Sanjaya in Nacho Libre?

Posted by Amber Nasrulla Mar 14, 2007

Without a doubt, Sanjaya Malakar’s butchering of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough last night on was the worst performance in the history of the American Idol finals. But I don’t think he’ll get voted off tonight.

Why is that? Because he’s got that hidden sparkle that makes a celebrity special, that makes 20 million viewers call in and to vote for one of the least talented of the bunch.

During the auditions, the wheatsheaf thin Sanjaya was inspired and interesting. His performances since have been weak and wimpy.

Yeah, the judges were horrified at how bad his performance was. Diana Ross called him “pure love”, and Paula Abdul agreed with that assessment. But notice how neither singer talked about his singing? And everyone loved his curly mop. The boy does have good hair and a weirdly wide smile. Kind of passive aggressive if you ask me.

In another aside, Sanjaya’s smile reminds me of a character from Nacho Libre – that was the film in which Jack Black played a Mexican Catholic priest turned wrestler aka luchador in order to raise money for the kids at the orphanage. It was very wacky and funny – think heaps of fart jokes and fat men in tight lycra stretchy pants.

Black is Ignacio and his sidekick is a slender street thief, Steven Esqueleto played in filthy, matted-hair glory by Héctor Jiménez. The two pair up to form an, ahem, unbeatable, wrestling team.

Sanjaya looks so much like the character of Steven that I’ve been googling the pair of them and checking out IMDB.com all morning for a familial connection. There is none. But Sanjaya’s smile lives on.