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Star TV sings amid channel cacophony
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New Delhi: No glamour quotient, no lifts from foreign game shows and no choreographer judging budding singers - this is the mantra of their latest talent hunt, claims Star Plus. There might be a collective sigh saying again! But the organisers believe the show is different.
The original music man of Indian television Gajendrra Siingh, who is behind successful music shows like Sa Re Ga Ma and Closeup Antakshari, is launching a talent hunt titled Star Voice of India this April for Star Plus.
Gajendrra seems to have finally cut his umbilical chord with Zee but the hangover seems to have remained. After Antakshari made its way to Star, now the channel’s latest music show also seems quite on the lines of Sa Re Ga Ma.
However, Star Plus’s General Manager, content and communication, Harsh Rohatgi says that with Gajendrra’s team working on this concept it will be “more substance in the field of music but little to do with style.”
Though, the initial concept sounds familiar, Gajendrra begs to differ saying, “I have never repeated anything. This show is unique because every city will have gurus or representatives who will be helping the contestants.”
“We have also made arrangements so that even 3,00 candidates can be auditioned in a day. All this is being done because we respect those who have a good sense of music,” Gajendrra adds.
As usual, the show promises the moon for the winners but in comparison to Sony’s Indian Idol whose prize money is worth Rs 1 crore, Star is only offering Rs 20 lakh to the winner.
The X-factor?
Music-based reality shows are dime a dozen and so are the numerous winners of these contests.
With most music contest winners becoming near ‘idols’ but now sitting idol, the logical question that comes up is that do these shows really give a big break or are these just money-spinners for channels and sponsors?
According to singer Abhijeet, who is also one of the judges of the show, it’s all about the three Ps - being passionate, proactive and patient.
“Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala are all winners of talent shows but they are all doing well now. Shreya was spotted by Bhansali,” Abhijeet points out.
The organisers along with Shaan, who will be hosting the show, however, nearly got cornered over the SMS rigging issue but they say that a game plan is ready to avoid such a scenario.
“Once the final 12 are decided then the votes will be 50-50 divided between the judges and the audience,” Ganjendrra says but also hastened to add, “Channels making money out of SMS polls is a myth.”
Voice of India, which boasts of big names like singers Alka Yagnik, Abhijeet and composers Jalit-Lalit and Adesh Srivastav as judges, will begin its first round of auditions from Kolkata on April 30.
So, with the guru of talent shows changing his camp lock, stock and barrel to Star but with the concept and judges not very different from its predecessors, what remains to be seen is whether this show will be able to stand out of the clutter.
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