I watched the show on muftonline.net. I found the judges biased although Anu Malik pretended to be neutral. When they praised Amit they really opened their hearts but when they had to praise Prashant they seemed to be just going through the motion.
I agree that Prashant seemed to lag behind Amit at the beginning but Prashant beat Amit in his own home ground during "Tanhaee" which is song that is a perfect fit for Amit's vocal talents rather than Prashant's. Clearly Tanhaee was chosen by the organizers to make Amit look/sound better - which he would have if he had not forgotten his lines.
I don't know if I am being paranoid here but I seemed to detect some underlying message when Bipasha urged the viewers repeatedly to vote for the "real" Indian idol. I felt as if she was implying that Amit was a real Indian and Prashant was Nepalese. And again, when Hussain requested the viewers to vote, he said "apne desh ka izzat ka sawaal hai". Duh? Aren't both the finalists (along with all the contestants) supposed to be Indians? Even though Prashant is of Nepalese origin, isn't his an Indian? So, when both the contestants are Indian citizens, how can it be "desh ka izzat ka sawaal"? I felt he was implying it was India vs Nepal.
I have always felt AMit was better than Prashant but during the final gala, Prashant beat Amit, especially in the final round singing Tanhaee. When amit started singing Tanhaee, I got scared because that kind of song was Amit's forte. But he got stumped by his own mistake and Prashant capitalized by giving a flawless performance. I felt Prashant's performance was not on par during "Badi Mushkil" though.
Well, let's see who becomes the next American Idol. If we go solely by the performance during the final gala, it should be Prashant. But I already detect some dirty politics. And would not be surprised, although disappointed, if they announce Amit's name as the winner.
