Harshdeep’s win is a good PR exercise – Anand Raj Anand

Reality shows throw up surprises, especially with results. The best always doesn’t win. This was exemplified with Delhi girl Harshdeep Kaur winning NDTV Imagines’ Junoon much to the surprise of the viewers and even the mentors. Singer, musician Anand Raj Anand was dealt a body blow when his protege Abhas Joshi not only failed to win Junoon but finished third. Tellychakkar caught up with the Bollywood Ke Baadshah mentor for his reactions. Across the globe Bollywood music is on top but why is it that it failed in a reality show like Junoon? No, I wouldn’t look at it that way. Let’s not forget that if there’s no Bollywood then our Sufi singers would have been left in their dargahs (mosques) while the folk singers would have remained in their villages. Bollywood is a source of presenting different genres of music. Sufi, folk are incomplete without Bollywood and vice versa. But did Harshdeep deserve to win? I’m not at all surprised by Harshdeep’s win. She won 48% votes while Malini and Abhas bagged 28 and 24 per cent votes respectively. This explains how good she was at marketing herself. With zillion reality shows around, the viewers’ interest is likely to be divided. Thus in any reality show, it becomes difficult for a particular contestant to bag public votes in large numbers. That’s where votes from your family and friends become important. She divested all energies more on gathering votes and she succeeded in that. I term her win as a good PR exercise. However, PR will help you win a reality show but is does little to improve your singing. In the long run, such a thing is likely to have a damaging effect. Wasn’t it disappointing that Abhas finished third? As far as the judges are concerned, for us Abhas was the best singer from Bollywood, Ali Abbas from Sufi and Malini from folk. I’ve always told Abhas to concentrate on his singing and not worry about the votes. Besides, he never indulged in any drama, crying or projected his background to gain sympathy votes. His entire focus was on his singing and I’m proud that he stuck to that. Shouldn’t public voting be scrapped? Well, it doesn’t matter to what I say. Public voting is part of a business strategy. The channel too wants to make money. Thus it’s pointless to even talk on it. Apart from having tussles with other mentors, you also had heated arguments with host Annu Kapoor. We enjoyed our little skirmishes. You expect such things from a reality show. Is it right for a host to argue with a judge? Out here, it is the director who is to be blamed. The director should ensure that there shouldn’t be any act which projects the show negatively. Would you like to be part of more reality shows? Yes, I would. Post Junoon, there are offers for judging as well as hosting but at the moment, I’d like to concentrate on my album. The good thing about reality shows is that it enables to you boost your personality. After all, you’re required to look good on camera thus it’s imperative that you look after your fitness.