Singing With The Stars - 'Say Shava Shava'..

Reality shows are a rage these days. Almost every channel worth its salt (and of course mobile phone companies) is trying to get a pie of the newly discovered goldmine! After STAR, Sahara, Sony and Zee, it seems to be NDTV Imagine's turn now. They are all set to launch a new musical show featuring celebrities.

Titled "Say Shaava Shaava", the show will have your favourite bahu's, beti's, bhai's, pati's and khalnayak's come together and try out their crooning skills. Aman Verma, Apoorva Agnihotri, Divyanka Tripathi, Juhi Parmar, Mouni Roy, Narayani Shastri, Pulkit Samrat and Sumeet Raghavan ...name the star and you will find them here!

If you thought you had enough of celebrity quotient in this show, wait till you listen to this. Ace director and TV host, Karan Johar, will be the judge for this show. Not sure whether he will offer a role or song in his next film, to the winner! The show will be hosted by popular television actor Ali Asgar.

Says Juhi Parmar, who is all excited to be part of the show, "I took up this show just to explore singing. People have seen my acting and dancing a lot, but never ever have I sung in public." She becomes nostalgic while talking about singing, "Since childhood, I love singing and this is an art form which I have not explored."

Sumeet Raghavan, however, agreed to participate in the contest for a different reason. "I think the concept is new and that is what attracted me. I have been acting for the last few years continously and this would allow me to try something different." Sumeet is not a trained singer, "But I like singing and enjoy music. I love ghazals and soft hindi music. Mohd Rafi is my favourite singer."

Aman Verma, better known as the host of many a popular reality show, will be on the other side this time. "I am participating to get a feel of being on the other side of the table!", says Aman. Divyanka Tripathi, the dulhan of Indian television, will also be there in this show. "Three reasons for participating. First of all, I want to learn singing. Secondly, being in a daily soap, it is very difficult to do something you like. And this is something close to my heart. And thirdly, I want to meet new people in the industry. In the last 1.5 years, I have hardly been able to do that", says the star with the Best Face.

To ensure that the participants sing as well as they look on screen, each one of them was made to undergo extensive voice training! In every episode, the stars will sing their favorite songs and Karan, along with viewers, will select the best singer. Juhi is being trained by Dilshaad, a music director and singer. "He is very patient, more so because he knows I am not a trained singer," says the pretty actress. "I am a totally Hindi music fan and my favoutite singers are Sunidhi and Shreya. I really wish I stay till the point where I can sing the difficult songs they sing."

Juhi will dress according to the song and is all thrilled about Karan being the judge. "He is a very down-to-earth person and I am very comfortable talking to him."

Narayani Shastri will also be part of this show. "NDTV Imagine is a very prestigious channel and I am very happy to work them. My trainer in the show is Punjabi pop singer Sukhdev, whom I just met!" Narayani is practising for an hour everyday and is in the process of finalising the songs which she is going to sing in the show. "The good part of this show is that it will last for just 11 days at a stretch and not go on for months! I hope I can sing well," says the pretty actress.

Aman's music teacher in the show is Deepak Shah, both of them are trying to rehearse for 2 hours a day. "I am not a trained singer and am trying to finalise the songs. I need to weed out songs that will not suit me."

Viewers will see Aman in a different hairstyle (long hair) this time. "All these days, I could not grow my hair because of continuity. Now since I will be myself, I am trying this new look! This is to break the monotony."

Divyanka's music trainer in the show is music director Shailesh whom she fondly called Guruji. "I am finding it difficult to manage time for rehearsals." Divyanka is very fond of Indian folk songs with a classical base. Divyanka, whom we always see in Dulhan in Indian dresses, will sport a new look.

If Nach Baliye and Jhalak Dikhlajaa set your foot tapping, Say Shava Shava will set you humming.

Author: Srabanti Chakraborti