Li’l Champs big night all lit with stars

While the competition for the coveted cup of SaReGaMaPa Li'l Champs intensifies with the unveiling of the top six contestants, the show will see a glorious end next week in Jaipur. Sangeeta Yadav talks to the all the finalists about their experience and who they think will walk away with the title

‘I want to be like AR Rahman’

He tasted success at a very young age when he won a singing show in Kerala and his audition performance went viral, making him an overnight star and earning him more than 4 lakh hits on his Facebook page. Meet 15-year-old Vaishnav Girish from Kondungallur village of Trichur district who started singing at age six. “I got a lot of grooming in singing that will help me to make a successful career in this field. I learnt how to perform live and have become more confident now. My best memory from the show was when I lifted Shah Rukh Khan on my shoulder. He is my favourite actor and I never thought I could do that. The judges have been very supportive. I aspire to become like AR Rahman one day and learn music and sound engineering. Out of the top six, I feel Dhroon is the toughest competitor as he has been a very good performer throughout the show,” Girish says.

from low to high scorer

For 11-year-old Dhroon Tickoo from Amritsar, who was also a participant of The Voice India Kids, 2016, singing and acting is passion. Coming from a non-music background, Tickoo sees a growth in himself as a singer — from being the low scorer on the show to scaling new heights.

 “I had little knowledge about singing but after coming to SaReGaMaPa, I learnt how to perform with the right expressions. I just carried a positive approach to everything and worked on my performance. Out of the top six, Shreyan is the toughest contestant as he is a very good classical singer and has always impressed the judges and scored high. After the show will get over, I will miss the friends that I made here, all the delicious food, the learning process, singing with the audience and the fun moments with judges and jury members,” says Tickoo, who aspires to be a music composer, singer and actor.

Great learning experience

A child prodigy, 11-year-old Shreyan Bhattacharya from Kolkata started training in music at  age four. Before coming to the show, Bhattacharya also released a music album in Bengali titled Hridayer Gaan, which won him the Radio Mirchi Award. Considered to be the toughest competitor to other finalists, Shreyan, who also loves drawing, listening to music and playing video games in his free time, aspires to become a versatile singer. “I have grown a lot as a singer in this show. Earlier, I used to focus less on the tone of the song  but on this show, I worked a lot on it with the help of the mentors and judges. Jury challenges used to be very tough. Once I sang a song with a piano player and it was very challenging,” he says, adding that his best performance so far has been singing the Aayat song from the film Bajirao Mastani.

Something new every time

A music enthusiast from Vishakhapatnam, 13-year-old Shanmukhapriya has always believed in giving her best and something different in each performance. Coming from a music background, Shanmukhapriya started training in singing at a very early age and before SaReGaMaPa, she has also participated in many singing competitions across the country, including Zee Telugu’s Little Champs.

 “I like to add something different and new in every performance. Both my mother and father are singers. My mother did her MA in music and my father plays the veena. From a very early age, they started training me and that really helped me groom. But on SaReGaMaPa, all the mentors and judges helped me grow as a singer. The jury round used to be very challenging. I had to sing a lot of fusion. I did yodelling, sung an opera song and also sung to new instruments. I aspire to become a successful playback singer one day,” Shanmukhapriya tells you.

Aspire to be like Kaushaki Chakravarty

She idolises Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, and also has a song to her name in the movie Sachin A Billion Dream. Eleve-year-old Anjali Gaekwad from Ahmednagar has come a long way having taken vocal training from her father, a music teacher by profession.

“Experience on the SaReGaMaPa show has been very good so far. I get to learn the right way of doing the riyaaz and made some really good friends whom I am going to miss a lot after the show. The feeling of being united, singing together and learning from each other is great. If I win, I would like to hold a party for my friends back in my hometown. I aspire to become a popular classical singer like Kaushaki Chakravarty,” Gaekwad says.

Apart from singing, she likes to do various extra-curricular activities and has won several accolades in the sports field too. She is a complete foodie and loves to experiment with different types of cuisines.

‘Got the right ascent’

From a very young age, 13-year-old Sonakshi Kar from Kolkata, aspired to sing in front of Lataji and Ashaji and a part of it came true on this show when she sang in front of Ashaji. A trained singer and Bharatnatyam dancer, Kar has been getting training in singing since the age of three.

“Being a Bengali, I faced some problem to speak in Hindi fluently. My ascent improved a lot on this show. A lot of mistakes that I was making got corrected by the judges and jury members and my understanding of songs and singing became deeper. For the rest of my life, I will cherish all the moments and remember spending time with my new friends.  I sing a lot of melodies but jury challenged me a lot to sing different genres and bring various variations. I feel Dhroon is the toughest competitor because when he sings, his tone never shakes and hits the right chords by singing accurately,” says Kar who, apart from singing, also loves badminton, dancing, painting and swimming.