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Amidst all the opulence and glitter caste has always been there in most of the reality shows in Malayalam television channels. It was always-already present, difficult to render invisible. But, till the grand finale of the Star Singer show’s season four in Asianet, it hadn’t showed up in such proportions in public forums. Both, who celebrated Joby John’s victory and the others who considered it as `unfair’ had to address caste. The aggressive responses in the cyberspace talks about caste, in one way or other. Even `reservation’ and `merit ‘have been mentioned in some of the responses. The main arguments against Joby’s victory are that he was not the `real’ winner, sms helped him win and that a `sympathy’ wave had worked in his favor. Did this happen? If so could this sympathy wave be of `caste’?
Two remarks, one made by MG Sreekumar , one of the show judges and another by Ranjini Haridas, the anchor, give us some clues. Ranjini told the audience“all of you know Joby’s background”. M G Sreekumar stated that the results have once again proved that the star singer show is a ‘transparent’ program. If we go back to the previous seasons of Star Singer the elimination of popular contestants Sannidanandan and Somadas had triggered uncomfortable questions about the show and the judging panel/pattern and the politics of marginality had come to the fore. This must have been a dilemma for the producers. One of the major factors that worked in their favor could be that Joby had `classical ‘music training. Even though the show claims that their search is for a `versatile’ singer it has always been a particular type of singer. The winners in the previous star singer contests were all trained in Carnatic music. – Najim Arshad, Vivekanandan and Sonia. Joby had to overcome Sannidanandan and Somadas to achieve the star singer award. It would be interesting to note in this context that Joby had stated that Sannidanandan was his inspiration.
Now, as we move on to the question of sms many view it as something that sabotaged the result. Many online responses lament that Sreenath was `the real winner’. Some of the Dalit friends who attended the function told me that there had been tremendous support in the ground for Joby and that there was a common feeling that the `injustice’ done to Somdas and Sannidanandan should not repeat. They were determined to help Joby win. I feel that a sort of community mobilization has happened. During the previous seasons popularity was always presented as the other of good music. And the judges always begged the audiences to keep all other factors out and support only music. But now the most feared has happened. This may change in the next season. The return of Usha Uthup seems to be a sign.
(11 votes, average: 3.45 out of 5)
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August 7th, 2010 at 6:04 PM
oh dear progressive worker,now this is what i would call a real go at sympathy wave!
this time you will provide all the possible interpretations,i guess:-)
August 9th, 2010 at 11:52 PM
in Joby’s case, class has evidently overridden the caste factor. This win has nothing to celebrate as a welcoming change or anything as such. All these sympathetic faces have something in common. Sanni, Somu, Joby & co – poor, dalit, politely accepts the judges comments, soft spoken etc. – I mean, put a dalit who comes from a rich or upper middle class family, has good education, not sentimental or apologetic, speaks boldly etc. Or put a Ranjini equivalent Dalit girl. If such people win, then there is a reason to celebrate. But Joby’s win indicates nothing but Asianet’s riding on altruistic waves. By defining it as a positive caste mobilization & celebrating it, you are settling for a cowardly compromise. Period.
August 10th, 2010 at 2:59 PM
@jo. Please read the previous comments and get the argument of caste here(not read as SC) before repeating what you ve stated in ur first comment.
best.
August 10th, 2010 at 5:29 PM
@Sanjai:
Even on a larger context of the caste/dalit term, this still doesn’t fit the reason to celebrate. From what I have seen, the common public including the non-brahmin casteists has not been so much in favor of Karnatik classical music all along. That is not because they discard the elitism in practice that comes with Karnatik music, but because that elitist symbol is not inclusive of them and their culturally associated caste symbols. In other words, if Karnatik music was a culturally associated symbol of Nairs or Panickers or upper class Christians, the story would have been totally different and they would have wholeheartedly accepted the Karnatik system.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:50 PM
Hey jojo,it seems you are this total revolution guy and have no idea about the history of the resistance of the marginal in the sub-continent. And from where did you get these theories about classical music and castes? Why should half a million sms senders give a damn about your “from what I have seen” kind of arguments? How did you reach such a conclusion about non-Brahmins and carnatic music? Why a star singer needs to prove that he/she has learned carnatic music and why do we need judges who have essential knowledge in it? If the` common public’ is not in favor of carnatic music, why is it regarded as the ‘real stuff’ in the show?
And here’s something for your limited framework: On 8th of august in Asianet’s program mailbox, sreekantan nair, the program chief, repeatedly claimed that Joby didn’t win just because of sms votes and that he also came first in merit. Obviously Judging panel’s marks are regarded as merit while sms votes are something like reservation which helps the ineligible win. See how the logic of merit works here which is an inevitable part of the contemporary politics of caste.