LG ABS EPISODE 54 - 2nd SEMI FINAL

The 2nd semifinal started with a startling performance by Muqaddas from Szabist. Muqaddas sang ‘Gulabi Ankhen’ from 1970’s Bollywood classic, ‘The Train’. An R D Burman composition sang by ‘Mohammad Rafi’. Muqaddas as always captured the soul of the track right from the beginning. His soft mellow voice did justice to the tone the song required. You could see faces in the crowd lip synching along with the song and swaying with it. The judges were all eyes as to pick on that moment when Muqaddas falters. But Muqaddas was not in the mood to give it up that easy tonight. He grabbed the song beautifully all the way through and finished it on a powerful note. The judges seemed happy though hey picked on a few minor hiccups and let Muqaddas get away with it.

Next up to take on the stage is ‘Alycia’. Alycia, as we’ve always mentioned, has a rusty sometimes even smoky voice, and if there were one song that really fitted her voice like a perfect piece into a jigsaw or that combination of Rubik’s Cube, it would’ve been ‘Beedi’ from Omkara. Legend has it that the extras in the filming of that song were actual villagers and they were provided with booze and unleashed (as it were) on to the set with Bipasha, you guessed it, later on Bipasha wasn’t the happiest of bunnies. Anyway, Alycia really needed to pull her socks up to get through this beast of a track. A real ‘Mast’ track which could be taken out of context to turn into a rather saucy or even raunchy one. Alycia really had to work her lungs on some parts of this track. Unfortunately she lacked what the original singer of this track, Sunidhi Chauhan, has in abundance, a high pitch. Alycia struggled, to say the least, to get through this track. Hadiqa mentioned she should stick to her forte, which, she elaborated, is rather western. Alycia fails to make an impression. Other judges followed suit.

Next up is Jibran. The song; Shankar Mahadevan’s ‘Breathless’. When this song was recorded it wasn’t actually done in one straight go, it was recorded and sampled in segments. Hence it wasn’t really a breathless song so to speak. So when ‘Jibran’ tries his hands at it tonight with a live version it’s got to be something absolutely spectacular to take the judges breathe away or else he’ll fall flat on his face. Jibran does well to start the song off. Seems as though he’ll manage to keep his breath long enough to get through it. The audiences started appreciating his effort early on with the applause. The judges could be noticed to keenly monitoring Jiran’s breath holding ability. Provided the track was actually done in segments and for Jibran to sing it live in front of the audience, you’ve got to give him marks for the sheer audacity. The judges shared the same view, Nizar Lalani actually mentioned how the song was recorded. Both Hadiqa and Salamat Saheb appreciated Jibran’s effort too.

Next up is Aima. The song she chose for tonight was ‘Barso Re’ from the Mani Ratnum cult endeavour; ‘Guru’. The composer, the maestro himself ‘A R Rahman’, the singer ‘Shreya Ghoshal’. It’s one of those songs which is real easy on the ears and makes itself sound so normally sung. In reality the composition has it’s own hidden parts where a singer really has to pull through. And these were exactly the points during Aima’s performance that the judges must be looking to pick on and surely Aima must be aware of it as well. Aima got the crowd behind her from the start even the judges were seen shaking their heads a couple of times. Aima has that thing in her voice that must make a vocal critic think twice before they deliver a verdict on her. And it’s the same approach that was adopted by the judges when it came down to analyze Aima’s performance for the night. It was a mix bag for Aima this time round. All three judges held their comments a tad bit back. Is Aima on strong footings? Remains to be seen.

Next up is that kid who’s dubbed ‘Simba’ by Hadiqa Kiyani’. It’s Zain, the happy go lucky dude. Always has a smile on his face, comes along and delivers a package forceful enough to push both the audiences and the judges back in their seats. A deceptive trait utilized in a positive but extremely powerful manner. Don’t go by the smile on this beautiful vocalist’s face because when he comes on stage he means business. And business is what Zain meant tonight. He decided to sing a song contrary to his natural pitch and selection, it’s a pop track titled ‘Kohram’ by one of the pop sensations recently produced in sub continent, ‘Amanat Ali’. As usaual Zain has the crowd behind him right from the beginning, more so because the track was hip and fast. The pop nature of the song meant that Zain’s sound box won’t be put under stress hence a below average performance by Zain contrary to what he delivered in his earlier performances. The judges towed the same line. It was carrot and stick for Zain this time round.

Next up is Sajid from Preston University. He sings ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ from 1960’s Bollywood classic ‘Kala Bazar’. The composer, the legendary ‘S D Berman’. Singing classic Bollywood romanticized tracks requires that certain softness and mellowing voice to bring up the true essence of these songs as they were sung then, back in that era. To achieve that mellowness, Sajid repeats the same mistake he made in his 1st performance of the semis. He went overboard trying to bring in that soft touch to this track. The judges seemed not interested right from the beginning. Sajid failed to rope in the audience into the track and struggled to make an impression on the judges. An over all disappointing last performance from Sajid could mean the end of the road for him in the competition.

It’s decision time!

Who goes through to the Grand Finale after all those excruciating and agonizing moments to find out their fates during the elimination process is going to be decided. All the judges accompanied by the semifinalists and the hosts are onto the stage. The judges announce the first grand finalist; it’s ‘Zain’. And the one to battle it out with him onto the stage during the Grand Finale is ‘Muqaddas’.

There we go, more than one year of struggle and facing elimination madness these two have finally made it to the big stage, the grand finale. To see them battle it out on your television sets do tune into GEO Entertainment.

Ciao!