The debate (I didn’t know it could evoke such sprited reactions) on Indian Idol seems to be hotting up as the show draws closer to its climax. Liju Philip feels regional feelings play a great role in the final result:

But, i should admit that iam not a great believer in singing/acting competitions. For me, one is born with such talents. And the best talent reaches its milestone the hard way. Sonu Nigam is a prime example. Maybe such competitions give a better platform for the singers to exhibit their abilities. But then, the whole exercise is skewed, with judges taking sides and regional feelings coming into play during the nationwide voting. At the end, the best never wins the competition. Maybe they should rename the competition “The Popular Indian Idol”.

Indiatime nurses a similar opinion:

Some might argue that the public voting system may not be the best way to pick singing talent. Some believe that the Idol show is nothing more than yet another hyped-show that rakes in more money from the cell-phone calls than from the commercial advertisements. Some think that the regional voting favors some of the regions such as the northeast and goes against singers from the south.