Vinit and Shaan in Star One's Antakshari

Antakshiri – The Great Challenge
Star One, Fri Feb 9.

More than a decade before Indian Idol took over the small screen; Antakshiri had whetted India's appetite for musical competitions. It was a no-brainer. After all, India had been playing a version of the musical game for approximately two centuries, so adapting it to the small screen seemed like the most obvious thing to do.

Little wonder that when Zee TV started Antakshari in 1992, the format was a hit. The show ran almost uninterrupted until last year Star One lured away the show's creator Gajendrra Siingh and veteran host Anu Kapoor to formulate a rival called Antakshiri – the Great Challenge. Now, viewers have the option of watching two televised versions of the game.

Siingh believes the show is as relevant as ever. "It has evolved and now has more interactive potential than before," he said. The new Antakshiri has been launched with a family format, featuring parents and children, as well as pairs of siblings. "Since this is a family show and people watch it together, the idea is to get everybody together on one platform," said Siingh.

The major change in this format is that merely knowing songs whose titles begin with a particular letter isn't enough anymore. Contestants are also expected to know some idea about what they are singing. "We are not looking for big singers or trained voices, but people who audition must have some amount of sur and taal, if they know some basic knowledge then they are the person that we are looking for to play antakshiri," said Kapoor, who will be hosting the show along with actor Juhi Parmar of Kumkum fame.

There will also be a "reality" element to the show. Auditions were held in Kolkata, Mumbai Indore and Delhi and participants from the four corners of the country will represent their zones. Radhika Dwivedi