But the show was promising from the very beginning and remained so throughout a couple of inevitable-in-a-reality-show disappointments aside where one's favorite did not make it to next round or some not-so-good performance got acclaimed too much for whatever reasons.
Its very easy for someone to say that its a copy of ''Britain's got talent'' and the original is better...blah...blah...but just think of plain numbers and make an assumption that 1% of the country's population is talented in one way or another and you have your answer - India definitely has a lot more to offer than any other country (Chinese probably do not have time for such little pleasures, they are too busy with technology and development !) and add to this the diversity and you can say that there is definitely no room for comparison at all !
You can watch all episodes at www.indias-got-talent.com - the official website but the quality is unbelievably dismal. If you have patience, wait for the high quality videos to be uploaded to YouTube to totally enjoy the brilliant performances.
Some remarks about the show before talking about my favorites:
Host - Nikhil Chinappa: I fondly remembered him from my crazy-about-Mtv days and the discussions about who is better - Nikhil or Cyrus. He still retains the same sarcasm, well-timed witty remarks and the only thing receding w.r.t him is his hairline.
Host - Anshuman: He has this cute-guy-the-heroine-inevitably-dumps-for-the-sake-of-hero look, a good singing voice (that surprised many) and keeps up with all of Nikhil's pranks.
Judge - Shekar Kapur: He definitely has a way with words, only his expression makes one wonder if he will burst out crying (which he did atleast 5 times, and there is a limit to how many times a man can cry on TV - even Kamal does it only in his movies !) and he is always the ladies-man (keeps hitting on Sonali or any other beautiful girl every chance he gets, nothing offensive though) !
Judge - Sonali Bendre: One would assume she is definitely eye candy (she still looks ravishing inspite of losing her drop-dead figure to motherhood) but she made intelligent and unbiased observations all the time; she is my favorite judge.
Judge - Kirron Kher: Everytime I looked at her, I used to think ''How is she managing with that heavy jewelery ??'' but I have to give her credit for wearing nice saris all the time, the only one to do so in the entire show although Sonali did wear one for Independence Day. What have girls and women these days against Indian clothes ?? why is wearing a nice salwar or a skirt out-of-vogue ?? I know I am talking more about the costume than about the Judge ...well, read between the lines.
Here are some youtube links to some of the acts I really really enjoyed, trust me, they are better than watching some cheesy movie.
Salsa at its best: Sneha and Richard (I would give anything to be able to dance salsa like that !)
Coordination at its best: Prince group (the winners of the show)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-NdCSgZ3kc - Indian flag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYPdZYuBwhI&feature=related - Avatars of Krishna
Creativity at its best: Illuminati (you would grin at the apt name, had you read/seen angels and demons)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfjYcJLKQFc - Super Mario
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOoT8dkE4EE - Tom and Jerry (video quality is not great though)
Flexibility levels at its best: Ujjain group (the second place winners)
Rapidfire Bharathanatyam at its best: Vaishnavi Patil
Besides these shows, there was a scintillating belly dancer, a 11 year old MJ like dancer, a really funny and creative ventriloquist, a totally brilliant karagattakarar , 2 women saxophonists, some really nice rock bands, singers, dancers, stunt performers and what not ! Many of them had to be eliminated not because they were not talented but because of the entertainment factor since the show was based on finding ''India's most entertaining act'' and the final results were based on an audience poll. The best part was that the show brought out people from all over India, irrespective of their age, social position and physical disabilities and gave them all a chance in the limelight. While a few of them, for example, got offers from Shekar kapur, for the rest of them having ''finalist or semi finalist in India's got Talent'' in their resume, was opening many new doors.
Now that the first season is over, I am hoping the second season remains as fresh and as promising and is not subjected to the banes of many reality shows that went down the drain after an intial powerful launch.
I have watched this one season and especially enjoyed that Super Mario. Yesterday watched the links. Yes, India Got talent. Need more guidance to channelise it.
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