The Stage 3: Urgen, Diyatom wowed the judges; Zoe, Lekka headed for the bench

_The Stage 3_ returned to our television screens this weekend with a Diwali episode and brought to us another astounding night of music and talent. As the weeks go by, the competition is picking up on intensity and there’s a lot more at stake than there was before. This week’s episodes (21, 22 October) saw numerous highs and lows, as the Top 12 contestants  took to the stage to showcase their talent. The theme of the week was ‘This is Me’ which meant that the artists could perform any song they liked, in any genre they preferred. It was a week to display every individual’s forte and show the judges and the audience why they deserve to be in the competition. Another new concept was added to the show ( apart from the 'Go for Gold' button and the allowance of duos, trios and bands to take part in the competition), wherein if any contestant received four ‘Go for Golds’ for any one of their performances by the judges, they would get a power pin. The power pin would provide the artist with the option of avoiding a ‘Battle of the Bench’ against another artist should the contestant holding the power pin find themselves in the danger zone. The power pin however, cannot be used in the finale week. An artist would get benched if he/she received two or more red lights from the judges. The performances were kicked off by Arish who sang ‘Talking to the Moon’ by Bruno Mars. He managed to impress the judges with his rendition of the song and made it safely back to the artist hangout. Next up came Urgen who wowed the judges with an imperfectly perfect cover of ‘Rise Up’ by Andra Day. Hitting some high notes, Urgen created magic and all the judges agreed. Receiving 3 ‘Go for Golds’ by judges Vishal Dadlani, Monica Dogra and Debraj Sanyal and a green light by Ehsaan Noorani, Urgen headed back to safety with an effervescent smile on his face. Urgen’s captivating performance was followed by Diyatom’s act and once again the judges were floored. Receiving 3 ‘Go for Golds’ from Dadlani, Noorani and Sanyal and a green light from Dogra, Diyatom couldn’t stop thanking his lucky stars and his mentors. [caption id=“attachment_4178387” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The Top 12 contestants of The Stage 3.[/caption] The first artist to be benched was Siddhant who received 2 green and 2 red lights after singing a cover-of-a-cover of The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’. The other contestants who joined him on the bench were Zoe who was red lighted by all four judges after singing ‘Elastic Heart’ by Sia, a song which failed to impress the judges as they felt she didn’t put her soul into it. Lekka also headed to the bench for her rendition of ‘Numb’ by Linkin Park. Red lighted by all four judges, Dogra got up from behind the judging panel and got down and dirty as she gave Lekka pointers on how to improve her performance and commit to it fully. Dogra and Lekka were on their knees on the stage as the former gave Lekka a demonstration on how to better her act. The sister duo Das Vegas was also benched after performing ‘Halo’ by Beyoncé. [caption id=“attachment_4178385” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Judges Debraj Sanyal, Ehsaan Noorani, Monica Dogra and Vishal Dadlani on The Stage 3.[/caption] This episode saw another romantic gesture by Akshay for the host Shibani Dandekar. This time he learnt from his earlier mistakes (as advised by Dadlani) and got Dandekar a bouquet of roses, along with vegan cookies for Dogra (which were hungrily devoured by all the judges). Several other requests were put forth too, and it will be interesting to see the other surprised Akshay has up his sleeves as the weeks progress. Singing ‘Misery’ by Maroon 5, Akshay received 2 ‘Go for Golds’ and 2 green lights and headed back to the artist hangout. Chochung, Shaurya, Nisa and the Rhythm Divine all managed to impress the judges and secured a safe position for themselves in next week’s episodes. The Rhythm Divine were given the suggestion of changing their name to Jalandar Massive by Dadlani and Dogra as the new name seems to have caught on and spread like wildfire among the audience. The episode also had goofy, light-hearted moments where we saw the judges and Dandekar play a game. All in all, this week’s episodes of The Stage 3 left us charged and anticipating more!