Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa returns

Buoyed by the success of Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa, Zee Kannada is now bringing the second edition of the musical talent hunt show to the small screen this Friday, August 17.

Anup Chandrashekharan, Business Head, Zee Kannada disclosed that as per the channel’s new initiative, the participants would be ‘married homemakers’. “Their talent shouldn’t be buried in the kitchen and amidst their husband and children.” This makes it the first of its kind show in any television channel across the country. 

More than 500 people participated in the auditions conducted across Shimoga, Davanagere, Hospet, Hubli, Gadag, Mangalore, Mysore, Hassan and Bangalore. Among them, 32 participants will be selected to compete against each other for the next 13 weeks. The elimination rounds will have interesting variations, twists and turns and hence will ensure that only the best wins.

Singer Vijaya Prakash, who has sung in films including Omkara and Cheeni Kum is the show’s new host. The jury members are B K Sumitra, Manomurthy, B Jayashri and Rajesh Ramanath. Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa will be telecast every Friday and Saturday at 9 pm.

Celebrating a successful run

The skies had just then emptied themselves and there was a slight chill in the air. But the cast and crew of Preeti Illada Mele was in the mood to celebrate. The serial had completed 500 episodes and is still climbing the popularity charts.

The story of an upright judge who has to contend with domestic problems for no fault of his has caught the viewers’ fancy. Director Vinu Balanja was relieved and proud that there was no compromise on quality. For veteran actress Jayashree, playing a grandmother with a twist was satisfying.

But she has a secret desire: to play the role of a mad woman! Mukhyamantri Chandru was smug: his serial completed 500 episodes and the coalition government 500 days! “I have had a major hand in both the achievements,” he said. However everyone noticed that the star of the serial, Anant Nag, was missing. Apart from a mention by actress Aparna, he was hardly missed. Is something brewing?

New reality show

In the long list of reality shows comes Namappaamma on Zee Kannada, that speaks of the problems faced by children and parents. Anup Chandrashekharan of Zee Kannada drew attention to the amount of parental neglect and abuse faced by the children, justifying the channel’s decision to highlight these problems, thereby ensuring that social values were upheld and most important, the abuse of children stopped.

S L N Swamy, who directs the show recounted that the channel called upon its viewers, children and parents alike to send in their experiences that were eligible for the show. The responses were then handed over to Doddarangegowda and L S Sheshagiri Rao for screening.

Out of the 60 selected, 10 were finalised for the show. As the shooting commenced, the team found the complexity of the subject varied and enormous.

The team came across orphans who wanted to be reunited with their parents, then there were those who had suffered abuse due to parental neglect. The show, hosted by actress Tara examines various issues including refusal of new mothers to breast feed their newborns and much more.

The team had even visited prison inmates for a glimpse into their lives and and the lives of their children. “We had even spoken to DIG Abbai, but before anything could be finalised, he passed away,” said Swamy.

For Tara who has had several stints with the small screen, hosting this show proved to be a challenge. “When we first began discussing the idea, I was struck by the fact that the show involved lot of emotions. This show remains close to my heart because of this. Each person has a different story to tell, leading to different emotions. As each episode was wrapped up, all of us used to be emotionally drained.”

Nammapaamma will be telecast every Monday to Friday at 8 pm from August 20, 2007.