chief guest along with the legendary Manorama Aachi. They seemed to enjoy the show very much as the contestants sang classics which were beautifully rendered.
First contestant on the stage was Prasanna and he started off with a bang. He sang “Kettukodi Urimimelam” (Original Sung by TMS) with lots of energy and I thought he did a great job. It’s not easy to sing a TMS song as he had such a high range and is a legend in Tamil cinema. Prasanna, I felt did justice to the song and was unfortunate not to be spot selected.
The next contestant was Renu and I normally don’t like her performances as its one dimensional. She normally picks out either Susheela or chitra songs and always struggles with the breathing. Yesterday again she picked out a Susheela song but she was bang on this time. The round demanded such a song and her rendition of “oru naal yaro ennai” was very nice and sounded great. Manorama was completely spellbound and said that Renu took her back to the olden days. It was a good performance from Renu after a series of mediocre attempts in the earlier rounds. She was the first contestant to be spot selected yesterday.
The final contestant of the day was one of my favorites Ajeesh who was dressed up like the legendary comedian Nagesh who passed away recently and sang “Avalukku Enna”. Ajeesh has a fantastic voice and always sounds great and as usual it was a good performance from him yesterday. It was great the way he has improved so much during the course of the Airtel Super Singer and seems to be working hard on ironing out the flaws. He along with Prasanna is one of the most improved singers since the start of the competition. I really enjoyed his performance and the judges did too and rightly spot selected him.
So three singers perform on day one and two of them spot selected. I am really looking forward to the day two as my other favorite Ravi will be performing and I am sure he will do a good job. Airtel super singer once again proved that it’s the best talent hunt show in Tamil and has the best voices among all the other shows in other channels.
Just before I finish the piece, I have to mention that Malini yugendran is getting on my nerves with the way she presents the show. It’s unfortunate that chinmayi left the show and we have to deal with this substandard attempt at presenting the show. I really feel sorry for Yugendran though as the poor guy hardly seems to get a chance to talk. Anyways the contestants though with their performances make the show a great watch, in spite of Malini’s constant hamming.
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What a performance from the little master, 163 from 133 balls was a phenomenal effort. Considering that people were gunning for his throat in the One day format, this was a special performance. Sachin answered his critics through his willow rather than on papers. That’s something which separates this great player from the others. His humility and his ability to keep his feet firmly on the ground have made him the great player that he is.
Coming back to the game itself, it was a batting paradise at christchurch and it seemed at the end that no score was safe. India would be really happy that in the end they got enough to win the game. In the absence of Daniel Vettori, Mccullum won the toss and invited India to bat, a decision which he would have regretted. India started with Sehwag and Tendulkar. Sehwag played an atrocious stroke to get bowled for 3 which brought in Gautam Ghambir to join Sachin in the middle.
Sachin Tendulkar though launched a brilliant counterattack after Sehwag’s exit which kept the Kiwis on the back foot. When things were going smoothly for the visitors Ghambir decided to run the ball to third man only to guide it into the hands of Andrew Mcglashan to leave India 2 down. Yuvraj then walked in to join the little master and what followed in the next 10-15 overs was an absolute carnage and something which the Kiwis did not have answer to.
The ground was too small for Yuvraj as he dealt mostly in boundaries during his knock of 87. Sachin and Yuvraj just hammered the New Zealand bowlers to submission. When Yuvraj was finally out for 87 India were already past 200. It was an ideal platform for Dhoni and the rest of the batting order. Dhoni had a lucky reprieve when Andrew Mcglashan missed an easy stumping of the bowling of Patel. Dhoni and Sachin continued the hitting and by the time Sachin retired due to injury for 163 India were already past 330 with 5 overs to go.
Suresh Raina then joined the Indian captain in the middle and helped India to reach 392/4 in 50 overs. This was the highest ever ODI score in NZ and the second highest for India.
The Indian bowlers though did not find the short boundaries to their liking. The New Zealand opening combination of Jesse Ryder and Brendon Mccullum got off to a flier scoring at almost 8 runs/over. The fielders also did not help India’s cause as they grassed two simple chances offered by both the openers. The first wicket fell at last with the New Zealand score on 165 when Brendon Mccullum was run out by Raina/Dhoni combination.
New Zealand though lost their way after that wicket in spite of Ryder’s brilliant hundred to lose 6 wickets for 50 odd runs. India though were unable to get rid of a tail who lead by Kyle Mills launched a brilliant fight back which put enormous pressure on the Indians. The Indian bowlers did not handle the situation well and Munaf was terribly disappointing. Dhoni looked visibly upset at the way Munaf was going about his bowling. The umpire finally ended Munaf’s misery when he took him off for bowling two over the waist deliveries in the same over.
India finally bowled the hosts out for 334, 58 runs short of the target. Even though the final score line suggests a comfortable win for India, Dhoni will not be happy with the way his team bowled and fielded. The game could have been much shorter if the Indians had hung on to the catches offered by the openers earlier in the innings. India would like to iron out the flaws before the next game and would hope to wrap up the series 3-0.
Airtel Super Singer
Posted on: March 12, 2009
Airtel Super singer is finally reaching the business end of the show. After meandering aimlessly for the past few weeks they have finally got back to the serious competition. The Super Singer is one of the better talent hunt shows in Tamil. I have watched few other channels trying to ape the concept but have pretty boring versions. The SunTv’s “Adhiradi Singer” is one of the worst in the pack. For some reason I am unable to watch that show in spite of my undying love for music.
Coming back to the super singer, I am happy that they have finally returned to the serious competition and the countdown for the best singer of the year 2008 has begun. The show for a while was making no sense to me. Yeah I can understand the recall round as all the reality/talent shows on Indian television have that concept but bringing back 4 singers was little bit over the top. The top 6 singers were already identified and probably adding two more singers from the recall round would have been appropriate.
Well currently they have 8 singers left and the funny part is that the two singers who got eliminated were the ones recalled. The reason for this show to stand out from the rest is their judges. Srinivas, Sujatha and Unnikrishnan are legends in their own right and are great singers. Most often the comments are measured and they give proper suggestions to the singers. They strictly stick to music rather than stupid antics to increase TRP’s for the show.
Airtel super singer for sure is one of my favorite programs on television. Well my Favorites in Top eight are Prasanna, Ravi and Ajeesh. I am fine with Rohit, Raghini and Vijaya Narayanan but I don’t think that they will win the competition. Anyways let’s see how the competition shapes up this week. I just feel that they have brought the four contestants back into the show only to eliminate them one by one, as we saw in the last couple of weeks. Already Hari and Aruna have been eliminated and for some reason Renu seems to stick on after mediocre performances just because the judge’s think that she has a good voice.
Well let’s hope that the show now moves on fast and there are no breaks in between as it has dragged around enough to get the viewers frustrated.
This was the day of elimination and had three contestants fighting to survive the same. Manorama Aachi and PBS were gone and we had LR Easwari amma as the chief guest on the third day. She enthralled the viewers with her legendry songs such as “Kaadhodu Thaan”, “Lovely Birds” and also her version of “Ketukodi Urimi Melam”. She was very insightful and was all praise for Ravi and Prasanna.
The program started with Ravi singing yet another classical song and was appreciated by everyone. The comments also were not that serious as this was just a guest performance by Ravi. Srinivas though felt that Ravi could have probably sung a different genre as he had already sung classical based song in the main round.
The first contestant of the night was Vijay Narayanan and he chose to sing “Paatu padava” from Thaen Nilavu. The song was good at parts and the ending was excellent. Overall it was an average performance from Vijay, considering this was a elimination round. The judges gave him good comments but it was by no means a great performance.
The second singer was Prasanna and he decided to sing a melody a genre which he has not often attempted in this competition. He did a fabulous job with the same. LR Easwari amma enjoyed it very much and so did the judges. Sujatha actually said that if Prasanna had sung this in the first round he would not have been here. Prasanna has improved by leaps and bounds during the course of this competition and is one of the most consistent singers among the pack.
Finally when the time came for Rohit to perform Malini and Yugendran revealed that he will not be able to make it as he has pulled out of the competition. The reason cited for him pulling out was his academics and attendance in college. A video message was played with Ravi apologizing to the judges who clearly didn’t seem that happy. Rohit’s father though came on stage and apologized to the judges and the audience. The judges were disappointed as they felt that they could have selected Aruna instead in the previous round as it was so close.
I feel that Rohit did what he needed to do and what he felt was important for his future. Best of luck to him and hope he does not stop singing. Vijay Narayanan got a lucky break this week as he escaped from elimination due to Rohit pulling out. He seems the most likely candidate for elimination though. Anyways we have 7 singers now and the race for super singer hots up.
Sehwag blasts the kiwi bowlers on his way to his match winning 125 no in the 4th ODI
It was a great performance by the Indian team to win the one day series in New Zealand for the first time. Yesterday’s match again was rain affected and the way Sehwag and Ghambir kept India way ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis (DL) calculation was absolutely brilliant. The Indian bowling though was patchy. The start was good but they did not keep up the tempo letting Mccullum and Ryder to get off to a flier. Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan were brought into the attack and they were successful in putting the brakes on the Kiwi openers.
The Indian fielding again was not up to the mark. There were lots of misfields and missed chances along the way during the New Zealand innings. Brendon Mccullum was given two reprieves during his innings of 77 and Dhoni’s miss stumping was the worst of the two. India’s bowling at the death was also not that spectacular as they were carted around easily by Andrew Mcglashan and Grant Elliot. After the rain interrupted first innings New Zealand reached a competitive 270/5 in 47 overs which was bumped up to 281 for the Indians to chase by the DL. Ishant Sharma was rusty on his return to the side and was inconsistent. Even though he picked up two wickets he was really shabby with no balls and got hit around a little bit. Hopefully he will get his act together before the important test series to start in a week’s time.
So India started their innings needing almost 6 an over which is kind of tough in a game with so many rain interruptions. Well it’s not something which troubled the Indian openers though as they took the kiwi bowlers to the cleaners. Nothing worked for the New Zealand captain last night as the Indians rattled along at over 7 runs per over. All the bowlers were treated with equal contempt by the Indian openers. Sehwag blasted his way to a brilliant one day hundred of just 60 deliveries which is an Indian record. It was a display of calculated hitting and it came of brilliantly for the Indian opener. Sehwag finished on 125 unbeaten when the rain interrupted play for one final time. The Indians were racing along in the pursuit of 220 of 36 overs as they were 201/0 in just 23.3 overs.
The Kiwis will be really disappointed in losing the series 3-0 as this is the first time they have lost to the Indians at home. Dhoni and his team though would be enjoying this moment as it adds yet another brilliant win to their resume. The Indians though would want to finish the series 4-0 and get as much confidence as possible for the test series. They would have been bolstered by the news of Rahul Dravid scoring a fantastic hundred in the New Zealand domestic game. All in all a great performance from the Indian team after losing the first two Twenty20 games. Hope they carry this confidence to the test series too.
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The Black & White round day 2 was interesting with some surprise performances. First PBS was missing today even though Manorama Aachi was still there viewing the performances. Already there were two spot selections from day 1 and day 2 had 5 performances in the offing.
The first performance of the day was Vijay Narayanan. His was a very inconsistent performance. I just felt that his pitch was all over the place when he started but later on he picked up. The judges felt the same and rightly he wasn’t spot selected. I guess Vijay has to do something about his “Sruthi” if he has to progress in this competition and currently looks like the one to receive the axe in this round unless he does something spectacular tonight.
The second performance of the day was Raghini. I just feel that Raghini is always a hit or Miss Singer but yesterday she gave a stellar performance with the “Elandha Pazham” song and the judges loved it. The good thing about her performance last night was that she was smiling throughout her performance and also after it. The Judges and Manorama Aachi were really impressed with her version of the song. She was spot selected two rounds in a row which is impressive if we take into account that she was mostly in the final two before the recall. It seems like Raghini is improving. This is a good thing as it will help her to go further in this competition.
The third performer of the day was Ravi who was in his elements yesterday. He sang a classical based song yesterday which we know is a meat and drink for someone with the caliber of Ravi. He absolutely mesmerized the judges and the chief guest of this show Manorama Aachi, who stood up and applauded Ravi’s performance. It was a brilliant performance from him. I am positive that I saw some tears coming down from Srinivas’s eyes yesterday. Even though Ravi got spot selected Unnikrishnan requested him to perform on the third day too.
The fourth performance of the day was Ranjani who gave a good performance. She sang a song which was perfect for her voice and pulled it off brilliantly. The judges liked it and she was through to the next round to join Ajeesh, Renu, Raghini and Ravi.
It seems like Rohit was unable to come in yesterday due to some unforeseen circumstances, the judges said that he can perform with Prasanna and Vijay on the third day. That ended the show last night and without doubt the performer of the day was Ravi.
I am not sure who will get eliminated today but I am guessing it will be someone between Vijay and Rohit. Lets wait and see.
India look to wrap up the series
Posted on: March 10, 2009
The Indians have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and would like to wrap up the series in Hamilton, the venue for the 4th ODI. New Zealand has already dropped Tim Southee and Ian Butler for the fourth game after their disastrous performance in the series till date. The hosts will be bolstered by the return of their captain Daniel Vettori who was absent in the third ODI to be with his wife for the birth of his first child.
The Indians though might be without Sachin Tendulkar for the fourth ODI and would probably replace Munaf Patel with Ishant Sharma (if fit) or with Irfan Pathan. Munaf has been really struggling in this series and completely lost the plot in the final overs of the Christchurch game. Munaf seems in a need of a break and probably will find it difficult to get into the test X1 too. Rohit Sharma might get into the squad in the absence of Sachin and Ghambir will move up the order to join Sehwag. The rest of the team will remain the same for the Indians in all probability.
Dhoni would not want any slip up and would want to get the series wrapped up here in Hamilton. If India manages to achieve that then it will complete a wonderful run in 50 over format for the Indians since they won the CB series in Australia. For the Kiwis though this is a do or die game and they would want to contain the Indian scoring to have a chance. The bowlers for the home team have been really wayward and except for the captain the rest of the line up seems to lack consistency.
The New Zealand coach said that they have plans for every Indian player but the bowlers haven’t been able to implement the same in the middle. That’s been the problem for Vettori and co; they haven’t been able to contain the Indian batsmen. The pitches are good and the grounds are small so it’s been hard for the kiwis to contain Indian line up. Vettori would be hoping for a change of fortune in Hamilton. He would be hoping that the Indian batters would miscue few more of their shots and they take their chances.
Hopefully it will be another cracking game and may the best team win.
The Super singer B&W round day 1 completed yesterday in the US (Yeah the show is a week or two behind here) and it was fantastic. The contestants had to sing B&W songs and it was a great performance from all the three singers who sang yesterday. It was also fantastic to see PB Sreenivas coming in as a chief guest along with the legendary Manorama Aachi. They seemed to enjoy the show very much as the contestants sang classics which were beautifully rendered.
First contestant on the stage was Prasanna and he started off with a bang. He sang “Kettukodi Urimimelam” (Original Sung by TMS) with lots of energy and I thought he did a great job. It’s not easy to sing a TMS song as he had such a high range and is a legend in Tamil cinema. Prasanna, I felt did justice to the song and was unfortunate not to be spot selected.
The next contestant was Renu and I normally don’t like her performances as its one dimensional. She normally picks out either Susheela or chitra songs and always struggles with the breathing. Yesterday again she picked out a Susheela song but she was bang on this time. The round demanded such a song and her rendition of “oru naal yaro ennai” was very nice and sounded great. Manorama was completely spellbound and said that Renu took her back to the olden days. It was a good performance from Renu after a series of mediocre attempts in the earlier rounds. She was the first contestant to be spot selected yesterday.
The final contestant of the day was one of my favorites Ajeesh who was dressed up like the legendary comedian Nagesh who passed away recently and sang “Avalukku Enna”. Ajeesh has a fantastic voice and always sounds great and as usual it was a good performance from him yesterday. It was great the way he has improved so much during the course of the Airtel Super Singer and seems to be working hard on ironing out the flaws. He along with Prasanna is one of the most improved singers since the start of the competition. I really enjoyed his performance and the judges did too and rightly spot selected him.
So three singers perform on day one and two of them spot selected. I am really looking forward to the day two as my other favorite Ravi will be performing and I am sure he will do a good job. Airtel super singer once again proved that it’s the best talent hunt show in Tamil and has the best voices among all the other shows in other channels.
Just before I finish the piece, I have to mention that Malini yugendran is getting on my nerves with the way she presents the show. It’s unfortunate that chinmayi left the show and we have to deal with this substandard attempt at presenting the show. I really feel sorry for Yugendran though as the poor guy hardly seems to get a chance to talk. Anyways the contestants though with their performances make the show a great watch, in spite of Malini’s constant hamming.
1000 views complete
Posted on: March 10, 2009
Its been exactly one year since I started blogging on wordpress and my blog has finally completed 1000 views. Its a great feeling to know that people are actually visiting my blog and are reading my posts. Thanks to everyone who visited my blog and please do keep coming back.
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