| All of Mumbai is abuzz with the news of Men In Black megastar Will Smith coming to town. What no one knows is that Will is coming to town with the express purpose of launching Sony Entertainment’s new English-language channel, Sony Pix. And while he’s here, Will will make a guest appearance on Sony’s Indian Idol. Confirming the telecasting coup, Sony’s head of on-air programming, Anupama Mandloi, says, “Will Smith is indeed coming to Mumbai to launch our channel and to participate in the Filmfare Awards next week. While he’s here he’ll be making an appearance on Indian Idol in the episode where Karan Johar will feature as guest judge. Will Smith will obviously not contribute to judging the contestants. But he’s quite a music person. And, in fact, we’ve plans to get another Sony artiste, Ricky Martin, to come on the show.” Sony in fact has plans to fill Indian Idol with super-celebrity guests from now until the finals.
This could be the most prestigious star judge line-up in the history of a music contest. Though the team is tight-lipped about it, plans are afoot to bring the three Bharat Ratnas of music — Ravi Shankar, Bismillah Khan and Lata Mangeshkar — together for the finals of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on February 24. “We’ve already confirmed Pandit Ravi Shankar. He has always been kind to our show. He has cancelled a concert in Calcutta to attend our grand finale. The other two Bharat Ratnas are yet to be confirmed. If they attend this would be the only platform to feature all three Ratnas of Indian music together,” says Sa Re Ga Ma Pa producer Gajendra Singh. Other musical stalwarts who have already said ‘yes’ for the finale include Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, and Ghazal singers Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali. “In fact, Ghulam Ali Saab is coming specially from Pakistan to be with us for the finals. Since Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has Ghulam Ali Saab’s continuous blessings we decided he must be part of the event,” says Singh. Among the stars expected to grace the show today at the Andheri Sports Complex there’s Boney Kapoor and Sridevi, Fardeen Khan, Bhoomika Chawla and Emraan Hashmi. “The real stars of the evening would be the two finalists, Debojit and Vinit. The two female contestants, Nihira and Himani, will also be joining the finalists,” reveals Gajendra Singh. |
