War-fair? article

The war between two channels, Zee TV and Star Plus is hotting up. After the success of the first season of Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs, it is now the turn of Star Plus' Voice of India to have their own version of Little Champs. Star Plus had kept their plans under wraps as they wanted to shock Zee TV by announcing their own version. However, the shooting of Zee TV's Little Champs had started on Monday.

According to our source it's a game of one-upmanship, "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is Zee TV's biggest show and Star Plus will go all out to counter the show with, what they think, a better show to have an upper hand. In fact that's the reason Gajendra Singh has planned a music reality show with kids. In fact, when Star got to know that Zee's plans to have Pritam as one of the judges didn't materialise, they went ahead and signed him immediately. This is definitely a big war and neither of the channels will leave any stone unturned to out-do each other."

Gajendra Singh, director of Voice of India confirms the news and says, "I won't deny that we are definitely working on a music show with kids for Voice of India but it is too early to reveal the format and the details. There is still some time left for the show and I am busy with the finale of Voice of India. We are having brain storming sessions and once everything is done, we will inform you."

Taking a confrontative stance, Ashish Kaul, Executive VP Zeel (ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited) says, "Well, we already know who the looser is. Some days back, the Bombay High Court had given the verdict that Star is the looser in terms of the originality of the concept of Antakshri. No one can claim that the concept of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa or Antakshri or Little Champs, be it Gajendra Singh or Star. They might make some technical changes and start Little Champs but ultimately it will be the merit of the show which will prevail. As far as Star goes, the history says that whenever star has attempted to copy a format, be it Voice of India, Beetiyaan or Antakshari, they have fallen straight on their faces. It is just an attempt to re-make what Zee has been doing successfully over the years."

Pritam Chakravarthy says, "Yes it is true that Zee TV had offered me the show but it didn't work out. I am doing some other music-based reality show but I will not live to reveal anything at this point of time."