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Now…STAR Plus to do ‘Lil Champs’ to rival ZEE

STAR Plus will be launching its own version of ‘Lil Champs’, to rival the ZEE TV show, which starts this weekend.

ZEE TV has witnessed viewers in their droves tuning in to ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Challenge 2007’, making it the channel’s most watched show over the last few months.

With ‘Challenge 2007’ getting over last weekend, the start of its children’s format ‘Lil Champs’ gets underway this Saturday (20th October), however STAR Plus said it wanted to “shock” ZEE TV with its latest move.

STAR Plus has already attempted to rival ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa: Challenge 2007’ by launching ‘Voice Of India’ (a similar singing talent hunt show), which has been lagging in the ratings compared to the ZEE TV show.

Former ZEE producer Gajendra Singh, director of ‘Voice of India’ confirmed the developments to Mumbai Mirror, “I won’t deny that we are definitely working on a music show with kids for Voice of India but it is too early to reveal the format and the details. There is still some time left for the show and I am busy with the finale of Voice of India. We are having brain storming sessions and once everything is done, we will inform you.”

To add fuel to the fire, STAR Plus has quickly got in there to sign up music director Pritam as a judge for the kids version of ‘Voice Of India’. As we revealed last week, ZEE TV was in talks with Pritam to join the judging panel, however for some reason talks fell through and STAR Plus grabbed the opportunity. Singers Sonu Nigam and Suresh Wadaker will be a part of the ZEE TV show.

Pritam Chakravarthy says, “Yes it is true that Zee TV had offered me the show but it didn’t work out. I am doing some other music-based reality show but I will not live to reveal anything at this point of time.”

Taking a confrontative stance, Ashish Kaul, Executive VP Zeel (ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited) told Mumbai Mirror, “Well, we already know who the loser is. Some days back, the Bombay High Court had given the verdict that STAR is the loser in terms of the originality of the concept of Antakshri. No one can claim that the concept of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa or Antakshri or Little Champs, be it Gajendra Singh or STAR. They might make some technical changes and start Little Champs but ultimately it will be the merit of the show which will prevail. As far as STAR goes, the history says that whenever STAR has attempted to copy a format, be it Voice of India, Betiyaan or Antakshari, they have fallen straight on their faces. It is just an attempt to re-make what ZEE has been doing successfully over the years.”