MUMBAI: Swar Sangram the music reality show on ETV-Marathi has raised a controversy-should a singer be versatile and sings all kinds of songs or stick to one's own voice quality and sing only those kind of songs. The same question has been raised repeatedly in all the Hindi music reality shows, but has hit the Marathi screen for the first time. The show is in the continuation of another popular show aired on the same channel- Maze Jeevan Gaane.The 12 contestants for Swar Sangram were selected by well known poets and music directors -Raam Laxman, Yeshwant Deo, Sriniwas Khale, Anil Mohile, Vandana Vitankar, Shantaram Nandgaonkar, Meena Mangeshkar Khadikar, Dashrath Pujari, Shridhar Phadke, Sudhir Moghe, Late Vasantrao Desai, Vithal Umap,.Ashok Patki and Mangesh Padgaonkar. These personalities talked about their life's musical journey and compositions, and their songs were presented by four up-coming, young talented singers. Other well known singers also spoke and rendered songs of these personalities. At the end of each episode the said personality chose one best singer from the four. Swar Sangram is a singing competition between these selected 12 singers, this being the main difference between the regular singing contests and this show, that these singers are selected by the maker of the songs. ETV claims that the competition will be different with each episode having a different theme - Republic Day, the golden era of Marathi music, classical, women's day, Holi, albums , gazals, filmy masti, duets, regional songs, songs sung by non- Marathi singers, etc. The eminent music based celebrities are called to judge on the sets like - Padmaja Pheneni, The first lady of Marathi films-Sulochanadidi , Prajakta Shukre, Swapnil Bandodkar, Aarti Anklikar etc along with the regular judges-Sadhana Sargam and up coming music director-Mayuresh Pai. Music Personality Tyagraj Khadilkar is assigned the music mentor's role. Another interesting concept being introduced here is that for the first time Marathi films are being promoted in such a show, with their teams becoming and becoming a part of the judging.Films like Man Pakharu Pakharu, Mohini, Checkmate and Saaware Re have been promoted along with some of the top stars of the Marathi industry. The USP of this show is also that only the judges will decide the final winner and the SMS system will be applicable only for the last two episodes for the selection of the most popular singer- viewer's choice. These series have been shot in the picturesque Ramoji Film City on a huge set, never before seen on Marathi television, and conceived and directed by Madhavi Mutatkar. The mega final of Swar Sangram will be telecast on the 12th of April. It is aired every Saturday at 9pm on ETV-Marathi. To know more about all the controversy watch Swar Sangram this Saturday, 16 February at 9 pm only on ETV Marathi.