Aug 05, 2011
Anyone who has watched the Julia Robert’s film My Best Friend’s Wedding must be aware of the scene which has Julia trying to put Cameron Diaz in a spot by making her sing to a karaoke number — thereby showing her in a negative light before her fiancé Dermot Mulrooney. But Cameron sings along to the song, makes the audience cheer for her and wins Dermot’s heart. Such is the power of karaoke.
Typically performed in nightclubs, karaoke has long been a popular phenomenon in the West and in South East Asia. However, as the recent McDowell’s World Karaoke Championship in association with VH1 has proved, karaoke has caught on in a big way in India as well. “It’s a form of entertainment,” says 25-year-old Megha Girish, the zonal winner of the contest from Hyderabad. “Some people go to the movies, others go to restaurants. I like to karaoke.”
It may be a fun thing to do on a night out, but karaoke is also a serious business. Lalit Kewalramani, the director of Nash Events and Entertainment (the firm that has organised the Indian leg of the championship), says the overwhelming response means the competition will play out in more venues across cities next year. “We’re planning to go bigger with the contest. The response we’ve had is fantastic and we’ve found that even places like Ludhiana and Guwahati are so alive to the karaoke scene,” Lalit says.
While it’s the fun, interactive element in karaoke that has most people hooked, it’s the chance to sing on a public platform without the rigours of a more conventional talent hunt that has others hooked. A case in point is the 23-year-old Mumbai winner Everol D’Souza. “I’ve been through the whole gamut that a reality talent hunt entails,” says Everol, who has participated in the show Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega. “There are the endless lines, the auditions and the hours spend on sets when they call you for the shoot. I know how that whole set-up works and frankly, I wouldn’t go through it again. But singing is in my blood. So wherever I go, I make it a point to karaoke,” he says.
