It's a ''Musical Summer'' on TV

New Delhi, June 8 (UNI) Music is in the air on television this Summer! It seems to be a season of 'musical shows' on television with more and more channels launching singing talent hunt and other music-based shows in the race to garner audience TRPs.

In the race for grabbing ''audience eyeballs'' are musical talent hunt shows including the third edition of the Indian Idol on Sony, the Global edition of the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge on Zee and the 'Voice of India' show on Star Plus as well as music-based shows like Zee's 'Antakshari' and Star's 'Antakshari-The Great Challenge'.

While Zee and Sony hope to attract audience attention to its singing talent hunt shows by carrying out auditions on a grander and bigger scale than during the previous editions of 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge' and 'Indian Idol', Star is hoping to grab its ''pie of the musical cake'' through its new singing talent hunt show 'Voice of India'.

Adding to the musical flavour of the season are musical shows like 'Antakshari' on Zee and 'Antakshari - The Great Challenge' on Star One. Interestingly, both 'Antakshari - The Great Challenge' and 'Voice of India' have been conceived by the Music man of television Gajendra Singh, who first introduced the genre of singing talent-based shows on Indian television with 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' on Zee.

Gajendra, who recently quit as the creative director of Zee's 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' after 12 long years, is directing both music-based shows, on Star One and Star Plus respectively.

Of the three singing talent hunt shows, however, it is 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' Challenge 2007' on Zee that has garnered the maximum TRPs and audience eyeballs.

The reason perhaps lies in the fact that the show has prolific music directors like Bappi Lahiri, Himesh Reshammiya and Ismail Darbar. For the new edition, the channel has also roped in music director duo Vishal-Shekhar - aiding the contestants in the new season, in their race to emerge 'maha-yodhas'.

Lending an added appeal to the show, being directed by Gyan Sahay who had assisted Singh on Zee's earlier edition of the show, is the presence of musical maestros like Asha Bhonsale, Rajesh Roshan and yesteryears' music director Khayyam as the maha gurus for various episodes of 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007' during the initial shortlisting.

There is an element of freshness to the latest edition of the show in that it has a wider and global format.

Titled 'Sangeet ka pratham vishwa-yudh', the new season of 'Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge', which began airing on Zee TV from May 4, transgresses geographical boundaries and moves on to a global level, attracting participants from all corners of the world - Asia, Africa, America and Europe.

Among the participants in the new season of the 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge' are five contestants from Pakistan, the first time that wannabe singers from the neighbouring country are being featured in a music talent show.

After having searched the globe for unparalleled talent, the four maestros - the new Music Superstar of India Himmesh Reshammiya, the dynamic Ismail Darbar, teen sensations Vishal and Shekhar and the evergreen Bappi Lahiri - have shortlisted 32 participants from across 4 continents and 6 countries who will compete with each other under the guidance of the four mentors. The mentors enter the battlefield armed with their respective teams in the quest to find the deserving winners.

The objective of taking the show to a global level is to provide the viewers something different from what was on offer in the previous editions of the show.

Says Mr. Punit Goenka, Business Head, Zee TV,''after having established properties like Challenge 2005 and L'il Champs, it was time to raise the bar. Not only do we have mentors, who have between them, given some huge hits to the music industry in the recent years, we have chosen talent from 6 countries.'' The premise behind the new format is that Music is a talent that knows no borders. For example, singers from across the border in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as those from London and the US had made their presence felt on the Indian music scene in recent years.

''I firmly believe music binds the world, moves across borders.

And not only on paper, we have seen it happen in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007. The participants are a prime example of talent not being hampered by geographical borders, of talent not having a religion,''Goenka said.

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