धन्य ही देवांहून जनता !!

Yesterday, a very melodious period came to an end. After six months of week after week of musical Monday and Tuesday nights, the final five champs are ready for the mega-final. And I have already started to worry about what to do on the Monday and Tuesday nights henceforth. Every week, Zee Marathi provided all of us blessed people with a musical extravaganza, which we rarely get to witness, even after paying for tickets. The quality of songs, knowledge of the kids and their talent overall has ever increased during this period and has made them ready to keep giving good performances for the years to come. I take this opportunity to sincerely thank Zee Marathi for giving us this very valuable five-star gift. The show just portrays pure love for music, unlike other similar shows where faltu bakwaas between arrogant and incompetent judges just makes it irritating to watch. Here, I would like to applaud Vaishali, Avadhoot and Pallavi for taking everything in the kids’ stride and making the show a real pleasure. Cheers to all three of you and keep it up.

Yesterday was yet another excellent performance by all the five and was a fitting finish to this grand schedule. All of them sang very well and exhibited their singing skills. Prathamesh has proved that he is a very talented singer who can go on to pursue a great career in classical singing and be a very good successor to Suresh Wadkar. Rohit has already proved his talent as a classic combo music director and he has it in him what is displayed by today’s leading marathi music directors like Ajay-Atul, Avadhoot and the likes who can sing as well as churn out some excellent pieces of marathi music. Mugdha is a girl who can sing any song and make it sound extremely sweet. Her innocence renders a pure feel to every song she sings and its just amrit to the ears. Kartiki, with her rustic voice and tremendous devotional music background and home-location, is very well-poised to be an upcoming successor to Bharat-ratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, that too in a female voice. But her rendering of other Anand Shinde songs also turns the crowds crazy. And finally, my favorite, Arya, is truly an amazingly versatile singer. Her progress throughout the schedule of six months has been remarkable and has transformed her into a great all-round singer to be. She is the future Asha Bhosale and I wish to request Ashaji to start a one student gurukul just for Arya to hone her skills more and make herself immortal for another 100 years. Be it any song, and Arya makes it adoringly beautiful as herself. She is my winner-elect.

But the competition really has no significance now, since all the show-followers will agree that all five are equally talented and none is even a thread lesser than the others. As Vaishali and Avadhoot pointed out yesterday, Zee Marathi should declare all the five as winners and win over the hearts of all the followers (I am not saying maharashtrians here since I know a lot of non-mahas. are also following this show). They should consider the basic purpose of the show which is to provide complete entertainment to the audience and so they should consider the demands of the audience too. I wish to watch the mega-final live. So see you there, Champs and all the very best. And thanks to all of you for bringing us such a memorable six months. Looking back at my first line now, I feel it’s not the end, but a beginning to an era of the Champs rule in the Marathi music industry, and probably Hindustani music industry as well. And I already can’t wait for this Champ-rajya. Way to go, Champs!!

तुमच्या गाण्यांनी ही सगळी जनता धन्य झाली आहे.