Musical Journey

The channel has lined up celebration plans for the thousand-mark. A week after L’il Champs was wrapped up at a grand event at Andheri Sports Complex,Mega Challenge,which brings back its previous participants,took off. This not only makes the contest intense,but ensures an increase in viewership while keeping the loyalists hooked. “We owe this success to all those who have made Sa Re Ga Ma Pa a winner with their talent. So we decided to celebrate the 1,000th episode with our talented participants,” Vaidya says.

During its marathon telly stint,the programme has offered many heartthrobs. Its host Sonu Niigam tasted wide popularity much before he became a singing sensation. Later,playback singer Shaan anchored it before making way for Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash. The contestants have always enjoyed adulation and fame,even though it’s very fleeting in nature.

However,some of its participants have managed to sway their popularity to their advantage even after the contest is over. A case in point is Sa Re Ga Ma Pa runner-up Parthiv Gohil. He went on to lend his voice to tracks in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas and Sawaariya. Another participant,Abhijeet Ghoshal,has sung the climax number in London Dreams,Jashnn hai jeet ka. Other contestants like Raja Hassan and Twinkle Bajpai too have used the recognition earned on the show to further their career. Their stories are indication that the programme’s talent hunt mission has been a success.

However,paradoxically,Ashish Golwalkar,non-fiction content head of Zee TV,credits the popularity of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to the joys of talent hunt. “Music is only the medium for talent search. The audience loves the journey of participants from nobodies to somebodies. The popular film music,of course,does its bit to keep everybody glued to the programme,” he says. The popularity of the programme can be gauged from the fact that the stars of London Dreams,Aladin,Blue and Kaminey made their appearances on L’il Champs just before the release of their films. That apart,big names in Indian playback singing like Asha Bhosle,Sukhwinder Singh,Kailash Kher,Vishal-Shekhar and Daler Mehndi adorned the judges’ seats while Alka Yagnik and Abhijeet remained the mentors.

The other long-running programme from the channel happens to be Antakshari,a musical game show that was on air for 12 years. The mass appeal of Hindi film music has been proven on Indian television for decades. Doordarshan’s Rangoli,made sure that most of the Indian TV viewers were out of their bed early on Sunday mornings and plonked themselves in front of their television sets. Chitrahaar made Wednesday evenings worth waiting for. As the number of channels multiplied and expanded their reach,many more such programmes like Fame Gurukul,Indian Idol,Chote Ustad and Voice of India have been on air.

In India,Hindi film music seems to be the unfailing mantra to a winning show.

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