India Makes Sanjaya American Idol, Antonella Barba Nowhere
AMERICAN Idol’s Sanjaya Malakar is going further than Antonella Barba.
ARE outsourced tech support workers in India using their speed-dialing phone resources and technical expertise to keep a Sanjaya Malakar on American Idol?
That’s the chatter we’re picking up on blogsites catering to the Desi community (”Desi” in this case referring to people of South Asian descent spread throughout the English-speaking world - see MTV Desi).
Leading Desi blogsite Uber Desi addresses concerns that “support for Sanjaya equals racism” because of the claim that most of those voting for Sanjaya (a “half-Desi”) are of Indian descent or in India:
“MeraGussaII on O3 alleges that the voting for Sanjaya has racial overtones. The blogger alleges that most of the votes Sanjaya is receiving is from Indians or people of desi origin.
I say Sanjaya is this year’s version of Chicken Little… unless tech support people from call centers in India are dialing in to American Idol on their clock, the majority audience and voters for American Idol is the teenybopper crowd.”
It’s an open secret in the television industry that American and UK series featuring phone-in voting by viewers rely on phone centers in India to take calls– and occasionally, pump up the numbers.
Idol is seen in India on Star World TV, and the Indian and South Asian media have followed the Sanjaya saga closely and prominently–ever since Sanjaya and his sister Shyamali auditioned.
Too bad Shyamali didn’t make it to the finals. She’d have given Antonella Barba a run for her money -the innocent-looking beauty was a Hooters waitress in Tacoma!
Posted: 15th, March 2007 | In: Media Comments (41) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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March 16th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Wodney the Wanker would say ‘fucking wogs’
March 16th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Huh? Who said anything about Indian call center workers - and a different time zone? You only have to look in your own backyard.
We initially brought them over as cheap labor for technical positions in US companies and since them they have been pouring in through H1B visas. They band together and I actually believe that these recent results with Sanjaya, a contestant with clearly limited talent, is directly related.
Oh, so you think it might be far-fetched? Was it far-fetched when my company felt that they could save money by replacing some workers with an Indian outsourcing company. (It later back-fired on them when they realized that they didn’t have the necessary experience and had tremendous communication barriers to overcome.)
Oh, and did I mention that the manager was of Indian descent? With the buzzword for cheap Indian technical labor at that time, he convinced his bosses that it was a good idea, so he rolled with it and took advantage of the opportunity.
So be careful, its not Indian call centers (in a different timezone) we are talking about - its right here in your own background.
March 16th, 2007 at 9:28 am
And we tell you exactly why Sanjaya is staying in. Hint: Indian call center workers do not have enough money to pay.
http://Uberdesi.com
March 16th, 2007 at 8:09 am
So, check this out… I am shocked to see how online media has created such a strong opinion in the minds of the readers that people are now searching out and infact coming up with alligories to support their beliefs.
Lets get this straight :
1. None of the people that got voted out from the top 24 group were good enough to get anywhere close to the top 3, leave aside winning the idol title.
2. Believe it or not, Ms. Barba and Sanjaya have made this show so much more popular, for whatever reasons. There are so many people who hadn’t seen the show before have started watching now just to comment how bad Barba and Sanjaya are! In itself, I guess he’s a start isn’t he? While Barba might end up on Playboy cover(or girls gone wild atleast), our Sanjaya might become a commercial/TV Series star ( if not a ‘hair’ idol) considering his immense positive/negative popularity.
3. If is ridiculous on our part to believe that call centers in India are using their ‘technical expertise’ to boost his vote count. How stupid can we get in our reasoning. a. the time zone difference- the voting hours in US correspond to early morning hours in India, and trust me on this, people in India have so much more to do in life!
4. If you ever read the official american idol blogs, you will figure out that there are so many people who are die-hard fans of Sanjaya, so while you would love DoLittle’s vocal and carefully text for her once, these so called ‘freaks’ would message a 100 times just to see him for another week. In respect of the rules of the games, they deserve much more to see their favourite on the stage than you do ! So, unless you are voting in bundles, it might be rude, but you don’t deserve to complain !
5. Lastly, he is not going to be the IDOL anycase, so why not have fun with his hairstyles and the new sarcasm dictionary of Simone ?
March 16th, 2007 at 4:20 am
Sanjaya is a very talented singer, otherwise he never would have made it to Hollywood in the first place. Mk? And FYI caller didn’t vote to get him to hollywood, so that wasn’t riged. He has a wonderful voice, but I DO admit he can improve so much. He needs to project his voice. If they up’d his mic, you would hear how talented he is. An idol is a person that someone should look up to, a rolemodel. Sanjaya has a good heart, and is a sweet guy. That’s someone people should look up to. And he really wants this, he will take the career somewhere. Don’t send someone who will take the title somewhere home.
March 16th, 2007 at 2:11 am
It is difficult to establish at this stage if the Indians are voting for him or not. He is not really talented to be in the final of 12; however, in the true spirit of the game, I say, play by the rules. The rules of the game are that the people who are paying of the text message are entitled to vote for whoever they choose. I am sure AT & T will not mind the millions that are being made on the voter’s account. The judges have shown their frustration and sadness to see Sundance being voted out instead of Sanjaya. I feel that American Idol producer or organizers have intentionally kept Sunjaya last, to show the people that Sanjaya is in at other’s expense. Let’s compare Brandon to Sundance, why was Brandon and Sundance not kept to the last to reveal the shocking news about Sundance’s exit.
I would love to see where this American Idol is heading too. Rubin was voted American idol but then Clay Akin has more singing records to his name that Rubin. It doesn’t matter even if Sanjaya gets voted; THE AMERICAN producers are still not going to give him any contracts. Look at Simon and Ryan fighting on the show, sometimes you wonder that the American Idol is about them and not the contestants. I would rather see Sanjaya sing than the Ryan and Simon duet. Anyway, I do hope the final three are the top three girls.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:45 am
I am fairly certain the cheap labor at the Indian call centers probably don’t have spare time to be spending company resources to vote on some kid across the ocean. I find it incredible that the judges of this show get on a high horse about this being a singing competition. The title is American IDOL, not American Singer. As they have acknowledged there is a popularity factor. Everyone is acting like this is the first time a teen whether talented or not has become a “star.” I predict he won’t win the whole thing anyway so it doesn’t really matter. The only thing I am really sure of though is that the producers of American Idol are absolutely loving the controversy and attention surrounding Sanjaya. It translates into $$$.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Sandy Hoola is mad because she found out that her husband is really her first cousin, and this explains why her kid has 6 toes.
you can link to her website
http://www.whitetrashlove.com
March 16th, 2007 at 1:17 am
First off, your bunch of morons, india’s time zone is different that when the show goes on, and the tech workers don’t have tv’s in the building,. Why don’t you all admit it, the kids got talent, your just pissed because the phones in your trailers didn’t work when sundance was singing.,
March 15th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
He clearly is not talented enough to be in the finals. Like a kid singing karaoke, he bounces around sporting his new hair-do. Clearly the Indians are pushing him through with the votes:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/SanD_Malaka/SanjayaVotes.jpg