Amit Kumar Took Money for Being a Part of the Show and Then Criticised It: Manoj Muntashir

Television’s popular reality show Indian Idol 12 has been under the scanner for quite some time now after Amit Kumar revealed he was asked to praise all contestants despite his opinions. The incident saw a lot of divided opinions from musicians and the latest person to add his thoughts to it is lyricist Manoj Muntashir.

Muntashir, who is filling in as a judge on the singing reality show, opened up on the controversy on the Kishore Kumar tribute episode where the legendary singer’s son Amit Kumar had appeared as a judge. Talking to a leading daily, he said, “If Amit Kumar came out and lashed out at the show, he shouldn’t have agreed to be a part of it in the first place. He took money for being a part of the show and then criticised it. I wouldn’t have done what Amit Kumar did. If I was in his place and not comfortable with the proceedings, I would have told the makers that I don’t want to be a part of the show."

Defending Indian Idol 12 judges Neha Kakkar and Himesh Reshammiya, after they were criticised for singing Kishore Kumar’s songs, Muntashir continued, “Let me tell you one more thing. If I sing Kishore Kumar’s songs in my bathroom or amongst my friends, nobody can tell me that I can’t sing like him. I know I can’t, nobody can. Whatever Neha and Himesh sang, they did to celebrate Kishore Kumar and it should have been taken in the right spirit. There was nothing wrong in what they did."

For the uninitiated, the episode on Kishore Kumar had received severe criticism online, following which Amit had revealed that he was asked by the makers to say positive things to each and every performer despite their performances. His revelation sparked off the controversy, and host Aditya Narayan, too, spoke up on the matter.

Sharing Aditya’s sentiments, former Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant had also said that he should have expressed his grievances to the makers instead of speaking to the media about it.

Aditya further took a dig at Amit in one of the later episodes as he asked guest judges Kumar Sanu, Roop Kumar Rathod and Anuradha Paudwal if they liked the show. “The way you have praised our contestants so much today, did you do it from the heart or did someone from our team tell you to do it?" he had asked.

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