Lakshmi Iyer
India Post News Service
FREMONT, CA: The fourth round of FOG Idol August auditions, that were conducted on Saturday, August 4, at the Fremont Hindu Temple, saw a mix of new and returning contestants from last year.
Alka Bhatnagar, one of the Bay Area’s most well known singers and a Hindustani classical instructor, and Lakshmi Iyer (the author of this piece), were the judges.
Deeya Bhardwaj in the 9-11 years’ group and her sister, Iha in the 12-17 years’ group, came with their mother, Bhawna Saxena, who was one of the FOG Idol winners last year in the 18+ category.
The family is quite talented with Iha also being a published novelist.
Deeya sang the 60s Moulin Rouge themed “Kaisi paheli zindagaani…” from the film, “Parineeta” to a karaoke music accompaniment that her mom played on the phone. When the judges asked her to sing a number with no accompaniment, she went for a rendition of Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself”.
Her sister, Iha, performed the difficult and touching song, “Main tujhko hi chaahoongee…” with music and “Raabda…” with no music, bringing out a sweet voice that can definitely touch heights with more practice.
A family with two children, Akshaj and Kaara Chavan, both in the 5-8 years’ group, came in next. Both kids sang the Indian national anthem for their first song. Akshaj belted out the Sia pop hit, “Come on come on turn the radio on…cheap thrills” and Kaara impressed everyone with her confidence in singing a difficult song from Disney’s “Moana”.
When asked by Alka Bhatnagar if they studied music, their mother, Netra Chavan revealed that her mother was a singer and she had imbibed the love of old songs from her.
With encouragement from Mrs. Bhatnagar and her children, Netra came on stage, too, and sang a medley of old songs and the all time classic lullaby, “Chanda Hai Tu…”.
Even the father came up to sing though not in competition.
There will be a semi-final round this coming weekend and then the finals on Sunday, August 19 at the FOG ‘mela’ fairgrounds.
