08-09-07

Pardesi Pardesi

Movie: Raja Hindustani

Original Singer/s: Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik

Contestant's Choice - Favourite Actor's Song!

From having a consistent run of wonderful performances, unfortunately this particular episode will be a moment that we would all rather forget! 

Raja decided to sing 'Pardesi Pardesi' which unfortunately was a song that didn't suit his voice very well, so in that respect, I must admit that I do agree with Himesh, when he conveyed a similar opinion, but, I completely disagree with the patronizing and condescending way in which he spoke to him.  I don't care how big or famous an artist is, they must always remember that it is the people who have made them, and with a few wrong moves, it is the same people, that can break them!

Just because Raja is an up and coming singer, there was no reason to be rude or disrespectful to him!  When Raja answered back in this episode, I was so proud of him, because he didn't deserve the c**p that he was getting from Himesh, week after week.  (Pardon my language!)  I am sure that you all echoed the same sentiments!!!  The funny thing is that, I could almost justify Himesh's behaviour, if he treated the other contestants in the same manner, but, he didn't - he always singled out Raja and spoke negatively about him, without any good cause, and I just couldn't bear it.  The worst thing is that, we all knew that Raja was waaayyyy too sweet to say anything bad in return, so, that made us even more frustrated, but, at the same time, this also became the very reason why we all fell in love with him!!!

(In my WORLD EXCLUSIVE interview with Raja, which he granted to me on January 1st 2008, to mark the opening of this website, he stated that this episode, was the 'worst experience' that he had, on the sets of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007, so that gives you an indication about, just how difficult this whole episode was for him - Bless him, what a sweetie!)

I was very happy at the end of this performance though because, Shekhar spoke some perfect words of wisdom.  He stated something along the lines of, 'every artist has a bad day, today was a bad day for you, but, make sure that you always keep that wonderful smile of yours...'

Unfortunately for Raja, HR had taken Raja's comments very personally in this episode, and the degenerated way, in which he behaved towards him, in the following weeks to come, absolutely shocked me!  I thought that his attitude was sooooo cheap and unprofessional!