HOST OF STAR VOICE OF INDIA

SHAAN

Shantanu Mukherjee, populary known as Shaan is an Indian singer. Shaan was born on September 30, 1972 into a Bengali family. He is the son of the late music director Manas Mukherjee and brother of singer Sagarika. He is married to Radhika and has two sons, Soham and Shubh. He is the grandson of Jahar Mukherjee.
As a child, Shaan began his career by singing ad jingles. His big-time career began in 1995 with his first release, the remix album called Q-funk. However, he achieved his first real success with Roop Tera Mastana, a remixed version of R D Burman's hits. In 1996, Shaan and his sister, Sagarika came out with Naujawan, their first big release. After creating the album Tanha Dil released in 2000, containing a mix of ballads and tunes, Shaan's career skyrocketed. The album established him as a distinctive and talented singer, as well as winning him the MTV Music Awards Asia’s Best Solo Album award. Apart from his albums, Shaan has sung playback vocals for various Bollywood films.
He hosted the television show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV and also the Amul Star Voice of India 2007 on Star Plus. He won the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award and the Zee Cine Award Best Playback Singer- Male for song "Chand Sifarish" from the movie Fanaa (2006).

HOST OF ZEE SA RE GA MA PA

ADITYA NARAYAN

Aditya Narayan is a Bollywood singer, dancer and actor. He was born on August 6, 1987. He is the son of Deepa Narayan and the popular Bollywood playback singer, Udit Narayan. Aditya started his mucial career at the age of 5. He has just completed a diploma in English Contemporary Music from London and earlier learnt Indian classical music from Pandit Satyanarayan Mishra. He also trained under Kalyanji Anandji.
He is one of the youngest anchors on Indian Television. He made his debut in playback singing with Asha Bhosale in 1995 in the blockbuster movie ‘Rangeela’ which initially brought him to fame with the Indian audience. He later went on to act in films like ‘Pardes’ and ‘Jab Pyar Kissi Se Hota Hai’ as a child artist. He not only wants to be trained in Indian or classical music but also wants to learn international music in a truly international way. He won the Best Child Playback Singer award for the movie “Masoom”.
He hosted the show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 on Zee TV.

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JUDGES OF STAR VOICE OF INDIA


AADESH SHRIVASTAVA

Aadesh Shrivastava is a well-known music composer in the Hindi film industry.
Becoming a doctor was his dream as a child, but as he grew up his passion for music overshadowed everything else and he chose to become a music composer. He shifted to Mumbai in order to realize his dream of becoming a music composer. Initially, he played drums for Music Directors like Salil Chowdhuri, O. P. Nayyar and Shanker-Jaikishan. He also worked as an assistant to the famous duo Lakshmikant-Pyarelal for more than ten years. His first big break came with the 1993 film Kanyadaan. His biggest achievement so far was in 1998 when he won the Filmfare Award for Best Background Score for the film Border.
He is deeply into Punjabi music and has brought in the flavor of Punjabi folk in many of his songs. He can also play a number of western musical instruments. He also performed on the opening day of the Berlin Asia Pacific Film Festival. He was one of the judges in the musical talent show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005", conducted by Zee TV. He was also one of the judges of Star Voice of India, a singing competition on Star Plus.
Aadesh was one of the contestants of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 2, a dance competition on Sony Entertainment Television channel.

ABHIJEET BHATTACHARYA

Abhijeet Bhattacharya was born in a middle-class Bengali family in Kanpur. Abhijeet was the youngest of four brothers. He passed his class X from Ram Krishna Mission Higher Secondary School and Class XII from B.N.S.D. Inter College in Kanpur. Although his parents were against the idea, Abhijeet went against their wishes and became a singer. He came to Mumbai in 1981 to study Chartered Accountancy. But owing to his fascination for singing and music he decided to pursue a career in playback singing. Despite being gifted with a melodious voice, he had to struggle for a very long time. After his long struggle in Bombay, he received a call from Rahul Dev Burman to sing for Dev Anand's son’s debut film. Abhijeet also sang with Kishore Kumar, his idol, in the same film. In the 1990s, Abhijeet established himself as a notable playback singer. He won the Filmfare award for the best singer for his song ‘Chand taare’ in Yes Boss. After his success in playback singing, Abhijeet decided to try non-film pop music. He has launched many pop albums of his own. Abhijeet is married to Sumaati and has 2 sons.

ALKA YAGNIK

Alka Yagnik is an Indian singer. She was born on March 20, 1966 into a Gujarati family in Kolkata. Her parents were well versed in classical music. She is classically trained and has been one of the leading playback singers in Bollywood since the late 1980's. At the age of six she began singing bhajans for Calcutta Radio. She won a Sugam Sangeet competition in Calcutta at the age of 11. To realize her dreams, she came to Mumbai. Alka's mother brought her to Bombay to try her luck in films as a child singer. She was advised to wait till her voice matured but her mother remained determined and on a subsequent visit Alka got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Calcutta distributor. Raj heard the girl and sent her with a letter to noted producer Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives - an immediate start as a dubbing artist, or a later break as a full - fledged singer. The Yagniks settled for the latter.
She started singing for films like Payal Ki Jhankaar (1980), Laawaris (1981) and Hamari Bahu Alka (1982). She got her big break with the song Ek Do Teen from the film Tezaab (1988). She also received her first Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for the song. She went on to win six more Filmfare awards for the movies Khalnayak (1993), Pardes (1997), Taal (1999), Dhadkan (2000), Lagaan (2001) and Hum Tum (2004). She won a National Award for the movie Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1994) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1999). Lately, she has entered the world of Indi-Pop and has also been successful there.

JATIN & LALIT PANDIT

Jatin and Lalit are musicians who compose music primarily for the soundtracks of Bollywood movies. They are brothers and come from a lineage of Indian classical musicians. Jatin Pandit and Lalit Pandit are their actual names. They were born in the traditional Mewati Gharana. Lalit is nine years younger than Jatin. Jatin-Lalit are the sons of the prominent classical singer, Pandit Pratap Narayan and nephews of Pandit Jasraj, grand master of Hindustani classical music. Lalit passed out from N.M. College, Mumbai in 1989. They were trained by their own father and Pandit Ramprasadji during their childhood. They also learned to play piano, guitar and a number of percussion instruments.
They began their career in 1991, composing music for the Hindi movie Yaara Dildara. They were first noticed for their work on the soundtrack of the movie Khiladi (1992) and for Pehla Nasha (1993), a successful romantic song from the movie Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. Their first big break came with the 1995 film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. They were adjudged as the ‘Best Music Director’ in the Screen Videocon Awards for their music score in the film ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (1998).
After working for almost 16 years together, they announced that they would be parting ways. Fanaa (2006) was their last movie together. Reasons for the separation are unknown. Now they compose music for movies independently. They were appointed as judges in the musical show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" created by Zee TV. They were one of the judges of the musical show "Star Voice of India" on Star Plus.

JUDGES OF ZEE SA RE GA MA PA

BAPPI LAHIRI

Alokesh Lahiri, popularly known as Bappi Lahiri, is a music director in the Hindi - Bollywood film industry. He was born in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1953 into a family with a rich tradition of classical music. His father, Aparesh Lahiri was a famous Bengali singer and his mother, Bansari Lahiri, was a musician and a singer who was well-versed in Indian classical music and Shyama Sangeet. He began to play the Tabla at the tender age of three. His relatives from his mother's family include Kishore Kumar and the S. Mukherjee clan. Initially he was trained by his own parents after which he got his first opportunity in a Bengali film Daadu in 1972. He came to Bollywood at a very young age of 18. The first film in which he composed music was Nanha Shikari (1973). The turning point of his career was Shomu Mukherjee's Hindi film, Zakhmee (1975), for which he composed music and doubled as a playback singer.
He has been awarded with the Filmfare Award of the best composer for the movie Sharabi in 1984. He also scored music for many Hindi films produced from South India. He pioneered the use of disco music in Indian cinema. After the death of Kishore Kumar, he launched Alisha Chinai and Vijay Benedict into the music industry. He also used Usha Uthup for his compositions.
Bappi Lahiri is married to Chitrani. His daughter Reema is married to a New York based musician called Souvik Mondal. His son Bappa Lahiri is a budding musician. He is well known for fusion music. He is very fond of jewellery and is usually found wearing gold ornaments and black glasses.

ISMAIL DARBAR

Ismail Darbar is a composer / director of music for Indian films. He comes from a family of four generations of musicians. He was born to noted clarinet and saxophone player Hussain in March 1976 in Gujarat. He was initially trained by his father. Afterwards he learnt music from Pandit Ramprasad Sharma, the late father of composer Pyarelal and later on from Ganesh (Pyarelal's brother). Initially, he worked as a music director for the Zee TV serial Ittefaq. Unfortunately, the project was scrapped and he ended up working 9 years as a lead violinist for various music directors like Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Rajesh Roshan, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit and even A. R. Rehman. He got his real break in the late 90s when he met Sanjay Leela Bhansali, for whose film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, he composed the music in 1999. He received a Filmfare Award for Best New Music Talent and a National Award for his music direction. He went on to produce music for various movies. He also served as one of the four judges on Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005.

HIMESH RESHAMMIYA

Himesh Reshammiya is an Indian Bollywood film music composer, singer and actor. He was born on July 23, 1973 in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. He is the son of Gujurati music director Vipin Reshammiya and his wife, Madhu. Himesh lost his elder brother at the age of 11 and after that incident decided to take up music as his career. He did his schooling at Hill Grange School in Peddar Road area, Mumbai. Himesh started his career with a production house which aired quite a few TV soaps on Doordarshan, Ahmedabad and Zee TV at the mere age of 16. His debut as a music director was for the film Bandhan, in 1998, in which he collaborated with Anand Raj Anand. Himesh Reshammiya was first noticed in Bollywood for his work in the film Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, in 1998. He befriended Salman Khan, the lead of the movie and composed music for several Salman starrers afterwards. The most successful albums of the Salman-Himesh association were Tere Naam, Kyon Ki and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. He won a Filmfare Award in 2005 for Best Male Playback Singer for the title song of movie Aashiq Banaya Aapne. He became the first music composer to achieve this feat. He made his acting debut in film Aap Ka Suroor which was released on June 29, 2007.
Himesh has composed and directed music for various Hindi films such as Hello Brother (1999), Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (2000), Kurukshetra (2000), Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye (2000), Jodi No.1 (2001), Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa (2002), Humraaz (2002), Yeh Hai Jalwa (2002), Chura Liya Hai Tumne (2003), Zameen (2003), Bardaasht (2004), Run (2004), Aitraaz (2004), Dil Maange More (2004), Blackmail (2005), Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi (2005), Aksar (2006), Shaadi Se Pehle (2006), Banaras (2006), Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006), 36 China Town (2006), Tom Dick And Harry (2006), Phir Hera Pheri (2006), Anthony Kaun Hai? (2006), Ahista Ahista (2006), Aap Ki Khatir (2006), Dil Diya Hai (2006), Rocky (2006), Namastey London (2007), Red (2007), Shakalaka Boom Boom (2007), Good Boy Bad Boy (2007), Fool N Final (2007), Apne (2007), Aap Ka Suroor (2007) etc.

VISHAL DADLANI & SHEKHAR RAVJIANI

Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani are a music directing duo for Bollywood films. Vishal Dadlani is also the vocalist of Mumbai-based electronic band Pentagram and was a sometime-VJ at Channel V. Shekhar is a Gujarati and Vishal a Sindhi. Vishal is a vegeterian due to his love for animals. Shekhar is a trained classical singer and has a sound base of Indian music. Shekhar is married and has a daughter named Bipasha. The duo rose in prominence when they composed the score for the film Jhankaar Beats (2003), which included the hit song Tu Aashiqui Hai. Their efforts paid off when they won the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for movie Jhankaar Beats (2003). Their music for the film Musafir (2004) became very popular with youths, where they combined techno music with Indian sounds. The score of the film included the music hits Saaqi and Door Se Paas. The year 2005 was a good year for the duo as they composed the scores for three hit films: Salaam Namaste (2005), Dus (2005) and Bluffmaster (2005). Their music is a combination of Indian classical with western rock influence brought by Vishal.
They have composed music for several Hindi films such as Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999), Supari (2003), Rudraksh (2004), Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao (2004), Ek Ajnabee (2005), Dhoom 2 (2006), Zinda (2006), Taxi Number 9211 (2006), Golmaal (2006), I See You (2006), Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), Cash (2007), Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007), Om Shanti Om (2007) etc.
They were the judges on the Zee TV show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007.

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