Asianet Idea Star Singer 4

Idea Star Singer on Asianet is a reality-show on singing, which is in its 4^th season.  The show is at the fag end with the six finalists contesting for the top position to grab the first prize (which I believe is 1 crore worth villa).  The show is definitely a good platform for the really talented singers.  The one reason I love this programme is for the professional approach when compared with other similar programmes on other channels.  The contestants have to sing the full song and the judges are given more time to comment on the each singing performance.

The judges panel consists of Sarath (Music Director), Chithra (Playback Singer), Sreekumar (playback singer – although he is not attending since the last couple of shows). Usually there will be a celebrity guest who keeps changing for each show.  One good thing about the judges are they do not make harsh criticisms (which I believe should not be made in public) when pointing out errors. I have seen this happening in ‘Hariyudan Naan’ (Star Vijay) and on some other Hindi Channels.

I think there are more singing talents in Kerala compared to other southern states. The six contestants viz Anju Joseph, Joby John, Preethi Warriar, Rahul Sathanath, Sreenath and Vidhya Sankar are equally poised though the winner will be selected through SMS votes. So, more than the singing talent itself (which is assessed by prominent personalities in the music industry), it is the fancy of the viewers that will decide the winner.  I am somehow not in favour of this form (i.e. through SMS Votes) of deciding a winner.

Talking about the SMS votes, I believe the show’s previous season was marred by certain controversies of making money through SMS. It was alleged that the TV network company made money (alongwith the mobile operator) from these SMSs. I think it cannot be far from truth for the following reason.

Star TV had a tie-up with Airtel for its KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati) ‘Har Seat Hot Seat’ in which all TV viewers of the KBC were invited to participate. The HSHS contest consisted of answering an objective type question with four possible answers announced during each episode of the KBC. The participants of the HSHS, who thus had to be naturally viewers of the KBC to know the questions, were required to send the answers by cellular/landline phone of Airtel (or, those of MTNL or BSNL) to a number specified by Airtel, before the correct answer was flashed on the screen. The answers sent on cellular phone had to be through Airtel’s (or, MTNL’s or BSNL’s) short messaging service (in short, SMS). The winners among the participants from among those who gave the correct answers to the questions were to be each given a prize of Rs.2 lakh. Each participant/ consumer, who sent the answer using Airtel’s SMS, was required to pay Rs.2.40 per message, which was higher than the normal pulse/call rate or text messaging charges.

There were 52 episodes of the KBC and thus total prize money amounting to Rs.1.04 crore was paid out. In all Star Tv and Airtel received 58 million SMSs and thereby collected Rs. 13.92 crore from the participants of HSHS (leaving a gross profit of Rs. 12.88 crore).  Normal charge of the 58 million SMSs would have fetched only a maximum of Rs.58 million, i.e., Rs.5.8 crore. As against this, they received a large amount of Rs.13.92 crore from SMS messages. Further, the excess revenue (Rs.13.92 crore minus Rs.5.80 crore) comes to Rs.8.12 crore. Out of this, they distributed prizes amounting to Rs.1.04 crore. Still, the surplus revenue comes to Rs.7.08 crore.

(source: CONSUMER COMPLAINT NO. 83 OF 2007 before National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission)

So one can very well imagine where the prize money would be coming from.

Tags: Asianet Star Singer 4, Idea Star Singer 4