DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

Is that beloved circus of mine Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge fixed? Now, my immediate answer would be “Does it matter?” But I know a lot of people seem to care. Why is the long finger of aspersion being cast on SRGMP, you might ask. There are several theories that stoke suspicion.

1. The judges hardly seem surprised when contestants get knocked out. All of them have a serious expression on their face but the expected tension is missing. In fact, you’ll often see Himesh and Ismail Darbar calmly chewing cud while the losers are being announced.
2. The inter-web is always buzzing with spoilers that prove to be 100% accurate before the show is aired. How can that happen, you ask. Well, the shows are taped every Tuesday back to back. Hey, isn’t voting open till Friday? So how does that work? Smells fishy.
3. How come Mauli Dave is still around? Aren’t better singers than her getting knocked out? There is a theory that each gharana will get a contestant in the final stages. And Mauli is great for ratings, so she is being kept around by the producers of the show. In fact another theory says that a romantic triangle is being forced on Amanat Ali, Aneek Dhar and Sumedha Karmahe so that the producers can bring them to the final three and build a great story around them.
4. Oddities abound! Even for a circus like SRGMP, there seems to be some weird stuff going on. A lot of sankats – like the recent one where the contestants from Pakistan and Dubai ended up the last three and elimination was waived – seemed to be rehearsed and staged. Now SRGMP is known to do some time-shifted editing – which always puts audiences on an edge in terms of what to believe.

Now for people who enjoy the show because of its tacky loopiness (like me) – this is perfectly fine. But a lot of people are emotionally vested in the show. The back stories of the contestants have been built up enough that they are in the hearts and minds of viewers. And playing with this relationship between contestant and audience would be downright heinous.

For music reality shows several things matter. You need star power, drama, love, betrayal, front runners and underdogs. But through of all of it some basic current of honesty is required on the part of Zee TV.

Its hard to say if the show is fixed purely based on web murmurs alone. But clearly, if SRGMP doesn’t tighten up its security and transparency soon enough, I know a lot of people who are going to switch to Indian Idol 3 – where the judges and contestants seem genuinely surprised/shocked with the results.