Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007

*Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007*
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007
Season 2007
	Logo
Starring	Ismail Darbar; Himesh Reshammiya; Bappi Lahiri; Vishal–Shekhar
No. of episodes	44
Release
Original release	4 May –; 13 October 2007

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 is an Indian television singing competition that premiered on 4 May 2007 and ran until 13 October 2007. It is the 2nd instalment of the "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge" series and the 4th public voting competition in the "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" series. Chronologically, the show is preceded by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, however systematically it is followed by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005. The show features two of the previous mentors, Himesh Reshammiya and Ismail Darbar, and two new mentors to the Challenge series, Bappi Lahiri and Vishal–Shekhar. Shaan did not return to host and was replaced by Aditya Narayan, son of playback singer, Udit Narayan.

The new logo is significantly different from the 2005 logo. It features headphones on a globe to represent itself as an international competition, instead of a previous logo consisting of a portrayal of a duet singing.

On 13 October at the Grand Finale, the show broke voting records with a collection of 10,61,44,354 (10.6 crores or 106 million) votes worldwide from 181 countries. In the final tally Aneek Dhar was declared the winner with 3,65,89,134 votes, Raja Hasan as the 1st runner-up with 3,52,40,963 votes and Amanat Ali as the 2nd runner-up with 3,43,14,257 votes.

Gharana selection

The Gharana (literally "House") is utilised similarly to a House system used in schools and colleges. The contestants of the gharanas have been chosen by the mentors themselves.

Two of the four previous gharanas that were featured on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 have been replaced – Aadesh Shrivastava's Jai Ho and Jatin–Lalit's Dum have now been replaced with "Josh" and "Hit Squad". The following list represents the initial 32 contestants who were chosen by the mentors and in the order they were introduced.

Yalgaar – Ismail Darbar

Rimi Dhar from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India -Eliminated on Episode 21: 13 July
Jyoti Mishra from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India – Eliminated on Episode 14: 16 June
Desh Gaurav Singh from Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India – Eliminated on Episode 6: 19 May
Wasi Efandi from Karachi, Pakistan – Eliminated on Episode 15: 22 June
Brijesh Shandilya from Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India – Eliminated on Episode 12: 9 June
Poonam Yadav from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India – 3rd runner-up. Eliminated on Episode 43: 28 September
Amanat Ali from Faisalabad, Pakistan – Mega finalist and 2nd runner-up.

Rock – Himesh Reshammiya

Amrita Chatterjee from Kolkata, West Bengal, India – Eliminated on Episode 6: 19 May
Yogendra Pathak from London, England, United Kingdom – Eliminated on Episode 4: 12 May
Tushar Sinha from Silchar, Assam, India – Eliminated on Episode 10: 2 June
Anita Bhatt from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India – Eliminated on Episode 12: 9 June
Shreshta Banerjee from Kolkata, West Bengal, India – Eliminated on Episode 15: 22 June
Nirupama Dey from Agartala, Tripura, India – Eliminated on Episode 25: 27 July
Joy Chakraborty from Lumding, Assam, India – Eliminated on Episode 29: 10 August
Mussarat Abbas Pakistan ki Shaan From Lahore, Pakistan - Eliminated on Episode 39: 14 September
Aneek Dhar from Kolkata, West Bengal, India – WINNER

Josh – Bappi Lahiri

Reecha Tripaathi from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Eliminated on Episode 16: 23 June
Sunil Kumar from Sunder Nagar, Himachal Pradesh, India – Eliminated on Episode 16: 23 June
Koyel Chaterjee from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India – Eliminated on Episode 4: 12 May
Sikandar Ali from Karachi, Pakistan – Eliminated on Episode 14: 16 June
Abhijeet Kosambi (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi winner) from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Eliminated on Episode 27: 3 August
Mauli Dave from Houston, United States – Eliminated on Episode 37: 7 September
Sumedha Karmahe from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, India – 4th Runner-up. Eliminated on Episode 41: 21 September

Hit Squad – Vishal–Shekhar

Apurva Shah from Mumbai, India Eliminated on Episode 23: 20 July
Saaberi Bhattacharya from Kolkata, West Bengal, India Eliminated on Episode 16: 23 June
Meghna Verma from Pune, Maharashtra, India – Eliminated on Episode 10: 2 June
Sarika Singh from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India – Eliminated on Episode 8: 26 May
Imran Aslam from Johannesburg, South Africa – Eliminated on Episode 8: 26 May
Sumana Ganguly from Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Eliminated on Episode 15: 22 June
Junaid Sheikh from Karachi, Pakistan - Eliminated on Episode 33: 24 August
Harpreet Deol from Ludhiana, Punjab, India – Eliminated on Episode 15: 22 June; voted back in the show during the "Bramhastra" week from the Josh Gharana. Finally Eliminated on Episode 35: 31 August
Raja Hasan from Bikaner, Rajasthan, India – Eliminated on Episode 16: 23 June; voted back in the show during the "Bramhastra" week. Mega finalist and 1st runner-up.

Eklavya

In addition, there was another Gharana called the Eklavya Gharana – it was a "reserved force" of eight singers. The exact purpose of this Gharana was not mentioned during the initial days of the show but soon it was determined that it basically prevented a Gharana from getting eliminated in the initial rounds. The contestants in this Eklavya Gharana performed on the 2nd episode of the show. Later on, each week two contestants from this Gharana were chosen to join a mentor's Gharana after that mentor has had any of his contestants eliminated the previous week.

Sumana Ganguly from Toronto, Ontario, Canada – transferred to Hit Squad (15 June)
Sumedha Karmahe from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, India – transferred to Josh Gharana (18 May)
Tushar Sinha from India – transferred to Rock Gharana (18 May)
Anita Bhatt from Lucknow, India – transferred to Rock Gharana (25 May)
Raja Hasan from Bikaner, Rajasthan, India – transferred to Hit-Squad Gharana (15 June)
Brijesh Shandilya from Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India – transferred to Yalgaar Gharana (25 May)

The only two contestants who never appeared in the competition after their performance on 5 May 2007 were:

Sayan Chaudhary from Kolkata, India
Binoy Mohanty from Raurkela, Orissa, India

Episode themes

Just as was done in previous Sa Re Ga Ma Pa shows, the idea of themes is featured to determine the contestants' versatility and ability to sing different genres.

Episode 01 – Week 1 (Fri, 4 May) – Introduction to Indian contestants in Gharanas
Episode 02 – Week 1 (Sat, 5 May) – Introduction to foreign contestants in Gharanas
Episode 03 – Week 2 (Fri, 11 May) – Songs of R.D. Burman and Asha Bhosle
Episode 04 – Week 2 (Sat, 12 May) – Modern hit songs
Episode 05 – Week 3 (Fri, 18 May) – Guru's choice
Episode 06 – Week 3 (Sat, 19 May) – Contestant's choice
Episode 07 – Week 4 (Fri, 25 May) – Songs of Bappi Lahiri
Episode 08 – Week 4 (Sat, 26 May) – Contestant's choice
Episode 09 – Week 5 (Fri, 1 June) – Songs of Ismail Darbar
Episode 10 – Week 5 (Sat, 2 June) – Songs of Raj Kapoor
Episode 11 – Week 6 (Fri, 8 June) – Songs of Himesh Reshammiya
Episode 12 – Week 6 (Sat, 9 June) – Songs of Rajesh Roshan
Episode 13 – Week 7 (Fri, 15 June) – Songs of Vishal–Shekhar
Episode 14 – Week 7 (Sat, 16 June) – Contestant's choice
Episode 15 – Week 8 (Fri, 22 June) – Contestant's choice (Chakravyuh phase)
Episode 16 – Week 8 (Sat, 23 June) – Contestant's choice (Chakravyuh phase)
Episode 17 – Week 9 (Fri, 29 June) – Contestant's choice (Bramhastra phase)
Episode 18 – Week 9 (Sat, 30 June) – Punjabi or Punjabi flavor songs (Bramhastra phase)
Episode 19 – Week 10 (Fri, 6 July) – Contestant's choice (Agnipariksha phase)
Episode 20 – Week 10 (Sat, 7 July) – Contestant's choice (Agnipariksha phase)
Episode 21 – Week 11 (Fri, 13 July) – Old romantic songs
Episode 22 – Week 11 (Sat, 14 July) – Rain/Monsoon songs
Episode 23 – Week 12 (Fri, 20 July) – Club songs
Episode 24 – Week 12 (Sat, 21 July) – Songs of Salman Khan
Episode 25 – Week 13 (Fri, 27 July) – Superhits of 60's and 70's
Episode 26 – Week 13 (Sat, 28 July) – Songs of the contestants' favorite singer
Episode 27 – Week 14 (Fri, 3 August) – Sad songs
Episode 28 – Week 14 (Sat, 4 August) – Friendship Day special
Episode 29 – Week 15 (Fri, 10 August) – Universal hits
Episode 30 – Week 15 (Sat, 11 August) – Independence Day special
Episode 31 – Week 16 (Fri, 17 August) – Dance songs
Episode 32 – Week 16 (Sat, 18 August) – Qawwali
Episode 33 – Week 17 (Fri, 24 August) – New romantic songs
Episode 34 – Week 17 (Sat, 25 August) – Songs of Akshay Kumar
Episode 35 – Week 18 (Fri, 31 August) – TV stars' choice songs
Episode 36 – Week 18 (Sat, 1 September) – Folk songs
Episode 37 – Week 19 (Fri, 7 September) – Comedy songs
Episode 38 – Week 19 (Sat, 8 September) – Songs of the contestants' favorite actor
Episode 39 – Week 20 (Fri, 14 September) – Black-and-white films' songs
Episode 40 – Week 20 (Sat, 15 September) – Wedding songs
Episode 41 – Week 21 (Fri, 21 September) – Stage songs
Episode 42 – Week 21 (Sat, 22 September) – Round 1: (Raj) Kapoor Family Songs | Round 2: Songs of Kareena Kapoor
Episode 43 – Week 22 (Fri, 28 September) – Round 1: Ghazals | Round 2: Semi-classical songs
Episode 44 – Week 22 (Sat, 29 September) – Round 1: Songs of Om Shanti Om | Round 2: Song choice of Shah Rukh Khan
Episode 45 – Week 23 (Fri, 5 October) – Round 1: Violin Songs | Round 2: Guitar Songs | Round 3: Songs to express yourself (Nokia Express)
Episode 46 – Week 23 (Sat, 6 October) – Round 1: White Feather Films' songs | Round 2: White Feather Films' emotional songs | Round 3: Song for one of the cast/crew of Dus Kahaniyan

"Mahagurus"

The Mahagurus appeared as judges in the semi-finals. They "commented" and decided who the top contestants were on the performance episodes and also decided who got eliminated on the "elimination day" during the initial rounds.

Episode 1 & 2 – Week 1 (4 May & 5 May) – None
Episode 3 & 4 – Week 2 (11 May & 12 May) – Ghulam Ali and Asha Bhosle
Episode 5 & 6 – Week 3 (18 May & 19 May) – Asha Bhosle
Episode 7 & 8 – Week 4 (25 May & 26 May) – Asha Bhosle
Episode 9 & 10 – Week 5 (1 June & 2 June) – Mohammed Zahur Khayyam and Rajesh Roshan
Episode 11 & 12 – Week 6 (8 June & 9 June) – Mohammed Zahur Khayyam and Rajesh Roshan
Episode 13 & 14 – Week 7 (15 June & 16 June) – Mohammed Zahur Khayyam and Rajesh Roshan (Roshan was not present on 16 June)
Episode 15 & 16 – Week 8 (22 June & 23 June) – Anandji Virji Shah

Bramhastra

The "Bramhastra" round ran through Week 9. This round basically allowed the public to bring an eliminated contestant back into the competition. The gharana who received the Bramhastra got to choose two eliminated contestants for the finals (Agnipariksha). Vishal–Shekhar received this Bramhastra and they chose 6 contestants. The six contestants were:

Sarika Singh (Hit Squad)
Sunil Kumar (Josh)
Raja Hassan (Hit Squad)
Saaberi Bhattacharya (Hit Squad)
Harpreet Deol (Hit Squad)
Desh Gaurav Singh (Yalgaar)

Of the six contestants that were chosen by Vishal–Shekhar, the two contestants with most votes from the public and subsequently elected and brought back into the competition were:

Raja Hassan with 31% of the votes
Harpreet Deol with 20% of the votes

Top 14 finalists

The 14 finalists were announced at the end of the episode broadcast on 29 June 2007. That year, Aneek Dhar and Abhijeet Kosambi, winners of the regional spinoffs, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Bangla and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi, got direct entry as finalists. Their direct entry into the finals caused some controversy that Ismail Darbar had the courage point out. However, after Himesh Reshammiya pleaded with Ismail, the issue dissolved. See Aneek-Abhijit controversy section for further details.

These are the names of the top fifteen finalists listed in order.

Aneek Dhar- Winner (Rock Gharana)
Raja Hassan- 1st Runner Up (Hit-Squad Gharana)
Amanat Ali- 2nd Runner Up (Yalgaar Gharana)

Eliminated Contestants:

Poonam Yadav- (Yalgaar Gharana)
Sumedha Karmahe- (Josh Gharana)
Mussarat Abbas- (Rock Gharana)
Mauli Dave- (Josh Gharana)
Harpreet Deol- (Hit-Squad Gharana)
Junaid Sheikh- (Hit-Squad Gharana)
Joy Chakraborty- (Rock Gharana)
Abhijeet Kosambi- (Josh Gharana)
Nirupama Dey- (Rock Gharana)
Apurva Shah- (Hit-Squad Gharana)
Rimi Dhar- (Yalgaar Gharana)

Celebrity guests

Week 6 (8 June) – Mr. Vipin Reshammiya – Father of Himesh Reshammiya
Week 9 (28 June) – Mrs. Madhu Reshammiya – Mother of Himesh Reshammiya
Week 9 (29 June) – Director Anil Sharma and Sunny Deol
Week 11 (14 July) – Shamita Shetty and Dia Mirza
Week 12 (21 July) – Salman Khan and Lara Dutta
Week 13 (27 July) – Ritesh Deshmukh and Anubhav Sinha
Week 13 (28 July) – Vidya Balan and Sajid Khan
Week 14 (4 August) – Fardeen Khan
Week 15 (11 August) – Kapil Dev
Week 17 (25 August) – Akshay Kumar
Week 18 (1 September) – Daler Mehndi and Lalu Prasad Yadav
Week 19 (7 September) – Aashish Chaudhary and Asrani
Week 20 (15 September) – Tusshar Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav and Kunal Khemu
Week 21 (22 September) – Kareena Kapoor
Week 22 (28 September) – Pandit Jasraj and Jagjit Singh
Week 22 (29 September) – Farah Khan, Deepika Padukone and Shreyas Talpade
Week 23 (5 October) – Adnan Sami
Week 23 (6 October) – Cast of Dus Kahaniyan (22 guests!)
Week 24 (13 October) (Finale) – Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan and Dia Mirza

Semi-finals and finals elimination charts

Contestants are in alphabetical order by last name, then by reverse chronological order of elimination.

Semi-finals

**Legend**
Female	Male	Top 14	Top 24	Top 32

Contestant did not perform during that week

Top contestant of the week

Place	Contestant	Gharana	Result
Stage:			Top 32			Top 24
Elimination Day:			12/5	19/5	26/5	2/6	9/6	16/6	22/6*	23/6*
	Amanat Ali	Yalgaar				Btm 3
	Poonam Yadav	Yalgaar
	Sumedha Karmahe	Josh
	Mussarat Abbas	Rock		Btm 3
	Mauli Dave	Josh		Btm 3			Btm 3
	Junaid Sheikh	Hit Squad		Btm 3			Btm 3
	Joy Chakroborty	Rock			Btm 3
	Nirupama Dey	Rock
	Apurva Shah	Hit Squad	Btm 3
	Rimi Dhar	Yalgaar				Btm 3
11–12	Raja Hassan	Hit Squad						Btm 3		Elim
11–12	Saaberi Bhattacharya	Hit Squad		Btm 3			Btm 3
13–14	Reecha Tripaathi	Josh			Btm 3			Btm 3
13–14	Sunil Kumar	Josh	Btm 3			Btm 3
15–16	Shresta Banerjee	Rock	Btm 3			Btm 3			Elim
15–16	Harpreet Deol	Josh					Btm 3
17–18	Sumana Ganguly	Hit Squad						Btm 3
17–18	Wasi Efandi	Yalgaar			Btm 3			Btm 3
19–20	Sikandar Ali	Josh						Elim
19–20	Jyoti Mishra	Yalgaar			Btm 3			Elim
21–22	Brijesh Shandilya	Yalgaar					Elim
21–22	Anita Bhatt	Rock					Elim
23–24	Tushar Sinha	Rock				Elim
23–24	Meghna Verma	Hit Squad	Btm 3			Elim
25–26	Sarika Singh	Hit Squad			Elim
25–26	Imran Aslam	Hit Squad			Elim
27–28	Desh Gaurav Singh	Yalgaar		Elim
27–28	Amrita Chatterjee	Rock		Elim
29–30	Yogendra Pathak	Rock	Elim
29–30	Koyal Chaterjee	Josh	Elim
31–32	Sayan Chaudhary	N/A
31–32	Binoy Mohanty	N/A

* During the week of 22 June, there was no separate performance/elimination episode as the week marked the beginning of the "Chakravyuh" phase. However, eight contestants were eliminated that week.

Finals (top 14)

Place	Contestant	Gharana	Result
Stage:			Agnipariksha (Top 14)
Elimination Day:			13/7	20/7	27/7	3/8	10/8	17/8^†	24/8	31/8	7/9	14/9	21/9	28/9	5/10	13/10
1	Aneek Dhar	Rock					Btm 2								Third	Winner
2	Raja Hassan	Hit Squad										Btm 2				Runner-up
3	Amanat Ali	Yalgaar				Btm 3		Btm 3							Second	2nd Runner-up
4	Poonam Yadav	Yalgaar											Btm 2	Elim
5	Sumedha Karmahe	Josh					Btm 3				Btm 2		Elim
6	Mussarat Abbas	Rock			Btm 3			Btm 3		Btm 2		Elim
7	Mauli Dave	Josh		Btm 2						Btm 3	Elim
8	Harpreet Deol	Hit Squad		Btm 3		Btm 2			Btm 2	Elim
9	Junaid Shaikh	Hit Squad	Btm 2					Btm 3	Elim
10	Joy Chakroborty	Rock					Elim
11	Abhjit Kosambi	Josh			Btm 2	Elim
12	Nirupama Dey	Rock			Elim
13	Apurva Shah	Hit Squad	Btm 3	Elim
14	Rimi Dhar	Yalgaar	Elim

In the Agnipariksha round, eliminations are based on public voting. Public voting is done through SMS, telephone or online. Each week, the contestant with lowest votes is eliminated.

Additionally, if all the contestants of a Gharana get eliminated, the Gharana also gets eliminated and subsequently the mentor(s) have to leave the show.

^† During the week of 17 August, there was no eliminated contestant. That week's votes were added to the votes for the week of 24 August, and Junaid was then eliminated on the episode airing on 24 August.

Controversies

Aneek-Abhijit controversy

On 29 June, Aditya Narayan announced that Aneek Dhar and Abhijeet Kosambi, the winners of the regional spinoffs of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Bangla and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi, would be getting direct entry as a Top 14 finalist. This was a pre decided qualification as it was a part of their respective prizes of winning the regional contests. The viewers of Marathi and Bangla had already seen and heard this announcement at live telecast on stage when Abhijeet Kosambi and Aneek Dhar had won the respective competitions, so in fact there was no need for any controversy in that case. Yet the mentors did not approve of this saying they should not be allowed to enter the competition in the middle and that they should have come from the beginning. Ismail Darbar tried to walk away from the show stalling the shooting of the program.

In the latter episodes, Abhijeet Kosambi was eliminated with the fewest votes. Aneek Dhar is the only contestant in Himesh Reshammiya's Rock 'gharana'. However, Aneek Dhar has been in the Bottom 2 once. Aneek was also the top contestant thrice in the show and eventually ended up winning it all.

Independence Day controversy

The Independence Day special episode shot on 10 August (Week 15) ran into a controversy when the issue came up of the Pakistani contestants, Junaid, Mussarat and Amanat refused to sing Indian patriotic songs on 15 August special. All work on the sets was stalled for 6 hours. Finally, the Zee TV officials decided that the Pakistani contestants should sing Pakistani patriotic songs as a solution. However, the next week, the three Pakistani singers were the Bottom Three. It was then decided that no contestant would be eliminated that week and the week's votes would be added to the votes of the following week to decide the next elimination.

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Ek Shaam Taj Ke Naam

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Ek Shaam Taj Ke Naam was a one-day special episode organised by the SRGMP team as a tribute to the Taj Mahal and also dedicated to request and encourage people to vote for the Taj Mahal as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

As well as performances from the contestants of the season, the special episode also featured performances from contestants of previous SRGMP seasons such as Twinkle Bajpai, Sanchita Bhattacharya, Diwakar Sharma and Sameer Mohammed.

References

External links

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 Official Site