Why 'Indian Idol Junior' judges Vishal-Shekhar gave special episode a miss

Vishal-Shekhar's absence on the Saturday night episode of the music reality show they judge has set tongues wagging. Their co-judge Shreya Ghoshal had to do a solo judge act along with the celebrity guests Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and director Rohit Shetty who were promoting their upcoming film.

Pic/Satyajit Desai

Considering that the duo are the music composers of King Khan's film, their no- show was greatly noticed. Buzz is that apparently the music duo is upset with Shah Rukh after he roped in rapper Honey Singh to record the Lungi track, which features SRK and Deepika.

Vishal-Shekhar claimed that prior commitment was forcing them to give the episode a miss. However a source maintains, "It is ironical that they decided to skip the episode which had the child contestants singing their tracks from their upcoming film. Why would they miss a chance to see the kids belt out their own compositions? It was supposed to promote the film's music and strangely the composers didn't show up."

Insiders say the situation hints at the fact that not all may be well between them and SRK. Adds the source, "They feel they were kept in the dark. As soon as buzz about Honey recording a track did the rounds, Vishal had questioned Rohit about the buzz and the director had denied it. Vishal had even stated it on his microblogging site. It's obvious that they wanted to show that they are hurt to SRK and Rohit by their absence."

As reported ‘A battle of egos' (HitList, July 1), Vishal had stated on his micro-blogging site, "It's hilarious and pathetic, how desperately this tacky rape-rapper is trying to ride on the fame of @iamsrk and #ChennaiExpress. Poor guy." This was after Honey claimed that he had been approached by King Khan for a song.