Ohkay, so this was another week of Pakistan Idol. I don’t know why but I’d have to say this episode was my least favorite in terms of performances. I don’t know why but I didn’t enjoy any of the performances as much as the judges raved about them.
The guest judges were Bilal Maqsood & Faisal Kapadia of Strings. I liked the bit where Ali Asad Zaidi & Abdul Rafay Khan paid a tribute to them by singing their the-most hit song Duur. That was the highlight of the show for me which made me forget how badly irritating Hadiqa Kiyani is getting.
The theme of the episode was that the contestants had to perform the songs selected by the judges themselves. The performances & the commentary on them is as follows:
Zamad Baig (ZB) of Mandi Bahauddin performed Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s ‘Jiya Dharak Dharak Jaye’ which was selected by Ali Azmat. I don’t know why but I just couldn’t feel any conntection to this particular performance by Zamad otherwise I always enjoy his performances. Ali said the voice suited his vocal tone & he sang it really well. Faisal said the same thing about the song matching his vocal tone & he liked his performance. Bilal felt he has an openness in his voice & singing therefore he enjoyed it too. Hadiqa said that his high notes came across effortlessly & it was a difficult song which he sang really well. Bushra said he gives away the impression of belonging to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s family but other then that she felt he lacked expression in his singing.
Kashif Ali (KA) of Lahore performed Shafqat Amanat Ali’s ‘Mitwa’ selected by Bushra Ansari. He was good but I felt the music was too low & only his voice was audible throughout the performance making his weak points pretty audible plus Kashif sounded a bit hurried in his performance throughout but surprisingly he got a raving feedback. Bushra felt that his improvisation wasn’t necessary & it didn’t add much to the song but other than that his singing was good. Faisal felt he had a command over his voice. Hadiqa said he smoothly shifted from high to mid notes in his performance & obviously overly praised him. Bilal said to sing this song in 1 go is a massive task & he felt he could see Kashif winning the title of Pakistan Idol already. Ali liked his performance as well.
Mohammad Shoaib (MS) of Peshawar sang Reshma’s ‘Ankhiyan Nu Rehn De’ selected by Hadiqa Kiyani. I liked his performance as compared to the remarks he got. Hadiqa said he has improved but notes were totally weak. Ali felt his performance wasn’t flowy but otherwise he sang well. Bushra felt that his voice & notes fluctuated but the overall attempt was really good which had a feel to it as well. Bilal said he sings really well & has a nice voice. Faisal liked his performance & pointed out the mistakes regarding his notes too.
Ali Asad Zaidi (AS) of Karachi sang Shekhar’s ‘Bin Tere’ selected by Ali Azmat. I think this has to be the weakest performance of Ali Asad so far, even though he tried but it wasn’t that impressive. Ali said he had the version of Shafqat Amanat Ali in his mind therefore he didn’t enjoy much & also pointed out the mistakes in his chorus. Bushra loved it. Hadiqa said he’s a pop star & a born star already. Bilal said he sang it with simplicity & sometimes simple approach is what’s needed for a perfect performance. Faisal also pointed out about the weak notes but said his attitude & looks are what make him a star already.
Abdul Rafay Khan (RK) of Karachi sang Hamid Ali’s ‘Maye Ni’ selected by Hadiqa Kiyani. He sang it like usually & mostly he sings his slow songs. Hadiqa felt that the performance lacked emotions. Ali agreed to Hadiqa & said Abdul Rafay has shown a lot of improvement too. Bushra said he has a powerful voice but the flaw was that he had not heard the song before. Bilal said he didn’t enjoy much after the rehearsels but now he practiced & made it enjoyable. Faisal said he has a good voice but it looked like he wasn’t enjoying while singing which he must work upon.
Rosemary (RM) of Karachi sang Minmini’s ‘Dil Hai Chota Sa’ selected by Bushra Ansari. I haven’t seen her performance because it wasn’t included in the uploaded videos. I did see her performance in the preview by the end of the episode & I liked it. I am sure she got some great remarks by the judges. Do let me know about the judges’ feedback to Rosemary about her performance.
Well as much as I do believe that the contestants randomly selected the the name of the judges through chits, I highly doubt that they selected the songs like that too. I mean why didn’t Kashif Ali get ‘Dil Hai Chota Sa’ which was selected by Bushra because he got Bushra Ansari’s name who’d make a selection for him? Or why didn’t Ali Asad Zaidi get the other selection of Ali Azmat which was ‘Jiya Dharak Dharak Jaye’. I didn’t find any challenge in the performances tonight because all of the contestants very conveniently got the songs that matched their vocal tones & quality. Zamad Baig got the song of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan which obviously suited his voice. Kashif got a song which he could sing pretty well. Abdul Rafay Khan got to perform a slow song similar to what he has been choosing for himself? I do believe that the judges names would’ve been selected by the contestants randomly but after that the judges themselves must’ve allotted the songs to the contestants seeing their capability & their comfort zones. So, for this I don’t think there was any window of challenge remaining.
I feel Hadiqa has become way too biased now. There were clearly some mistakes in Kashif’s performance but she chose to overlook them along with the rest of the judges. I think now the judges just want to influence the public opinion that’s why they bash a contestant whom they really don’t like. Hadiqa clearly said ‘I’ll have to see HOW Shoaib performs the song that I gave him’ but when she had to assign a song to Abdul Rafay Khan she’s like ‘I’m so excited to see what he does’. This clearly shows she’s being biased & already has prejudices towards certain contestants. She clearly looked bored & least bothered when Mohammad Shoaib was performing but her WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAHHHH didn’t end when Kashif was on stage. I agree there might have been some weak points in Shoaib’s performance but not that much that he got bashed for it straight away & yes, I agree Kashif’s performance might’ve been nice but definitely not beyond perfection that not even a single mistake of his was picked or spoken about? Abdul Rafay Khan was clearly weak in his performance but Hadiqa very casually pointed out a single mistake but justified that he couldn’t sing properly because he is an Urdu speaker & it was a Punjabi song!?!?! Singing means singing & accepting a challenge means accepting it but why do judges have to JUSTIFY a mistake made by their favorite contestants?
Judges need to think neutrally & they shouldn’t just bash a contestant because they want to influence the public voting & opinion against him/her or just because they don’t think that a certain contestant is fit to be in the show.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.