To ‘sur’, with love!

How difficult was it to judge, as the scoring system in Sur-Kshetra is quite different from other reality shows, where even a good singer can be given a zero?

There were only two kinds of scores that we could give the contestants – 10 or a straight zero. Even if we wanted to give a contestant, say, an eight or one or two, we just couldn’t. So it was very difficult.

Who was your favourite contestant on the show?

I can’t tell you any name, as I don’t remember them. Abhi toh aisi haalat ho gayi hain ki apne bachon ke bhi naam yaad nahi rehte. But, on this show I have seen some good kids who are really excellent singers. Ek ladke ne toh mujhe rula diya. Uska gaana sunte hi main ro padi. They had to cut the scene, because some kaajal spread across my eyes (laughs). Music is music. Music ki koin jaat nahi hain. Music ka koi dharm nahi hota, koi ilaaka nahi hota. It is everywhere. Jahaan sur hain, jahaan achi awaaz hain, wahaan bhagwan hain. Hum awaaz ki, sur ki pooja karte hain. Who doesn’t worship Lata Mangeshkar or Kishore Kumar?

On fellow judges:

Runaji had a great time on the sets. I can understand Bengali, which Runaji was unaware of. So, she said something in Bengali, I would laugh. One day she asked me, “Tumhi ki Bangla jano?” (Do you understand Bengali?) and I replied, “Hain, ami jani” (yes, I do)! We would talk in

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