''Star Voice of India'' is an Indian television singing competition that premiered on 18 May 2007 and ended on 24 November 2007 on

StarPlus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented realit ...

. The show was directed by Gajendra Singh, creator of the

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa'' is an Indian Hindi-language reality singing television show. It started airing on Zee TV in 1995 as ''Sa Re Ga Ma''. It is the oldest running game show in India as well as the oldest show on private television in India. The ...

series, and produced by Urban Brew Studios. It also featured judges from the

series,

Aadesh Shrivastava Aadesh Shrivastava (4 September 1964 – 5 September 2015) was a music composer and playback singer who worked in Indian films. Initially, he had worked as a drummer to music composers including R. D. Burman, Rajesh Roshan before working indepe ...

Abhijeet Bhattacharya Abhijeet Bhattacharya (born 30 October 1958), professionally known as Abhijeet, is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings in the Hindi film industry. As well as Hindi, he has sung in his native language Bengali and in other languages inc ...

Alka Yagnik Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. One of the most prominent singers of 1990s era Bollywood, she has received several accolades, including two National Film Awards, two Ben ...

, Lalit Pandit and Jatin Pandit. Shaan, who had previously been hosting

. The winner of the show was

Ishmeet Singh Sodhi ''Ishmeet Singh'' (2 September 1988 – 29 July 2008) was a winning singer on the STAR Plus show Amul STAR Voice of India. Hailing from Model town, Ludhiana of Punjab, Ishmeet won the Star Plus show in 2007 and also participated in another real ...

Star Voice of India

Prizes

The prizes offered to the winner were:- * A contract for a personal album with Big Music * A Chevrolet Car

Standard auditions

Auditions for the show were held in the Indian cities shown below. The judges chose 17 contestants out of the thousands that had auditioned and the 17 contestants performed on the first two episodes of the show. The Auditions were held in the following cities in India each between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. : *

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

: Swabhumi 89 C, Maulana Abdul Kalam Avenue (700054) - 29 April *

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

: Bhavans College, Munshi Nagar, Dadabhai Road, Andheri West - 4 May *

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

: Hotel Fortune Land Mark, Vijaynagar, Indore - 5 May *

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

: Shankarlal Hall Delhi University Main Campus - 11 May *

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

: Jai Club, Mahavir Marg, C Scheme, Jaipur - 12 May *

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

: Ravindralaya Auditorium, Charbagh, Lucknow - 18 May

Shortcut to auditions

In addition, there was another way to audition from 1 May 2007 at 9:00 a.m. to 10 May 2007 at 11:59 p.m. that required the participant to be a subscriber and registered user of Hutchison Essar Telecom Limited ("

Hutch Hutch may refer to: Places * Hutch, Kentucky, an unincorporated community located in Bell County, Kentucky, United States * Hutchinson, Kansas ("Hutch"), a city in Kansas, United States * Hutchinson, Minnesota ("Hutch"), a city in Minnesota, U ...

"). The participant had to call 12399 from their Hutch mobile number and follow the instructions that required the participant to sing a song from their phone and leave personal details that were recorded. If the participant did not follow all the instructions given to them, the participant's entry was rendered null and void. Inaudible and unclear entries were also not accepted. The participant was only allowed to sing Hindi songs with a duration of up to 60 seconds. Singing for longer than 60 seconds also rendered one's entry null and void. Of all the participants that entered, the producers and representatives listened to a hundred randomly selected entries that were received during the contest and selected 5 winning participants that were believed to have the best voice among those who entered. After five contestants were chosen, they were finally eligible to directly participate in the official auditions of the show held in Lucknow without having to wait in the queue for the auditions.

Top contestants

Contestants are noted here in reverse chronological order of elimination. *

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

(Winner) (Deceased 29 July 2008) * Harshit Saxena -

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

(Runner-up) *

Abhilasha Venkatachalam Abhilasha may refer to: TV and film * Abhilasha (TV series), ''Abhilasha'' (TV series), an Indian Telugu-language soap opera, on air 2019–2020 * Abhilasha (1968 film), ''Abhilasha'' (1968 film), an Indian Hindi-language romance * Abhilasha (19 ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

(Jury's Choice-Female)* *Sumitra Iyer -

* Abhas Joshi -

Jabalpur Jabalpur, formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative h ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

(Jury's Choice) (Wildcard entry) *

Toshi Sabri Toshi Sabri is an Indian singer and music composer. He gained fame with the song "Maahi" from the 2009 Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular t ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

(Wildcard entry) * Mohammed Irfan -

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

*Priyani Vani -

(Wildcard entry) * Mirande Shah -

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

* Arshpreet Kaur -

* Prantik Sur -

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

* Prantika Mukherjee -

Galas

In the galas, the contestants were distributed among two teams The Agni team was hosted by Lalit Pandit and

and the Prithvi team was hosted by

and

while Jatin Pandit remained neutral. * In Gala 1, all the 12 contestants performed on stage. This Gala introduced the viewers to the contestants' voting details. * In Gala 2

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Indian television and international films. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a ...

and Akshay Khanna were the guest judges and every contestant sang song from

's films. * In Gala 3, the boys sang the songs of

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern India ...

and the girls sang the songs of

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; ; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the ...

Amit Kumar Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, ...

and his brother were the guest judges of the day. It was elimination day. Abhas, Prantika, Arshpreet and Prantik were in the danger zone but no one was eliminated. * In Gala 4, the theme was love and all the contestants sang romantic songs. * In Gala 5, everyone sang songs of their choice. It was elimination day. Prantika, Prantik and Abhilasha were in the bottom three and Prantika was eliminated. * In Gala 6, everyone sang the songs of the music director Pritam Chakravarthy as he was the guest judge. * In Gala 7, singer

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, music director, dubbing artist and actor. He is one of the most versatile singers and widest vocal ranges in the history of Indian music. His songs vary from romantic to break-up, cla ...

was the celebrity judge and all the contestants sang his songs. It was elimination day. Prantik, Irrfaan, Priyani and

were in the danger zone and Prantik was eliminated. * In Gala 8,

Mahesh Bhatt Mahesh Bhatt (born 20 September 1948) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mahesh Bhatt, a number of accolades, including four Nati ...

Pooja Bhatt Pooja Bhatt (born 24 February 1972) is an Indian actress, director, and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of the 1990s and is the recipient of several accolades, including two National ...

and

Mukesh Bhatt Mukesh Bhatt (born 5 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian film producer and actor who has produced several Bollywood films. He is the younger brother of Mahesh Bhatt, and also the co-owner of the production company Vishesh Films, set up in 19 ...

were the celebrity judges and all the contestants sang songs from their films or from films under the Vishesh Films' banner. * In Gala 9, all the contestants sang singer

Sunidhi Chauhan Sunidhi Chauhan (pronounced ; born Nidhi Chauhan, 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer. Known for her Bold vocal range, she has recorded songs for films in several Indian languages and List of awards and nominations received by Sunidhi ...

's songs. It was elimination day and the four contestants who came in bottom 4 were Mirande, Abhilasha, Sumitra and Arshpreet. The latter was eliminated. * In Gala 10, everyone went to their roots in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

as they sang regional songs from their respective regions. The guests were

Jimmy Shergill Jimmy Sheirgill (born Jasjit Singh Gill; 3 December 1970), also known as Jimmy Shergill, is an Indian actor and producer who primarily works in Hindi and Punjabi films. Sheirgill began his film career with the 1996 thriller '' Maachis''. His ...

Preeti Jhangiani Preeti Jhangiani (born 18 August 1980) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi and Telugu films. She made her acting debut with the Malayalam film '' Mazhavillu'' (1999) and her Hindi debut with the multi-starrer romantic film ''Moha ...

and Sonia Mehra, who all came to promote their movie Victoria No. 203.

Wild Card Entry

Eliminated contestants on the show were given another chance to prove their talent through a wildcard entry episode which was started on request of judge Jatin Pandit. Wildcard contestants were judged by renowned personalities of music industry. The Wildcard Contestants were: *Abhaas *Priyani *

*Arshpreet *Prantik On Friday, 5 October,

, Abhas and Priyani made it to the top three among the wildcard contestants. Originally, the hosts had intended to select only two of these three, and

and Abhas had scored the highest votes. Abhas had scored only 16 votes more than Priyani, hence all the judges revised their decision and pressed for Priyani to be brought back into the show, citing that a difference of 16 votes is negligible in a contest where hundreds of thousands of votes are sent.

Grand finale

The Grand Finale was held on 24 November 2007.

was the winner and Harshit Saxena was the runner-up. From the South Zone, Harshit received 55% of the votes; in the East Zone, he received 52% of the votes and from the West Zone he received 60% of the votes. However, counting the North Zone votes, Ishmeet won. Also, Abhaas won the Jury Award.

Winner

The winner of the first Star Voice of India was thus officially declared as Ishmeet Singh, who hails from

. After winning the show, he released a religious album called "Satgur Tumre Kwaaj Saware". He supposedly died in a drowning accident, on 29 July 2008. Evidence was found to say that he was murdered.

Chhote Ustaad

The director, Gajendra Singh and production house, Urban Brew Studios, then continued the series with a version for juniors called "Amul Star Voice of India Chhote Ustaad," meant for children between the ages of 8 and 14. The series was hosted by Voice of India Jury-Award winner Abhaas Joshi and judges

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (; born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and influential singers of India. Often referred to as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable voc ...

Kunal Ganjawala Kunal Ganjawala (born 14 April 1972) is an Indian playback singer whose songs are mostly featured in Hindi, Bengali, and Kannada films. He has also sung in Marathi, and other official languages of India. Kunal began his career by singing ji ...

, and

Pritam Pritam Chakraborty (born 14 June 1971), also popularly known mononymously as Pritam, is a National Award winning Indian composer, instrumentalist, music producer and singer. Graduating from FTII in Sound Engineering, he worked as an ad jin ...

Contestants

* Aishwarya (Winner) Announced by Amitabh Bachchan. * Anwesha (Active - Runner Up: Second Place) *Alpansh (Eliminated) * Gitashree Shil (Amika Shail) (Eliminated) *Shailey (Eliminated) * Mansi Bhardwaj (Eliminated) *Abeer (Eliminated) *Areeb (Eliminated) *Jayant (Eliminated) *Vyom (Eliminated) *Prakriti (Eliminated) (Wild Card Entrant) *Sonia (Eliminated) (jury's choice award winner) *Rigved (Eliminated) (Challenger)

Grand finale

The grand finale took place on 5 April 2008.

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

and

Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla Mehta ( Chawla; born 13 November 1967) is an Indian actress. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and vivacious on-screen ...

were the chief guests. Aishwarya was announced as the winner. Both Anwesha and Aishwarya are going to United States for a stage show. The Grand Finale was hosted by Abhaas Joshi and Shaan.

Season 2

Star Voice of India 2 premiered on 18 July 2008. It Stands for Second Season of Gajendra Singh and Urban Brew's previous Show Star Voice of India. This season replaces all old judges with three new judges. The two finalists on the show were Ravi Shukla and Saptaparna Chakraborty. A three-hour grand finale was held at the

Andheri Andheri (Help:IPA/Marathi, �n̪d̪ʱeɾiː is a suburb situated in Western Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Government and politics For administrative purposes, Andheri is bifurcated into Andheri (west) and Andheri (east). Andheri (west) comes ...

Sport's Complex in

on 21 December, in the presence of prominent singers like

Jagjit Singh Jagjit Singh (born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman; 8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in List of languages by number of native speakers in India, numerous languages and is credite ...

Ila Arun Ila Arun is an Indian actress, TV personality and Rajasthani folk-pop singer known for her works in Hindi cinema, and Indian pop. She has appeared in many prominent Bollywood films such as '' Lamhe'', ''Jodhaa Akbar'', '' Shaadi Ke Side Effe ...

and

. During the course of the finale, the finalists conducted several performances and were often joined by their former rivals, in a spirit of co-operation and unity. A special remembrance video was assembled to remember the late Ishmeet Singh, who was the first winner of Star Voice of India series. In order to sustain his memory, the show presented the first Ishmeet Singh Singing Award to Ronit Sonar of Assam, a contestant on the show. At the end of the show, Ravi Shukla of Delhi was crowned the winner by guest

. As part of the winner's package, Ravi was awarded a brand new

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

car along with a cheque for Rs. 2.5 million. In addition to the bonus gift, Ravi was awarded an exclusive contract with T-Series to launch his first album. Both Ravi and Saptaparna were awarded trophies by their "gurus",

Monty Sharma Monty Sharma (born 17 April 1970) is a music composer from India scoring music for Bollywood. He is popular for being the background music composer for ''Black'' (2005), '' Ram-Leela'' (2013) and music director for ''Saawariya'' (2007). He is cou ...

and

Ismail Darbar Ismail Darbar is an Indian film score composer, instrumentalist, singer, violinist and music director. He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for '' Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' (1999). Career Ismail Darbar is from Surat, Gu ...

respectively.

Host

* Shaan

Judges

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He sang " Jai Ho" in the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'', for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Televisi ...

Contestants

Chote Ustad Season 2

Amul Star Voice Of India Chote Ustad Season 2 is hosted by Chinmayi and

Omi Vaidya Omi Vaidya (born January 10, 1982) is an American actor of Indian descent who works in Bollywood films. He is best known for his performance as Chatur Ramalingam or "Silencer" in the 2009 buddy-drama film, '' 3 Idiots''. In addition, Vaidya has ...

. The judges are

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Punjabi singer, primarily Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kha ...

and

. There are 20 contestants, 10 from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and 10 from

. The contestants are divided into ten groups with one contestant from India and one from Pakistan in a group. The following are the contestants: Contestants from India * Ansh Pandey (Eliminated) * Rishabh Chaturvedi * Sayantan Paul (Eliminated) (Wild Card Entrant) * Mayuri Dey (Eliminated) * Satinder Shanu (Eliminated) * Akanksha Sharma * Bhanu Pratap Agnihotri (Eliminated) * Dipan Mitra (Eliminated) * Debanjana Karmakar (Eliminated) * Shyamantan Das (Eliminated) Contestants from Pakistan * Wania Jibran(Eliminated) * Shahid Ali (Eliminated) * Sayyed Mair Hasan (Eliminated) * Rosemary Mushtaq (Eliminated) * Fariha Akram (Eliminated) * Rouhan Abbas * Ahsan Ali (Eliminated) (Wild Card Entrant) * MOHD. Fahad (Eliminated) * Farrukh Moon * Faisal (Eliminated) The Pairings: * Ansh Pandey and Wania Jibran(Eliminated) * Satinder Shanu and Shahid Ali (Eliminated) * Mayuri Dey and Sayyed Mair Hasan (Eliminated) * Bhanu Pratap Aghnihotri and Ahsan Ali (Eliminated) * Rishabh Chaturvedi and Farrukh Moon * Debanjana Karmakar and Faisal (Eliminated) * Dipan Mitra and Fariha Akram (Eliminated) * Rosemary Mushtaq and Shyamantan Das (Eliminated) * Sayantan Paul and Mohammad Fahad (Eliminated) * Akanksha Sharma and Rouhan Abbas Wild Card Pairing: * Sayantan Paul and Ahsan Ali Grand Finale The Grand Finale was held on 10 October 2010. In third place was the Wild Card entry pair of Sayantan Paul and Ahsan Ali. In second place was the pair of Rishabh Chaturvedi and Farrukh Moon. The winner of Chote Ustaad 2010 was the pair of Akanksha Sharma and Rouhan Abbas. Shyamantan Das received a special Jury's Award because of his outstanding performance throughout the show.

External links

Official Site

References

{{Shreya Ghoshal 2007 Indian television series debuts 2010 Indian television series endings Indian reality television series StarPlus original programming