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The Show That Rocks The Nation Is Here!

Mumbai, 24th May, 2011: With summers beating us down with intense heat, India's favorite family entertainer, "Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l champs" will present some respite with its "All new Cool Avatar." It premieres on Friday June 3rd 2011 at 10 pm on Zee TV. After a talent scout across the nation, Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs has selected its top 18 contestants who are all geared up to enthrall viewers with their mellifluous singing. The most talented singers from the age group 7 to 14 years across regions have been chosen to perform in India's most prestigious musical talent show for kids.

This season of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs will be high on the cool quotient. Right from the cool attitude of the judges and the anchors to the cool equation between the Guru's and the Shishya's to the overall flow of the show and hence the tagline, Music Ka Gurucool. The judges are a cool triple treat of credibility, chemistry and talent. The show that has been a rage amongst music lovers not only in India but around the globe will be judged by none other than three cool Guru's - the accomplished singer and concert pianist, Adnan Sami, the voice that touches souls and evokes undiscovered adrenaline, Kailash Kher and popular Bollywood playback singer, Javed Ali. Alka Yagnik will be the Mahaguru and these musical geniuses will be guiding the young singers to showcase their prowess with the seven notes of music and bring the nation's best singing talent to the fore.

Adnan, Kailash and Javed are well versed in the technicalities of music and their portfolios speak volumes about their work. While Adnan is very emotional about his music, Javed is pretty authoritarian in nature when it comes to picking the right 'sur' and 'taal'. Kailash says that he has come here to learn from the kids and not teach them. Alka Yagnik as Mahaguru, whose career as a playback singer is unparalleled, will be instrumental in deciding the eliminations every week.

Non-Fiction Head of Zee TV, Ashish Golwalkar says, "Singing is huge in every nook and corner in India. This has been proved with the talent we discover in every edition and the ever rising popularity of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for almost over a decade now. As always, we have tried and brought in innovations in the format to make the show a complete entertainment package while presenting some amazing singing talent. There's already a huge buzz around the show and we are very hoping that our viewers will love the kids we have selected this season."

To be aired every Friday and Saturday at an all new time of 10 pm, Li'l Champs will be a 13 week series. Popular actor and heartthrob of millions of girls, Jay Soni has been roped in anchor the show along with kiddie hosts of last season, Afsha Musaniand Dhairya Sonecha. With such an ensemble set of high profile judges, entertaining anchors and super talented children, this season of Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs surely promises to be a one stop destination for the weekend dose of family entertainment.

For the first time, Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs - Music Ka Gurucool is being produced by BIG PRODUCTIONS - a division of Reliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs is fair and square

Reality TV shows always face the flak for being unfair, scripted or over dramatized but there are some credible shows which steer clear of all controversies and remain clean in the truest sense of the word.

Zee TV's Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs is one of those shows which is about good voice and singing rather than cheap publicity, nepotism or favoritism. This fact was elucidated by the following examples. Sparsh Khanchandani, an Indian child film actress and one of the most popular young faces of the Indian television came for the auditions of this prestigious reality show. She has tasted success with her role in Uttaran as the innocent little Iccha and has done cameos in CID and Shree but she aspires to be a singer and hence decided to try her luck at Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs. According to the judges she is a brilliant actress but her singing abilities does not match the stringent ones followed in the show.

The same applied to Deepshikha and Sania. Deepshikha's sister Anamika was the winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs 2009 and Sania is Ranjeet Rajwada's sister who won the nation's heart with his soulful ghazals and was one of the finalists of Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar 2010. The judges appreciated the lineage from which the kids came from but they had their reservations selecting them as they were not up to the mark unlike their siblings.

All 3 judges recognized li'l Rachael Singh who is celebrated music director Raju Singh's daughter. As she took center stage the judges enquired about her father and asked her to sing. Kailash Kher, Javed Ali and Adnan Sami have all seen Rachael growing up in front of their eyes and are indeed very fond of her but when it came to selecting her for the further round they all were of the opinion that she needs more practice and should come better prepared for the next season of the coveted reality show.

These examples clearly enunciate the fact that only sheer talent is the deciding factor for contestants to be selected at Zee Tv's Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs. "Our audiences are well informed and cannot be fooled. Ultimately it is the junta who chooses the final winner," adds a source from the sets.

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SPIRITUALITY and Kids??!!

These days when spirituality is too farfetched a thought amongst kids or teens, here are two kids who captured the hearts of the judges through their devotional renditions at the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs auditions held in New Delhi. Sanjana Bhola, a li'l girl from the beautiful mountains of Himachal sings 'jagraatas' and leads a life full of struggle. She travels everyday for 10 hours from a remote village to town and sings jagraata's in temples to earn a livelihood.

Similar is the story of Nitin Kumar. He sings at the 'Chintpoorni Maata's ' temple in Himachal Pradesh. He is apparently also one of the pujari's of the temple. Judges – Adnan Sami, Kailash Kher and Jaaved Ali were totally bowled over by these 2 contestants. The tonal quality of both the kids were highly appreciated and their struggle for survival literally brought tears in the eyes of the crew. Especially Sanjana, who fought with her family to get to the auditions.

Watch these mind blowing performers steal your heart at the Hero Honda Sa re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs.

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Young Katha Vachak Stumps Kailash Kher

At auditions of L'il Champs, it's a mass of varied talent and some unique characters that one comes across as it's held in different places across the country and there are thousands of interesting vignettes made from performers by kids who try their luck to be a part of the show . One such interesting incident happened during the auditions of Zee TV's Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs. Kailash Kher, judge on the upcoming edition, is known for his command over our National language – Hindi, and is known to stump people with his chaste Hindi one-liners.
A contestant, Anurag Bajpai finished singing and Kailash Kher said something incomprehensible in his trademark shudh hindi style but what took everybody with surprise was Anurag's reply which matched Kailash Kher's fluent Hindi diction and language. Apparently the young kid is a Katha Vachak and can recite the Ramayana, Mahabharata and other religious texts with lan. What followed was a jugalbandi between Kaikash Kher and Anurag each trying to outdo the other with their knowledge of bombastic Hindi words almost never used in common parlance.
In the end, Kailash Kher went up on stage and hugged li'l Anurag congratulating him on his special skill at such an early age. The crew was finally happy that they found someone who managed to stump Kailash Kher at his home ground.
Watch the auditions of Zee TV's Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs, Friday and Saturday, 10 PM.

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Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs Contestants Enthrall Kids With A Rocking Live Performance

Its summer vacation and kids just wanna have some fun. Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contestants along with Afsha and Dhariya decided to take some time out of rigorous singing practices and a hectic schedule to take part in a children's fair. Two contestants, Niladri and Pooja Tiwary took center stage and entertained the audience with some peppy live music. The two contestants have not yet performed in front of a live audience but they seemed adept in the art of stagecraft: how to sing with a band, how to memorize lyrics and the ways and means to combat stage fright.

The duo interacted with the audience, called them to shake a leg on stage while they crooned foot tapping numbers and even sang unrehearsed songs on popular audience demand. Their confidence on stage coupled with their cool poise made heads bang in the air or clap in unison. Going by their performances the two contestants can rightfully be touted as rockstars. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Every contestant selected to participate in this prestigious singing reality show is a gem and will surely be a treat for our senses.

After their stellar performance the children let their hair down and gorged on the delicious summer special food stalls. Gola and candy floss were a huge hit as well as the kiddie rides along with the fun science experiments. Afsha got a fish pedicure done for the first time and was thrilled to bits while Dhairya tried his hand at pottery.

All in all it was a day well spent. Watch out for the L'il wonders every Friday and Saturday, 10 PM only on Zee TV.

At the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs auditions this year, the judges Kailash Kher, Javed Ali & Adnan Sami were in for a rude shock by the training today's young kids have revealed that they've taken to audition on this platform…after a rendition that would have most musicians shut their ears and wish they were deaf, most of the young enthusiastic singers very proudly stated that they had been learning from watching musical shows on TV or rehearsing listening to songs on their mobiles phones!

When judge Adnan Sami asked the li'l kids 'Beta, where did you learn music...kisne aapko gaana sikhaya ...Kaun hain aapke Guru?', most of the kids replied, 'Sir, maine toh TV dekh ke gaana sikha!' Or end up saying, 'Sir, maine toh mobile pe sun ke gaana seekha...' Besides the initial amusement, the judges were horrified when hundreds of contestants swore by their TV and cellphones as their guru!

Till the last season of the show in 2008, it was unheard of any child having learnt from anyone but a guru or senior member of their family unlike today's kids who took pride in learning music from TV, internet or mobile phones. With no basics of music, they stand in long queues at auditions in every city of India and hope to compete with kids who've grown up with hours of riyaaz under an able master!

Said Adnan, "It's a scary trend and one that can completely ruin the future of young talent in our country. A TV show or cellphone can never replace a music guru! Children are taking the fastest route of coming on national TV without realizing that they end up making a mockery of themselves...we hope we are able to spread the message of always only having a learned person in music guide them rather than a cellphone!"

Watch all these cute moments and more only at the Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs, every Friday and Sat at 10pm only on Zee TV.