Sa Re Ga Ma Pa launched on the same night Sony blasted off its Indian Idol. Udit Narayan’s son Aditya Narayan will be the host and the show is being produced by Gyan Shahai. Ismail Darbar, Bappi Lahiri, Himesh Reshammiya, Vishal and Shekhar play the roles of gurus and judges.
You have heard about the battle for eyeballs on Indian television. This weekend, the big battle for your eardrums began on Zee, which launched its popular musical hunt show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, on the same night Sony blasted off its Indian Idol.
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has seen it all in the previous edition. A sulky walk-out by a peeved judge, suddenly disappearing participants, and threats by the militant organisation ULFA, who allegedly wanted an Assamese contestant to win (and he did win!). Inspired by all the ugly controversies (what’s a reality show without some natakbaazi on the side, engineered or otherwise?), Zee TV has pushed the envelope further this year, and has taken the show across the world, with the addition of talent from US, UK, UAE, South Africa and Pakistan. (Thank God the Aussies are not performing, who wants the boring cricket World Cup finale again?) And has roped in five music bigwigs, Ismail Darbar, Bappi Lahiri, Himesh Reshammiya, Vishal and Shekhar to play the roles of gurus and judges.
However, Zee’s biggest problem is that it has lost the original man behind the show, Gajendra Singh, who defected to Star, and took along with him cute host Shaan and the rest of the judges. The host for this season is Udit Narayan’s son Aditya Narayan and the show is being produced by Gyan Shahai, who supposedly worked closely with Gajendra Singh during his tenure at Zee.
The first episode packed in great drama. The stage looked like a war front, fire and brimstone and all, with a rather tacky globe circling around. The mentors strode in on elephants and cars (but thank God Bappida did not gallop in atop a horse, that would have been a sight). The contestants were just about okay, though some did look quite promising. And it remains to be seen if host Aditya Narayan is able to keep papa’s name bada, but he lacks a cute smile, so a section of the audiences, mostly ladies, will miss Shaan. However, things went on with excessive reverence and feet touching, the promised war turned out to be a non-starter. Some bitter controversies must happen for the show to keep the enthusiasm going. The producers are well advised to ask the judges to unleash the swords on one another. And an angry call from the Al Qaida leaders will do no harm either.
Source: mumbaimirror