Indian Idol 3 - Second Theater Round

The second theater round started with a recap of the previous episode, where 123 finalists were reduced to 66. In this episode, we begin seeing the first of the Top 28. Fun times!

Contestants were interviewed about how they felt. While some people were okay, the show, obviously, focused on those that weren't. They had the opportunity to practice with their partners and music. The judges commented about how it is hard to sing duets and how each person has to be in tune with their partners.

Enter hosts Hussein and Mini, who shed a spotlight on two ladies who were not getting along. Shikha was upset because Shehnaz didn't remember the lyrics and wasn't practicing properly. Richa Aneja and Prashant Tamang were still having problems and Richa was shown crying.

Other contestants were shown praising their partners, while still unsure about how they themselves would do. Rehan Khan was telling his partner Rekha Purana that he might not make it but she definitely will. Rekha was worried she would have to go back to London!

Two people who did get along were Emon Chatterjee and his partner Shifa Ansari. Emon was worried that he wouldn't get in but Shifa would. Her response? Without practicing, neither one of us will get in! They were really cute and mad props to Emon for being so awesome! Shifa had apparently taught him some dance steps and he had added pressure because he said she's also a better dancer! So sweet! Okay, I'm done gushing about this guy. Really. Moving on. (By the way, they both got in there and impressed the judges. Alisha was ready to party herself! Yay!)

Cut to clips of people practicing in every spare inch of space -- behind furniture, in the bathrooms (anyone see Parleen Gill practicing in front of the mirror?) Maibam from Assam was also practicing in the bathroom. Cut to his performance, which he did with two other people. He wasn't that impressive, but his partners, Mayank Rao from Delhi and Nilakshi Bhattacharya from Kolkata were. They lost their tempo in the middle and the judges commented on that. When these three left the room, they had no idea of how they did. The judges gave them mixed reactions. But they had to wait, like everyone else.

Suhit Gosain and his partner Charu were up next and they went in complimenting each other and came out with Suhit spitting fire. So in a nutshell, this is what appears to have happened. Suhit says Charu put the entire blame on his shoulders in front of the judges because they messed up. Charu says that it was Suhit's fault. Talk about a friendly working relationship going awry! Okay, I'm going in indulge dear Sprout here. What the crap was Suhit thinking?! First of all, that is no way to talk to a girl. Second of all, he definitely should not be doing that on television. And third, what a potty mouth!! I mean, okay, I'm sure he was upset about something. But seriously, he can't just say whatever when he knows the cameras are looking for that stuff. And Charu. Really? Did she really blame him? Grow up people. And on top of that, the judges also gave them a tongue-lashing. They were not impressed. What a mess!

Then came the trio of Akshama, Jiniya, and Abhishek. The girls were okay, but were slightly nervous because Abhishek couldn't remember the words and had written them on his hands. They were okay, but nothing too impressive. At this point in the show, I was pretty much done and bored. The judges thought that they could have done much better than they did.

Then they showed an older pair -- Shashwat and Nandita. Shashwat was familiar with the song, but Nandita wasn't. This is telling because it's a popular song from a popular movie and she had never heard of it. Her partner commented on that as well. But they both handled each other like adults and all seemed fine until they got inside and Shashwat forgot some words so he yelled stop. At this point, Annu Malek told him that they were done and that the contestants don't get to decide when to stop. He told them they would not get another chance. The other judges argued that because of him, Nandita might lose her chance, but Mr. * was not willing to budge. There are some people that I just want to punch in the face. He's second on my list after Heinous. He was basically being a first-rate jerk. Shashwat fainted and had to be carried out of the room. Poor Nandita was trying to help him and make sure he was okay. But they did not let them perform again.

Like a breath of fresh air came the next two contestants, Meiyang Chang and Aisha Sayed, who sang beautifully. Okay, here I have to make a correction. His last name is Meiyang and his first name is Chang apparently. Chang said a beautiful couplet and went in there to kick some butt. The judges thought they were the best so far. Judge Jerk then asked him if he was really Chinese and he replied that he's Indian. His forefathers were Chinese. Judge Jerk then pointed out the obvious -- that music is universal and has no language. Duh Mr. Obvious!

Then more clips of Prashant being nice to Richa and her being a jerk back. They then tried out. Richa tried to show off and the judges called her on it. She was all cute about it, but it doesn't work for me so whatever. Moving on.

Our gal Ankita Mishra who started off cute during auditions but lost the title by the time she had finished was finally shown. Shikha and Shehnaz went through their performance, as did Shantanu Sudome and Sreeju Premarajan.

Then came time for decisions! The judges were arguing and discussing with pictures of the competitors in front of them. Okay, I'm just going to go down the list of who has made it so far (that I was able to catch) and who hasn't.

Starting with those who are out: (You know I like to get the negatives over with!)
Jiniya (I was really sad about this one!)
Shikha
Shehnaz
Maibam

And those who are in:
Abhishek
Akshama
Emon (yay!)
Shifa (yay again! she was cute!)
Suhit (really? it's cause he's popular, not cause he can sing)
Charu
Shashwat
Nandita (bless her heart)
Richa (yep)
Prashant
Nilakshi
Mayank

All in all, pretty predictable! I'm anxious to see the rest of the contestants who made it, including Maya and Uma. More on that from Sprout!