About 2 months ago when my wife and I were talking about SaReGaMaPa 2007, I told her that Aneek (her favorite) would not win the competition. I thought that, like Vineet the year before, he'd technically do the most justice but would still run out of luck and come at # 2. I also said that Raja, another brilliant singer, would make some careless mistakes and come at # 3. She was a little surprised at my choice for # 1 - Amanat Ali I said, except I was doubtful whether enough Indians would vote for a Pakistani. Turns out, I was right about who would be in the Top 3 - and I thought before the # 3 gets announced later this month, I'll go ahead share my thoughts about the singers. There isn't much time left for me; I might just be proved wrong in my rankings.
Amanat
Perhaps there are enough Indians who don't want him winning because he is a Pakistani. I'd say - well then who asked you to watch SaReGaMaPa 2007? Either you don't invite a Pakistani to the program, OR vote wholeheartedly to the best singer? You can't do both.
The song below was was the 1st one that made me stop and watch out for him. Of course, I expect you to be surprised by my choice of songs!
Kadi Aa Mil Saanwal Yaar Ve
The song below was the 2nd of Amanat's songs that caused me to mark him as my # 1 favorite in SaReGaMaPa 2007.
Mora Sainya
What is crucial here is that I had not heard these songs before. They just sounded fabulous straight away when Amanat sang them. There were a few others that were excellent, but I'll skip them all, lest I should dilute the impact of the 2 songs above. I'll just about add one more, respecting my wife's approval of this singer. Nothing will of course take away from her support for Aneek.
Yeh Hausla
Aneek
I came home one evening from work to find my wife jump up and tell me how much she wanted me to watch a new guy that entered SaReGaMaPa 2007 by virtue of winning the equivalent program in Zee Bengali. The name was Aneek, and I can't recollect what that song was. I thought he sang very well, and he reminded me straight away of Vineet, the previous year.
It wasn't until the 1 song below, that I said to myself - this guy is here to stay through the last 2.
Raja
The first time I saw him sing, I just felt sorry for him. It appeared he was tense, and that though he was very good, he seemed to be lacking in confidence. It appeared he thought he'd exit from the competition early. He did lose out when the judge had to choose between him and Amanat, who had just sang the first of the songs listed above. But then, there is a 2nd chance given to a lucky few - and Raja made the most out of that to get back into the Top 3 of the competition. The sailing wasn't smooth - Raja forgets lyrics, blows hot and blows cold, just isn't as dependable as Aneek. He does get the audience's unwavering support, which sometimes appears unfair to his fellow participants. However, if you forget the consistency aspect, Raja is King!
About the very first song that made me watch out for him: I was close to choosing "Toota toota ek parinda", but I thought he was straying from the original version of that song. That often makes me nervous; it makes me think the singer isn't serious enough about the song. Perhaps I am not educated enough in music to appreciate variances from the original. In any case, that first song happens to be "Naina thag lengay". As with Aneek's and Amanat's first songs, I hadn't heard this song until Raja sang it. It was later I found out that the song belonged to the movie Omkara, a movie I had seen but had probably fast-forwarded through the song.
- The END of my rankings writeup, over to the audience to rank via SMS -
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