Priyanka Chopra -- Jan 26th Special

MUMBAI, Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Priyanka on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa

Subhash K Jha

Priyanka Chopra flew down from Delhi to specially join the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa team to record their Republic Day special. "It was exhausting," Chopra concedes. "But it was worth the effort. I've been a Sa Re Ga Ma Pa fan ever since I can remember. In fact my dad (who likes to sing) and I were on the Baap-Beti special of the show. So when I was invited to be on the show I couldn't refuse. I rushed from Delhi on Monday afternoon and went straight from the airport for the recording." Priyanka had as much fun listening to the contestants as they had having her around. She says, "They were very good! I was supposed to select my favourite amongst them but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. I quietly wrote down one name and gave it to Gajendra Singh for future reference…I'm surprised at the amount of singing talent in this country. Since I'm fond of singing myself I felt so happy being with these truly gifted boys and girls."

The Republic Day special of Sa Re Ga Ma on Thursday with Priyanka will be interspersed with footage of the contestants at the Republic Day parade. While Hemachandra will be seen singing Ae watan tere liye (Karma) and A.R Rahman's 'Bande mataram', Debojit will croon 'Ae mere pyare watan'(Upkar) and Shankar Mahadevan's 'Suno gaur se duniya walo.'