Stars to Rockstars --- DC

Call it lack of innovation or dearth of ideas, reality TV seems to be stuck in the same old song and dance format. At least that seems to be the case with Zee. While L'il Champs will end this weekend, another singing competition Star Ya Rockstar will start on Zee from next Saturday. Participating in the show will be some of television's well-known names like Ragini Khanna, Neha Marda, Mansi Parekh, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Chavi Mittal and Manish Paul. Some of them have done dance reality shows and some have done stand-up comedy but most of them will be singing for the first time on TV.

Judging their vocal acrobatics will be Anu Malik, while Mona Singh will host the show which will have nine TV actors and last for 10 weeks. The celebrities don't claim to be professional singers but they say a singer resides in each of them. Some of them have also learnt singing too. Like for instance, Ragini Khanna, Mansi Parekh and Sumeet Raghavan. They are trained classical singers but gave up singing for acting. While Mansi has tested her vocal chords in the Gujarati version of Sa Re Ga Ma, Chavi has been an amateur singer since her childhood. "Good or bad, we all are singers and viewers will get to see our hidden talent," says Chavi. Sumeet says Star Ya Rockstar is not a fun show but a

serious competition. "All of us have been selected after serious auditions. Audiences will see some serious singing happening on the show," he promises. Anu Malik who claims to be the show's solo judge says Star Ya Rockstar is a unique show. "I have judged many shows and unearthed several singers from all over the country. But I am judging TV stars for the first time. They are beautiful people and bring an added glamour to the show. They have taken the competition very seriously," he elaborates. The celebrity participants will be trained and mentored by professional musicians. Says Mansi, "It's going to be a learning experience for all of us. At the same time, it will be nothing less than a serious singing competition."

While Zee's non-fiction head Ashish Golwalkar says the television fraternity is nothing short of a minefield of singing talent and immensely gifted actors, the channel's head of content Ajay Bhalwankar admits that it wasn't easy getting celebrity singers on board. "We went through the audition process because we wanted the best singers. But finding the best ones wasn't easy though," he adds. According to Ajay, there are going to be a few surprises on the show. "While Anu will be the solo judge, there will be guest judges. We might even have a second judge later," he adds. The show will follow the usual talent hunt format. Each week there will be performances and eliminations based on viewers' SMSes and jury's marks.