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Journalism of Courage
You came up with the concept of Sa Re Ga Ma (it became Sa Re Ga Ma Pa after he moved out of Zee TV),when reality TV was non-existent…
I do not come from a musical background and there was no reference as there was no concept of singing shows. We only watched serials such as Buniyaad and Hum Log. So it all began with Antakshari,a show that we had pitched to Doordarshan. Everybody in my college wanted to sing,perform and showcase their talent. So I thought why not explore the game show format. Since I was working with Zee TV as a technical editor,I proposed the idea to Subhashji (Chandra),who believed in it and gave it a green signal. The show was a hit. During Antakshari shoots,I figured that there were some brilliant singers on the show,who used to get eliminated in the first round because of their limited repertoires of film songs. So the quality of singers in later rounds deteriorated. I wanted to utilise these singers. So I convinced the management to have a singing reality show,for those who knew music. People warned me that I would not find so many singers every day. But we did and the feedback was beautiful. People loved the show. We began with a 13-episode format and the show is still on.
Tell us a bit about Sa Re Ga Mas journey.
My first concern was approaching judges for the show,who were legends in their own right. I remember we wanted to start the first episode of the first schedule with Kumar Sanu,who was then recording 100-150 songs a day. It was really difficult to get him. But I requested and he agreed on the condition that when he walks in,everything should be in place. It was,and we had a great show with Sanu spending exactly two hours on the sets. Slowly,we got everybody on the show including icons such as Naushad sahab,Anil Biswas,Jagjit Singh,Ustad Vilayat Khan,OP Nayyar,Kalyanji-Anandji. You name the artist,and we had him.
Sonu Nigam also contributed majorly to its success. I met him on the sets of Antakshari and was impressed by his knowledge of music,his tehzeeb and the way he spoke to people. I think it was a great decision to cast him. He was not just a host,an anchor who had to talk a little,but also a brilliant singer who made the contestants comfortable and could strike a rapport with the judges.
Why do you think the show struck a chord with people?
The sound was live. It wasnt any production sound. India wanted to listen to good quality music and we gave them that in their living rooms. You have to innovate yourself,but the basic things remain the same.
