DEEPA NATARAJAN
Reality
BITES
Do you remember the time when you would finish all your
work and rush to the living room to catch the latest episode
of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’? How about the days when you would wait
an entire week to catch the next episode of the programme?
Hosted by the then fresh face and now much sought-after
Sonu Nigam, a mere mention of the show brings back a host
of memories for all those who are old enough to remember
the 90s.
Giving some tough competition to this show was ‘Meri
Awaaz Suno’, hosted by actor-singer Anu Kapoor who was
also the warm host of the extremely popular ‘Antakshari’.
Now here’s a little trivia for you. Did you know that the two
most popular female playback singers of today – Shreya
Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan were both participants of ‘Sa
Re Ga Ma Pa’ and ‘Meri Awaaz Suno’ respectively?
We bet some of you do remember these divas as chubby little
teenagers who sung like a dream on these shows and shot to
fame.
Shreya was handpicked by filmmaker Sanjay Leela
Bhansali to sing all the songs of his magnum opus ‘Devdas’.
The music of the movie became a big hit and the rest as they
say is history. Shreya went on to win numerous awards
including the National Award.
Sunidhi Chauhan’s musical journey, a tad bit different,
nevertheless started from the stage of ‘Meri Awaz Suno’.
Though she first sang for a film called ‘Shastra’ and went
unnoticed, it was her effortless rendition of the songs of
‘Mast’ that made her a household name. Not to forget, host
Sonu Nigam himself who was a cut apart and delivered
hundreds of hit tunes in various film industries as well as
an indi-pop singer.
16
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
As the 90s came to an end and the millennium began, there
were competitions for the cooler lot – the budding ‘pop stars’
who were inspired by a generation of Western musicians.
Channel V’s ‘Popstars’ was watched by millions of people
across the country in 2002 and lived up to its promise – that
the winners would work with the who’s who of the music
industry. And ‘Viva’, the girl band that was formed with
the five best singers chosen by the judges, not only rose to
fame overnight but also worked with the likes of Shankar-
Ehsaan-Loy, Javed Akhtar, Salim-Suleiman and Jatin-Lalit
and produced a wonderful album as a result.
The promos of ‘Popstars’ also promised that the first concert
by the winners would be a grand success. And that’s what
happened when ‘Viva’ took to stage for the first time in
Mumbai. There were crowds waiting and the band itself
was stuck in a traffic jam that was a result of their show.
Oh, what a grand finale it was! Season two of ‘Popstars’,
though a little lukewarm, saw a good band in ‘Aasma’ who
had popular songs like ‘Chandu Ke Chacha’ and ‘Tumse Hi
Pyaar’. Sadly, both ‘Viva’ and ‘Aasma’ didn’t stick together
for long and disbanded soon after. Fortunately, some of
the singers in both these went on to create a niche for
themselves as solo performers.
The first edition of ‘Indian Idol’ too was a grand success
in 2005 with winner Abhijeet Sawant becoming the talk of
the town overnight. His album ‘Aap Ka Abhijeet Sawant’
that came out as a result was quite a soulful one too and
emerged as a big hit. Its sweet melodies like ‘Mohabbatein
Lutaungo’ and ‘Lafzon Mein Keh Na Sakoon’ became quite
popular among the love-struck. The seasons that followed
also produced some well-known names like Monali Thakur
and Karunya.