“If I can not fly, let me sing.” – Stephen Sondheim
It’s undebatable that there is no dearth of talent in our country. On every reality show, we see many talented performers. But, most of them get only fifteen minutes of fame and are forgotten quickly. A few, however, pursue their passion and achieve the success they deserve. These famous singers we hear every day may have had very different journeys, but they have one thing in common. They all appeared on the reality show SaReGaMaPa.
1. Shreya Ghoshal
Even if you are not much into music, you would have heard of Shreya Ghoshal. She was only 16 years old when she was noticed by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali while participating in the show SaReGaMa. She not only went to win the music competition but also won many fans around the world with her soothing voice.
2. Sanjivani
Remember the melodious, honey-dripping voice that sang ‘Chori chori jab nazrein mili’ from the movie Kareeb? That was Sanjivani, the winner of the very first SaReGaMaPa season which happened in 1995. This soulful singer has delivered a few hits, but spends most of her time now giving live performances. Would we like to hear more of her in movies?
3. Bela Shende
This National Award winner for best female playback singer for the year 2014, started her journey by winning the SaReGaMaPa content in 1998. She has since worked with music directors like A.R Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan Loy and Lalit Pandit. She has been the voice for many hit movies like Jodha Akbar, Paheli and Ishq Wala Love.
4. Kamal Khan
This former SaReGaMaPa Singing Superstar needs no introduction. With many Punjabi and Hindi hits under his belly, his songs feature on everyone’s playlists. His famous tracks include Ishq sufiana (The Dirty Picture), Akhiyan nu reh de (Future Toh Bright Hai Ji) and Naina (Gori Tere Pyaar Mein).
5. Ranjeet Rajwada
A Ghazal singer, Ranjeet Rajwada is only 23 years old but after participating in SaReGaMa, his life has changed forever. His talent has earned him a name in the industry and he measures up to the likes of Ghulam Ali and Pankaj Udhas. Recently, he became a part of Forbes India’s 30 Under 30 list.
6. Sniti Mishra
Her very first appearance in a reality show was as a contestant in SaReGaMaPa in the year 2010. She has since made her mark among independent fusion musicians, and has performed classical and fusion music worldwide. She also works closely with the Grammy award winner Louis Banks, and the Indo-Swedish fusion band Mynta.
7. Amanat Ali
This Pakistani singer and actor was the show’s second runner up in 2007. He is a multi-talented musician and can play over ten instruments including the tabla, harmonium, guitar and percussions. He was also the playback singer for the Bollywood movie Dostana.
8. Raja Hassan
Hailing from Bikaner in Rajasthan, Raja Hassan was the first runner up of SaReGaMaPa in the year 2007. He is the voice behind the awesome song ‘Aali Re’ from the movie No One Killed Jessica, and has done playback singing for many other Bollywood movies like High School Musical 2, Ishq and Chalo Dilli.
9. Kunal Ganjawala
Have you ever stopped to think about what made Emraan Hashmi famous, other than his kissing scenes? It was the song bheege honth tere. Kunal Ganjawala is the voice behind that beautiful song, and also won an award for it. He has many hits in his kitty, some which include masha-allah from the movie Saawariya and O hamdam suniyo re from Saathiya. And of course, many lesser known songs as well. But the man can sing in ten different languages including Bengali and Urdu.
10. Shekhar Ravjiani
One half of Vishal-Shekhar was a contestant on SaReGaMaPa in the year 1997. Shekhar Rajivani, the voice behind the new hit song Gehra from the upcoming movie Neerja, is trained in Classical Indian music, but the duo together have given us some awesome beats to groove to. They first came together to compose Tu aahiqui hai from the movie Jhankaar Beats, and have never failed to live up to our expectations since then.
Many singing stars have soaked their feet in the reality show #SaReGaMaPa. Wondering who’s next in the talent pool? The new season launches on the 26th of March every Saturday and Sunday at 9.30 pm on Zee TV. Check out the promo below.