Family fun on Indian Idol

It was time for bonding and rocking on Indian Idol. The Akhtar khandaan were on stage—Javed, Zoya and Farhan. The debutant director and the actor-cum-director were there to promote their new film, Luck By Chance. But if Farhan is on stage, then he certainly can’t escape his Rock On!! glory. The Top 6 took advantage of his presence to belt out his song and head bang with the master.

Bhavya bowls over Annu

A confident and glowing Bhavya took the stage to sing one of her idol’s (Asha Bhosle) songs. Her rendition of Mujhe rang de was so good that Annu Malek asked her: Chalo, chale? Kal tumhara recording hain na? But Farhan paid her the best compliment. “I wish Ashaji had been here—she would have been very proud,” he said. Nothing could wipe the smile off Bhavya’s face after that.

Torsha’s dad has a dream

“My only dream is that Torsha will become this year’s Indian Idol,” said the optimistic father. But that will depend on her performances and her luck. Tonight, the Bengali songstress chose Lata Mangeshkar’s Tere bina jiya jaaye na to impress the judges and the janta with. However, it did not find much favour. Annu remarked that she could not hit the high notes at all. “If you sing like this, it will be tough for you to win,” he said. And Kailash Kher cautioned her: Sur ko sambhaliye. But the women liked Torsha’s performance. “I totally enjoyed your song,” said Zoya, while Sonali said, “I see you in the Top 3. You have it in you to improve.”

Kapil is indeed a smart singer

He decided to invoke the charm of the King Khan himself with Aankhon mein teri ajab si adaayein hain. But what he didn’t calculate for was his felicity with the language. While no one had a problem with his sur they were almost unanimous about his diction. “You mispronounced every single word that you could have mispronounced,” said Javedji. And Zoya felt that his “voice was nasal” and she “didn’t feel the romance”.

But everything was not dark for this brave soldier. When talk suddenly moved to his budding ‘relationship’ with Sourabhee, he found backing from an unexpected quarter—his father. “I like Kapil’s and Sourabhee’s jodi,” he said. And Sourabhee’s parents added that once the competition was over they could consider how to take this forward. Did they mean marriage? Are there wedding bells in the air? Well, whatever it is, we will keep you posted of the developments.

Rajdeep’s shradhanjali

The boy with the perpetual smile was not grinning today. When asked why, he said that his cousin had died just two days ago. Rajdeep explained that his cousin had wanted him to sing Amanat Ali’s Saawan beeto jaye on stage, but he had refused saying it was not a great song to perform. But now that his cousin was no more, he wanted to dedicate the song to his memory, and votes be damned.

However, his performance struck a chord with the judges. “Aaj aapne jaisa performance ki hai, it will touch the classes and the masses,” said Kailash. “You sang it with ehsaas,” said Javedji, while Annu felt that the honesty in his eyes came through in his voice.

Hussain gets a surprise

It’s always the contestants who are surprised by unexpected videos. So this time, they decided to turn the tables. They got Sonali’s husband, Kailash’s sister and Annu’s daughter to speak on camera. But the best surprise was reserved for Hussain. His wife Tina said on camera that though her husband showed his love for her through little things, there was something he didn’t do—he didn’t wear his wedding ring.

And the Top 6 could not let that go on for long. So they gave him the ring and got him to put it on the stage. Thought at first he was a little confused about which finger to put it on, he finally got it right. And the moment he slipped it on, the ever-witty Farhan said, “And now you may kiss yourself!” That was smart, indeed.

Remo wins approval yet again

The chota don was on a mission to prove himself tonight and to make his parents proud of him. His mother, who was in the audience, said that she had always dreamed of singing on such a big stage and she was happy and proud that her youngest so was living that dream.

Remo chose the song Na jaane koi from Gangster and won everyone’s hearts with his rendition. “No one is listening with their heads. Aaj sab dil ki sunn rahe hain,” said Kailash. Though Sonali criticised what she thought was shouting, Javedji immediately came to his rescue: You had sur, taal, awaaz aur ehsaas. What Sonali thought was chillaana, I would call it tadap.” Farhan wrapped it all up perfectly. “You were a rock star,” he said. And we agree.

Sourabhee brings up the rear brilliantly

Smartly dressed in jeans, a white shirt and a hat, Sourabhee looked like she was ready to set the stage on fire. And she did! She chose Que sera sera from Pukar and she not only sang, but grooved to the music, too. “Yours was the most watchable performance of tonight,” said Farhan. He did have a grouse though. “You lost your sur sometimes—work on that.” But Kailash explained that she had lost her sur because she had sung the male lines also. Zoya was so impressed that she exclaimed, “You have everything it takes to be a pop star.”

When it came to Sonali’s turn to speak, however, she was concerned only about Sourabhee’s performance. In fact, she wanted to cop some moves and asked our very own Shakira to teach her. And she did. It was fun to watch the two dance with Hussain for company. Now that’s what makes Indian idol so special—everyone is just once big family!