Superstars with Simran - Episode 7

Caught up with Superstars on Sun TV yesterday after a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if there are official statistics out there for how the program is doing but they must be doing pretty bad if they have to resort to stunts like what they had yesterday, to boost viewership. That stunt, combined with some atrocious new rules and mostly untalented participants, is making me lose interest in the show rather fast.

The highlight of yesterday's episode, if one were to go by all those previews that focused solely on it, was an on-camera fight between Simran and Vijay Adhiraj over his comments about her judgement on some earlier participants. Simran launched into an interrogation of Vijay as soon as she came on-stage, questioning his credentials to judge her. At one point, both Simran and Vijay retreated to their respective caravans, the seriousness of the situation explained by one of those dramatic, somber voice-overs that usually announce catastrophes like earthquakes and tsunamis. The producer, with camera in tow, worked with both of them to get them to continue the show and all was well in the world again. It was rather funny when Simran, who made it a point to launch her tirade on-stage rather than backstage, kept asking the camera to be shut off. But considering that the whole thing was an act, she put on a really good show and was very convincing. Her entreaties to turn the camera off were sincere and she was almost in tears at one point. It was a great performance that all those aspiring actresses on the show can look up to!

A 'new' part was added to the show starting yesterday. The members of the studio audience were given cards with red on one side and green on the other and as each participant came on stage, they showed the green or red side indicating a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' (in Vijay's words, they were voicing their opinion on the participant "thaerumaa thaeraadhaa"). I can't imagine anything else that could be more insulting to the participants. In addition to demonstrating their talent on TV, being judged by Simran and waiting to see if they make it to the next stage, they now have to endure being rated on their looks by some random viewers. Great!

The most disappointing part of the show so far has been the quality of the participants. There have been a few good participants but for the most part, they have been uninspired and unexciting. Most surprising is the apparent lack of practice from some contestants. When they get just a single shot at proving themselves, why they don't practice and put their best foot forward is beyond me. Also surprising is the complete absence of discernible talent in some others. If these were the people selected from the initial pool of 1000 contestants, one shudders to think of the talents exhibited by those eliminated in the initial screening!