Independence Day controversy hoax

The Independence Day special episode shot on August 10 (Week 15) ran into a controversy when the issue came up of the Pakistani contestants, Junaid, Mussarat and Amanat being acused of refusing to sing Indian patriotic songs. They did not refuse, it was just a rumor. This all was just a rumor created to seperate the Pakistanis and Indians. However, the next week, the three Pakistani singers landed in the Bottom Three category. It was then decided that none of the contestants 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.

Aneek-Abhijit controversy

On June 29, 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 competions, so infact there was no need for any controversey 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 least number of votes. Aneek Dhar is the only contestant along with Mussarat Abbas in Himesh Reshammiya's 'gharana'. However Aneek Dhar has been in the Bottom 2 once (till date Aug.26 2007 IST) Aneek was also the top contestant on 24th August 2007 IST

The "Love Story"

Throughout the show a love story has been promoted by Himesh Reshamiya. It has been said that supposedly Aneek proposed to Barbie Doll, Sumedha, but she rejected him and later she was proposed to by Amanat. Amanat and Aneek's love story has been promoted mainly by Himesh Reshamiya, but it has also been stated that the story is false by many. Although many declare that this conclusion has no base, Himesh still advocates it because as he said he believes while he is on the show he will. The fact is that the contestant's families are not being considered and this has upset many because Aneek's parents were dissapointed at him after hearing this story. Many conclude that they are sticking to this story for "masala", but the truth is still to be revealed like in many controversies. Lets see what happens. Now that Sumedha has been eliminated, this love story promotion has stopped and it has been said that after Sumedha was eliminated, she told on the show that she was tormented by Himesh and Aneek's remarks about their "alleged" love story. This was not aired on television.

About The Show

Like other singing competitions, the concept of this season of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa was to discover singing talent. However, this time the show had also targeted hidden talent outside India. With Zee TV being broadcast internationally via satellite, it was an attempt that promised more viewers of the show and definite success.

This time round, the idea was to conduct auditions all over the world and select the top singers from different regions who would then compete against each other on stage in front of hundreds of thousands of television viewers. The initial rounds were judged by notable artistes from the Indian music industry as well as the mentors who subsequently selected the top 14 finalists. Currently, the finalists are performing in each episode with the goal of being the winner of the season which all depends on public voting.

Beginning in mid-March 2007, Zee News aired audition clips of the upcoming season. The short news feature presented some of the judges opinions, short clips of contestants auditioning and audition date details. The season's pilot episodes began as a two-night, one-hour premiere that aired on 4 May and 5 May 2007 at 10:30 p.m. (UTC +5:30) in India and 6:00 p.m. (UTC -7:00) on Canada's ATN Channel. Starting the following week, regular scheduled hours of the program aired on Fridays and Saturdays.

Zee TV's SRGMP 2007 is also in competition with the 3rd season of Sony Entertainment Television's Indian Idol which also premiered on the same date and Star Plus's Star Voice of India which premiered three weeks later. But the TRP Rating of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 is much more than these other shows. Additionally Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Hungama, a behind-the-scenes show similar to American Idol Extra, also starting airing, corresponding with the start of the finals. It airs on Zee Muzic on Fridays and Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. (UTC +5:30). The production of each episode is filmed 5 days earlier than the broadcast date.