Himesh-Asha don't strike the right chord

Asha had come on the show as a judge. She expressed her displeasure over a Pakistani contestant Mussarat Abbas singing the same kind of songs. His mentor was Himesh, who retaliated, saying that his choice of songs suited his style and that if he changes it, he will be out of the competition. Ghulam Ali was also present as the second judge on the show.

We spoke to Mussarat, who termed the tiff as something really unexpected. "Himeshji is very co-operative. He liked my singing and told me that I have a nice voice quality. I performed on two Rahat Fateh Ali Khan songs - Jiya Dhadak Dhadak and the Namaste London song Main Jahaan Hoon. Both the audience and mentors appreciated my performance."

"However Ashaji had a different take. She said that I should sing different kind of songs to which Himeshji did not agree. He was impressed by both my performances and praised me a lot."

When asked if he was nervous when the debate took place, Mussarat was honest enough to admit it. "I actually thought I would faint over there. But I regained my composure and sung the Mohammad Rafi classic Gulabi Aankhein Jo Teri Dekhi. The entire studio was stunned. Ashaji admired me for that song and the entire atmosphere calmed down after that."

Aditya Narayan, who hosts the show, played down the incident. "Nothing big happened. Differences of opinion will always be there when two big personalities come together. Nevertheless, you cannot call it an argument. Ashatai thought that his choice of songs was repetitive. It was an old songs round and she felt that the contestant was not doing justice to it singing new songs. So she just tried to put her point forward. The problem was sorted out immediately and the shooting went on smoothly after that."

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 comes on air every Friday and Saturday 10 PM. Bappi Lahiri, Ismail Darbar, Himesh Reshammiya, and Vishal-Shekhar are the mentors of the contestants.

P.S: This is not the first instance of a squabble between the two. Last year, Himesh had commented that R.D Burman too had a nasal voice like him. Asha reacted to it saying that whoever says such things about Burmanji should get a tight slap! Himesh apologised for his statement later on.