WNI reader Vikram sends in his review of the show's Bay Area performance.
Top contestants of Zee TV’s hugely popular music reality show Sa re ga ma pa Challenge 2007 were on stage at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on December 8th as part of a world tour organized by Safdar Hussain and sponsored by Mehta Entertainment in the Bay Area. The 3- hour concert allowed Sa re ga ma pa aficionados an opportunity to watch their favorite contestants up close and live in action.
The show featured individual performances by contestants later followed by a brief group performance. Harpreet from Vishal-Shekhar’s Hit-it Gharana was the first to perform. He kicked the show off with an appetizing rendition of ‘Channa Ve ghar aaja ve’, and followed it up with an energetic Aaj Mera Jee Kardaa from Monsoon wedding and Soni De Nakhre from the latest Govinda flick, ‘Partner’. Harpreet established an immediate connection with the audiences and brought a lot of energy to his performance. He was a very different singer from the shy and subdued Harpreet from the TV show.
Harpreet’s performance was followed by those of Sumedha Karmahe, Junaid Sheikh, Mussarrat Abbas, and Mouli. Sumedha and Junaid were unimpressive, but Mussarrat and Mouli held their own. Mussarrat struck a chord with the audiences with his trademark Sufi-style rendition of Rahat Fateh Ali’s and Himesh Reshammiya’s numbers. In an organic reponse to Mussarrat’s singing of ‘Jiya Dhadak’, audiences started waving their cell phones in rhythm –creating a moving pattern of LCD backlights in the darkened auditorium. Mouli impressed with her ‘by-now-famous’ performance of Maiyya Maiyya from the movie, Guru.
The highlight of the show was Diwakar, the Runner up from 2006’s Saregamapa Little Champs series. His graduation into the ‘big’ league was quite evident through his performance. His soulful ‘Tadap Tadap ke is dil’ from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was stunningly mature. He followed it up with Tu hi re from ‘Bombay’, and Chand Sifarish from Fanaa. He had the audiences on their toes for his ‘Chappa Chappa’ from Maachis.Raja Hasan and Aneek Dhar followed Diwakar, and were received by the audiences with wild cheering.
Raja made a rousing entry with Kailash Kher’s ‘Allah Ke bande’, followed by ‘Teri’ Deewani’, another Kher number that had Raja stamped all over it. Aneek, the winner of the TV contest, was the last to come on stage. He performed ‘Main agar kahoon’, a Sonu Nigam song from the latest blockbuster, OSO. There was a group performance towards the end that degenerated into chaotic free-form singing that was both muddled and out of rhythm.
For many people, the biggest disappointment was the absence of Amanat and Poonam on stage. Their absence left many in the audiences feeling disgruntled and cheated. One spectator went hoarse yelling Amanat’s name.
Overall, the individual performances were enjoyable, but the quality of singing was much below what we saw on the actual TV show.