Aug 12, 2008

Part 2 - They shot me !!!

Got up at 10 am. I could not believe the two things that happened in my life the previous day; first, the audition and second, that I actually watched the worst movie of the decade - Love Story 2050 !!!

I finalized the five songs and the classical song the previous night itself. But had to listen to them once more, take the print out of the lyrics and practice one more time before the audition. To be honest, I became better versed in the classical song than those regular songs. Probably, I concentrated more on the former. Unlike the previous day, I was calm and composed; I knew I was not going to get through. Reached the venue, but this time I was all by myself. There was a crowd near the entrance. I saw someone coming out first, and then a woman (who gave the registration form on the first day) came out and called a name and a number(the first audition number); and one of them from the crowd went in. My blood pressure rose as the audition was happening in an open forum and that the whole crowd going to watch me or atleast hear me sing. But again, no cameras!! I waited patiently having frequent glances at the lyrics. It seems that they have selected only 50 from the first audition and there, just in front of me, my ‘competitors’ were rendering keertanas while I was trying my best to learn some typical filmi songs.

At about 3pm, they called my name : Vimal Vijayan, No.649. I gulped (a bit loudly) and went in. Following were the conversations with the judge (which btw was a she and was the same person who judged the first audition) :

Judge : Ok, Vimal, what’s it that you are going to sing ?
Me (Taking out the lyrics of the most simple song) : Eeramaana Rojaave

Judge : Ok. Go ahead.
Me (Looking at the lyrics and singing) : Eeeramaaana Rojaaveeee….Ennai Paarthu Modaadey….(the beginning and the subsequent para)

Judge : Stop! Stop! Enough!
Me (silent) : Gulp (to myself)

Judge : Why are you staring at the lyrics? Don’t you know any of these songs by heart?
Me: I am afraid, I am not well versed in any Tamil song that released before 1990, I need to look at the lyrics to sing.

Judge : Ok then, sing in your regional language if you know any.
Me: I am not comfortable with songs in my regional language either (the real reason is because I don’t know the lyrics of any Malayalam song!)

Judge : Ok baba (seeming irritated), sing in any language, but make sure you sing without lyrics
Me : Ok, I will sing Maaeri for you, it’s a Hindi song from the album Phir Dhoom.

Judge : Maaa....whaaat ? Ok. Go ahead.
Me (placing my lyrics pages on a nearby table and singing once again) : Teriyaaa….Meriyaaa….Pul gayaaa……(sang 7 lines; to be precise)

Judge : Enough !
Me (standing still with an Oo oooh expression)

Judge : Are you sure you can sing Tamil songs on stage without looking at the lyrics?
Me : Yes, that wouldnt b a problem. I didn’t get ample time to learn the lyrics of (judge interrupting)

Judge : So you mean to say we are jobless.
Me : No, I didn’t mean that. These songs are totally new to me and I have learned these 6 songs only for this programme.

Judge : It says that you were born in 1981 and you should be knowing songs that released before 1990? How come you don’t ?
Me : The reason that I am a Keralite and also because I spent the first 15 years of my life in Dubai.

Judge : Why do you have answers for all the questions that I ask (grunts) ??
Me (smiles) : To myself, all questions should have answers, otherwise they become statements u dumbass!!!

Judge : Anyway, thanks a lot. We will let you know.
Me (gathering my lyrics pages) : Thanks (smiles again)

Judge (Ignoring me !)
Me :
To myself again, what a cheapo? Why cant she even return a smile?

But wait, she didnt ask me to sing the classical song. Probably she knew that I am not trained and after all that had happened, she must have lost hope on me. Hmmm...I turned back and to my horror, all eyes were on me; my ‘competitiors’ were staring at me. I then realised the situation; it’s a tamil song based show and I just sang a Hindi one. Aaargh ! the humiliation, the embarrassment, the agony ! I decided not to look at anyone’s face. I knew this wasn’t for me. I hate competitions. I moved quickly towards my bike and left the arena ASAP.

Trailor for next week – July 13th and 14th; 5 days of depression, a call and a meeting
What? This is insane. How am I ever going to do this? Is there a way out now? Help….somebody…..anybody !!!!


Part 1 - They shot me !!!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

So who was this Judge?Someone famous (lady or gent).Whoever it was i have come to the deduction that this person has an IQ of an earthworm....
A)If its a singing competition its singing they should look for not exceptional memory to recall lyrics.i mean does a person have an advantage of singing better if they look at the lyrics??????Pointless..Even famous singers like SPB,Chithra,S.Janaki all look at their respective books...except for Sunidhi Chauhan who has an amazing memory....And this is just an audition...What are they kidding...??????

B)If he/she didnt expect you to answer the questions,probably he/she shouldnt have asked in the first place!!!What do they expect you to do, stare dumbly and look like an idiot....

C)And this one takes the cake...Asks u to sing in any other language (as if well versed in all)and stares blankly when u sing one of the biggest hit songs in Hindi pop music....
Where do they even get these people from??????
I have seen many song competitions on the TV.Surprisingly the really very famous singers are unbelievably humble and supportive.The ones that are a flash in the pan are arrogant beyond words....this one was one of them...

Anonymous said...

So who was this Judge?Someone famous (lady or gent).Whoever it was i have come to the deduction that this person has an IQ of an earthworm....
A)If its a singing competition its singing they should look for not exceptional memory to recall lyrics.i mean does a person have an advantage of singing better if they look at the lyrics??????Pointless..Even famous singers like SPB,Chithra,S.Janaki all look at their respective books...except for Sunidhi Chauhan who has an amazing memory....And this is just an audition...What are they kidding...??????

B)If he/she didnt expect you to answer the questions,probably he/she shouldnt have asked in the first place!!!What do they expect you to do, stare dumbly and look like an idiot....

C)And this one takes the cake...Asks u to sing in any other language (as if well versed in all)and stares blankly when u sing one of the biggest hit songs in Hindi pop music....
Where do they even get these people from??????
I have seen many song competitions on the TV.Surprisingly the really very famous singers are unbelievably humble and supportive.The ones that are a flash in the pan are arrogant beyond words....this one was one of them...

Anonymous said...

Yep...thats how strongly i feel about all this that i posted it again and not because i clicked on "publish your comments" twice...
Thank You...

Anonymous said...

hmm...again filmy.juz dt it is happening in reality in ur life.u shld be writing scripts for ads n films ;). n abt ur song,wel it ws nt good dt thy didnt let u sing with the lyrics and got more into questions n ans.though u hd a valid reason for all the questiong it some whr proved that u wr not prepared.still,thy cld hv juz let u sing wth d lyrics n decide all after dt.after all it ws ur first time.bt seriously all d reality shows which i hv seen,people dont take d help of d lyrics.dt ofcourse is a negative impression.i remember in SA RE GA MA PA, one of the finalist took permission to look at d lyrics n sing dt too coz she ws so ill dt c didnt get time to reherse n did it juz befire 15 mints of the show...dt too it ws d hr mentor who requested d judges to let her sing wth d lyrics.neways....waiting to know wht happened next.

Anonymous said...

I too was thinking if you sung hindi song in regional song competition? :) But its qualifying round, it should work. I am waiting with bated breath about your next post.

Btw, maaeri is one of my favorites and I never knew you have lived your childhood in Dubai.

Reets said...

Hmmmm.... Seems interesting so far, Well I thought it was an audition for singing ,that was goin on and not a Memory Recall Contest. There is no harm in looking at lyrics if the singer can still emote while singing, its better than messing up the entire thing. Well that judge indeed deserves a piece of ur mind. By the way Music is something which breaks barriers of language so they should not look at how many languages a person can comfortably sing in , rather they should focus on the ability and talent of the contestant

Vee said...

Vimmuuu boy,

Kudos to you for that.. u had all the answers and that probably hurt her the most. Bury her, put sand on her and cactus on top of that... :):)

Boy, this is getting interesting. I wanna know other parts jaldi se. Write them soon...

Smita said...

Why the hell do u need to sing in one specific language??? Maine to Suna tha music has no boundaries :D

Am now waiting for Part 3 :D

Anonymous said...

it seems like quicksand! the more u struggle to get out, the more it sucks in... :D hope you come out with flying (dirty brown) colors. :P

vimmuuu said...

@ Morenita:

The judge and the shows director was the same person. and she is classically trained and not a person who isnt aware of music at all.
A) I know!!! and how do they expect me to learn 6 songs in less than a day??
B) I know(again)!!! I cant just look at her face and speak to myself, na ?
C ) I knowwwwwww. She could have asked me to sing any new Tamil song that I knew!!!

Btw, I hope she doesnt come across this and edit the show. hehehe :)

and yeah! you made your point clear by posting it twice !!! Thanks a lot.


@ Soneeta :

To be honest, I wasnt prepared.It would probably sound like an excuse, but I seriously had no idea of songs that released before 1990 and also the classical song.I just had less than half a day to practice and most of my time went in learning the classical song.Anyway, thanks a lot.


@ Poonam :

Hmmm...well, I had to. she wanted me to sing in any other language. Heyy, Maaeri is my all time fav.too. and ya been in Dubai for the first 15 years, then here in India and went there again for employment, worked there for 6 months and came back for good; oh well, thats a long story!!! All I can say now is thers no place like India !!!
Thanks for the support, blogmate!


@ Reets :

Agree with you.Well, like I mentioned, I hope she doesnt see all this and edit my parts!!!Thanks for the support buddy.


@ Oxy :

LOL, that was funny.Bury her and plant a cactus there. why? so that she doesnt come up from the dead???
Thanks for the support. Now where I get hold of a cactus plant..hmm...
Will update the rest soon.


@ Smita aka S :

hehehe, i shudve said I know Arabic songs and sang one of them. They wouldve threw me out!!! Thanks for the support !
Btw, you have such a nice name and why was that 'S' all these while?


@ Harsha :

Hehehe. Yeah, it was like that. I cant say I came out with flying colors, but I was happy, contended and didnt let anyone down! Thanks for the support !

Poonam Sharma said...

You went to work there as well! I am glad you came back, somehow I don't have nice gut feeling about all Arabic countries. :(

Don't you get my email address when I comment here on blogger?

vimmuuu said...

@ Poonam :
Yeah, worked there. I didnt quite like the idea of working outside our own country. India Rocks!!! Remember in one of ur posts, I had mentioned that I watched the movie "Water" long back and not in 2007; saw it from there in 2006.

Nope. It comes as noreply-comments@blogger.com !

Anonymous said...

Hi Vimu, visiting uer blog after a long time. Listened to uer new song..its superb as usual..and of course read the new posts too..
We have something in common...I too hate tests/competitions hehehehee..Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone wins and passes :) but then again there wouldn't be any fun in that isn't it??
But look at the brighter side of it..now u know what to expect the next time u go for a competitions ,u can be much prepared. Remember the lyrics and to be on safer song select one song each from every language :)..I bet this was uer first experience for something like this, so just take it as a learning step, u learn to walk only after falling at least 100 times :) and believe me its true, my molu proved it J. Don't let such things put uerself down. Have the determination and u'll get it one day..
Recent incident. I had to take three attempts to get my driving license :). First time I was so damn tensed..my legs were literally shivering. I knew there was no way I was going to pass. Second time, I was a bit more confident..a cyclist came in front of the car, tried to over take him..but was too close to him..guess he would have prayed before starting from home :)..Third time I was determined to get the license , concentrated and I knew what was going to be expected from me..and yes..I got it..Thus my advice, carry on the good work, this audition infact should boost up uer spirits!! All the best for future ventures!!

Regards,
Veena Nair

Vee said...

Vimmuuu,

She should not die... She should just be buried and then sing song, probably then she would be able to shut up n listen to songs rather than interrupting you with irrelevant questions.

And for cactus, u need not worry.. ask me whenever u want.. :)

And for S... thats not Smita, she is faking that name,. its actually S for Silly.. wot say S?

vimmuuu said...

@ veena (chechi):

I was wondering too about ur absence. Thanks a lot for being back. and also thanks for the encouragement.Actually, now I know what people expect from me and most importantly I now have an analysis about myself.
Please wait for the remaining parts to know what actually happened.

and Congrats for your license! Please be careful on the roads. Not all cyclists pray before starting :)

vimmuuu said...

@ Oxy :

LOL. and are you serious about those cactus'?

S for Silly..LOL..I hope she sees this !

Anonymous said...

hey..did u get through?? If so let me know I'll check out you tube if I can get a glance of uer performance :). Is it a kind of reality tv programme?? We obviously don't have tamil channels subscribed here..but I am sure I could find it online somewhere..If u are in the competition then my prayers are with u..do well and as said be determined on what u want and work hard for that!!
Hmm..don't keep me in suspense, please..post uer other parts soon, y this delay??
hehehehe..I'll take care not to hit anyone :). My molu also tells me..amma padke nokki drive cheyu :)..for uer info she is just 3 :)..
Regards,
Veena Chechi

Anonymous said...

@Vimal
DID YOU GET THROUGH??? I AM ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT!!! I know you got in! Otherwise, why the trailers? I am right. Aren't I?