Firstly, watch the video of the crowning of the KLKween,
HERE.
Indra. That's the name you would have heard upon the announcement of the winner. As an old army inche once said to one of us: "No two ways about it. Pack of balls." Now, who would have expected that this very poll that we conducted, could have actually been the sign. I could have kicked myself for not having started an illegal betting system online.There was no better way the show could have KLKicked off. Stakes were high. Mistakes were unaffordable. And winning was all that mattered. We've seen them doing their thing week in, week out. We know where who perserveers. And this is where it mattered most- The finals. Apart from the few who looked like they secretly knew that they've got through to win it, some had the word nervous written all over their faces.
It was the evening to be different. I wonder if Rafi's been reading us but, to my sheer amazement, he decided to judge the finals without his ugly shades. Whether or not it did justice to his looks but I think even the cameraman whould have stopped all the "KNN, take off those shades la" pleas. But when one door closes, another opens. Najip chose to leave behind his trademark hat. I didn't know so much hay grew on his hair. And heck, even Shamen decided to give away the vote percentages. And since it was the evening to be different, it also looked like Fazila left behind her answers.
The question for the day: "What does a woman really want?" A pretty undeviating question I'd say. Being a woman, and being asked about what you want, it's there for the taking. This is the kinda question that seperates the 'know what you're doing' from the 'doing what you know'. The kinda question that paramounts the well prepared a notch higher than the slow blooming ones.
Devi Priya: When I most expected her to virtually flip open her thirukural, scan through the pages, and nicely slip in one quote into the sentence when no one is looking, she decided to cut short the plan by saying "A woman wants happiness and fullfilment. And it's about going through hard lessons in life" Very true indeed. I don't know how far out her answer reaches but I'd say she answered with the confidence. Knowing what is expected and coming straight to the point.
Jamuna: So from being that 'blur queen' that she always was, the 'mangamma' seems to have really bloomed this time round. Though shaky at times, she has managed to pull this off quoting "All a woman really wants is to achieve her dreams and do what she wants to do" Now, I wonder if the whole of Tampines erupted when she answered. But for the night, she definitely looked like she meant business.
Indra: "A women wants to achieve whatever she wants in life. It's about having a career and being a mother as well as having a family and a piece of mind." This is the classic answer I'd have wanted to hear. All in one. Not too lengthy and straight to the damn point. One considerable thing was that most contestants came straight to the point. This is in stark contrast with previous rounds where everyone seemed to say everything else but the answer.
Yuvaneswari: "A woman wants success in whatever she does. Bring out the beauty within her. And doing something that she loves"
That middle sentence sounded so Rupini's.
Revathy: "A woman wants security. She wants someone protecting her"
I could do that honey. Really.
Jayanthi: "A woman needs love and to chase after her dreams"
Why you early-early don't say?Barathi: I've always liked her 'ah lian' tendencies. I've always wanted to scream something like "Fire fire burn so high - ah!" whenever she came one stage. That 'garang-ness' in her never stops. Again, she pulls off an answer quite similar to an upper cut by saying "Respected wherever she goes". Even Sorna Akka couldn't have put it more short and sharp.
Fazilla: Yes yes. I heard your "Yellarukum Vanakam" but that doesn't mean you put a full stop right there and smile for us to pick up our handphones to punch in that cursed number of yours. If you were at the finals, you'd have noted that the roof nearly erupted when her name was announced. But whether or not such an ovation made her nervous, if she could pluck the courage to say "Yellarukum Vanakam" in tamil, we'd expect you to find anything and everything else to pluck to continue with the answer. Your two words in tamil, as well as some repeated apologies and talk about life, wasn't worth our sixty cents. [
Another KLKoup. After our 2 dollar outrage]
With the Q & A leaving the competition wide open like a golf course, Rafi did manage to pick up a good point. Competition definitely seemed to have improved from before. And it could be any three that could be in the top three. Especially since Fazilla slipped and everyone else seemed more than game to replace that spot with much appreciation.
Apart from the 'shake your bon bon' manuveres and the airing of clean shaved armpits by coiling like a snake vertically in the talent round, there wasn't much to salvage the votes. Revathy had her fair share of confessions to make in the pre recorded voice clip that simply voiced out the message "They said I should speak tamil, but they didn't say how much of tamil I should speak." Talk about being an oportunist. And the usual A-B-C-D's of barathi didn't have a V for votes. Instead, a V for vodka that we most likely presume would have been the main course and pretty much everything else. It jus wasn't the day for some.
Personally, I'd say Devi Priya deserved a peek at the top three position as much as Revathy did. And while everyone is pondering over why Fazila was chosen over other competitors, the answer is simple. In any pageant, no one is judged on the final day. This is not the champions league final. Any panel of judges will have a handful of their favourites. And while it all builds up to the final day, they'd have a rough idea of who they want to see in the final 3. My take on this is that whether or not Fazilla performed on the final day, absolutely didn't matter because the decision, most likely, had been made by the judges before hand. As painful as her performance was on the final day, it is not untrue to say she has consistently garnered good judge and crowd response through the weeks.
Many people are predicting that Faz will definitely get more air time in the near future than the actual Kween. We'll just have to wait and see.
So, that's that. Ended just like it started. Bang bang boom. KLKillahs indeed had a great ride on this whole wave and we feel we've shown the "power of the internet". Just look at the jabs we've got when the emcee speaks and the changes that have materialized in the general outcome of the show.
We'd like to end with food for thought though. The New Paper had an article on Miss V,
here, and we quote directly:
It was a Tamil beauty pageant on a channel devoted to Indian viewers. So why were the contestants and the judges speaking more English than Tamil?
We love it when there's in-fighting within the ranks of the media. This is the main harbinger is it not? Was it an INDIAN pageant? Or was it a TAMIL pageant? Knowledge of Tamil wasn't even a criteria for auditioning for the show. We wanna hear your comments on this. Oh yeah, feel free to flood Vasantham Central's e-mail inboxes with your comments too. We say, "shoot people with water gun where got kick? Blast with water cannon better". *Grin*
We wanted to end but we won't get to sleep if we don't stir more shit and then relish our actions with some ice cold beer.
Why let the judges choose just 3 anyway? All 8 worked their arse out to get to the finals didn't they? Why should the public ONLY be confined to 3? Why not have it as fair as can be and let all 8 go at it in the SMS polls? Cos, there're favourites and non-favourites? Cos, there are some the judges and tv station would rather not be crowned as queen? Cos, there are some whom if you leave them with an open playing field they'd just cream the rest with their mates' SMSes? Cos, Yindians [the channel] are such control freaks?
We also blur.
