The supposedly historic points system began this week in the show as performances were given either a 0 or a 10. While some contestants shined through their performances, the criteria for judgment and its explanation was confusing at times and on some occasions, plain funny.

Atif raised a simple point that singing is not about sur only. Sur is not the only criteria a performance can or should be judged upon. A song, a performance needs to have the right balance of sur, taal, expression, feelings, and rhythm. The show has been designed such that it has a given theme in each episode. If the theme is "josh” and the singer is singing a song with 100% perfection in sur but 0% josh, then the theme has no relevance. The performance needs to have the energy to go along with the theme as well. Similarly, in the "love” theme, the performances need to have expression and feelings along with the sur. Only a wholesome performance should be given full points. If the performances are going to be judged merely on their sur, then we don’t need to have themes nor a house band. The contestants should just sing without any instruments. Another point raised by the fellow captain was that since the name of the show is "SUR-Kshetra”, the judgment should be based solely on sur. Now we find that argument quite funny. We wonder if the name of the show was "TAAL-Kshetra”, would the sur be ignored completely. It doesn’t make much sense. To say that judgment should be based merely according to the name of the show doesn’t seem much relevant. We can’t help but wonder how would things be judged on "Boogie Woogie” if that was the case? An amusing thought indeed! I guess a raised voice and a disrespectful tone might even try to justify this as well!

Some of the comments made by the fellow captain were sounding so monotonous, repetitive, emotional, defensive and made up that Atif had to comment on it. That’s why Atif made a small yet effective statement saying that "Ap ney kabhi script likhi hai?” That brief and polite comment conveyed a powerful message to all the viewers. We hope all the Aadeez understood it!

Another constant request from the fellow captain was to rewind the performances and catch the places where the sur wasn’t perfect. After so many requests, even Atif felt that such a consistent request should be granted and we should rewind the performances if anyone wants. On set, Atif had no issues in listening to the performances again but the director of the show explained to both the captains that we can’t rewind the performances on the spot. It’s logistically not possible at the time and they also don’t have that much time to spend on each performance. Still the requests to rewind the performances kept coming and Atif happily agreed to it towards the end of the show. He doesn’t have a problem with that; the production team does because it’s simply not practical.

The statements from the fellow captain and the jury members about the criteria for giving points were changing quite drastically in the same episode. Initially they spoke about sur and only sur but later on it was suggested that the performance and energy should be considered. But that suggestion came only when their own contestant lacked sur and focused more on the energy. Still, in comparison, the previous contestant had the right balance of energy and sur with minor mistakes. Things were complicated many times due to the flip flop comments by the jury members and the fellow captain. It seemed that the judgment wasn’t consistent nor fair at times. Atif pointed that out when it needed to be pointed out by calling it "favouritism”. Atif’s rightful assessment was met by obvious defensive statements from a jury member. The explanation was given that if favouritism prevailed, then a Pakistani contestant would never get a standing ovation from the jury. Atif rightfully stated that if a standing ovation is being given to an excellent performance, it doesn’t even need to be mentioned in this discussion. Does it mean that the standing ovation wasn’t intended purely for the performance and was merely something that will be used later as an excuse in case anyone questioned their judgment? That is why Atif pointed out that "Kinta zyada ka lafz kyun aagaya?” Why is it so that appreciating Pakistani contestants is being used as an excuse to give unfair points? Appreciation and points are two different things and each performance should be judged with equal consistency. One performance shouldn’t be given the appreciation and points it deserves while another performance should be judged unfairly. As the only maximum points a contestant can get is "10”, each 10 points make a lot of difference to the final score.

Whether a bias prevails in the judgment or it doesn’t, that won’t stop Atif from praising good performances, even from the Indian contestants. It also won’t stop Atif from encouraging Indian contestants to do better in their next performance. Atif was clearly encouraging even Indian contestants to do better the next time and recover in time. He even thanked a contestant for choosing and performing his song even though the performance was below par. At the same time, he will also continue to precisely point out the mistakes from the performances and the reason for being critical is quite simple, the morale of his team used to go down whenever they sensed favouritism and bias in the points. It was Atif’s responsibility to take a stand for his team as they kept getting discouraged by the points. He not only took a stand for them, he even encouraged them after each episode. He kept them focused on being true to what they have learnt without thinking about the points. He also instructed them to always be polite and respectful to everyone on set, even though their fellow contestants weren’t being that respectful. Due to the inconsistent points and comments, Atif had to point out fair mistakes in the performances so that at least his team understands and feels supported by the their captain. He wouldn’t take that route if the judgment was consistent for everyone. He had to do it for his team and he will continue to do so. But he will do it politely, without being loud or rude.

We want to end this week’s review on a high and pleasant note by saying that we are very proud of the performances given by Pakistani as well as Indian contestants. It is hard to perform when so much is going on around you. We know very well that the projection of this show will not affect the love that the music listeners of both countries have for each other and for them, only one slogan holds true, something that Imran & Atif rightfully stated with a smile on his face, "ALL IS WELL”. We will see you next week, hopefully with a shorter review!