Television singing reality show Indian Idol has been creating a lot of buzz after the Kishore Kumar special episode when his son legendary singer Amit Kumar had come as the guest on the show. In an interview, he had claimed that the producers of Indian Idol had asked him to praise all the contestants, irrespective of his opinion. Now, the guest judge of the show Manoj Muntashir has come in support of the show and said that Amit Kumar 'took money for being a part of the show and then criticized it.'
In an interview with ETimes Manoj Muntashir said, "If Amit Kumar came out and lashed out at the show, he shouldn’t have agreed to be a part of it in the first place. He took money for being a part of the show and then criticised it. I wouldn’t have done what Amit Kumar did. If I was in his place and not comfortable with the proceedings, I would have told the makers that I don’t want to be a part of the show."
Singer Neha Kakkar and singer-composer Himesh Reshammiya were also criticised for singing Kishore’s songs on the show. Defending them Manoj said, "Let me tell you one more thing. If I sing Kishore Kumar’s songs in my bathroom or amongst my friends, nobody can tell me that I can’t sing like him. I know I can't, nobody can. Whatever Neha and Himesh sang, they did to celebrate Kishore Kumar and it should have been taken in the right spirit. There was nothing wrong in what they did."
He said people need to be more understanding. “The harsh criticism by the guest judges demotivates the contestants. So, the guest judges are told that they need to look at and talk about the singer’s positives too. This instruction has been given to me too. Of course, we as professional musicians have high benchmarks but we cannot weigh the kids on the same scale.”
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In an interview with ETimes Amit Kumar had said, "I did what I was told. I was told sabko praise karna hai. I was told jo jaisa bhi gaaye usko uplift karna hai because it’s a tribute to Kishore da. I thought it will be a homage to my father. But once there, I just followed what I was asked to do. I had told them to give me portions of the script in advance, but nothing of that sort happened."
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Sunidhi Chauhan who was the judge of Season 5 and 6 of India Idol made a shocking revelation. She has said that she quit Indian Idol as a judge as she could not be doing "what they (the makers) wanted". She said that she was asked to praise contestants on the show irrespective of her opinion.
Abhijeet Swant who was the winner of season 1 also blasted the makers claiming that the show focuses more on the tragic stories of the contestants rather than their singing talent.
