MUMBAI: While humanity strives to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic challenge, we need a strong force to bind us as a collective and inspire us, as a community, to rally and support the front-line care-givers and workers who have toiled selflessly for the greater good.  And there is nothing better than Music which holds the amazing power to unite, heal and uplift the mood of the nation. In fact, ever since its inception 25 years ago, India’s longest-running non-fiction franchise – Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has leveraged the power of music in uplifting the common man – giving him the country’s most definitive platform to showcase his singing talent. It is only befitting, then, that with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa crossing its 25-year milestone in 2020, Zee TV is coming up with an industry first initiative, Ek Desh Ek Raag, to help humanity rise above the gloom of the pandemic through the power of music. ‘Ek Desh Ek Raag’ will start on 23rd May with a 25-hour Music Marathon on digital. The 25 Year milestone will culminate in a grand Ek Desh Ek Raag concert on 24th May, 7 PM onwards in 10 national languages across 19 ZEE channels with the most iconic faces of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa singing from the confines of their homes. 

 While various top artists like Himesh Reshammiya, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Richa Sharma, Javed Ali, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Kamal Khan and Debojit amongst others are coming together to sing for this noble initiative, India’s favourite singer-cum-host Shaan will be seen hosting Ek Desh, Ek Raag.  The ace musician has been a host of the musical franchise several times and he is kicked about hosting Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’s silver jubilee fund-raiser!  In fact, he even shared a few interesting anecdotes from 2002 when he was hosting the show. He mentioned how he had dreams about being on the stage and welcoming everyone to Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The musician also used to leave his wife scared by starting to recite the lines he had memorised in his sleep. At a time when there were no teleprompters or one-ear mics, Shaan used to memorise all his lines from scratch. This not only enabled him to deliver his lines with flourish, but also improvise and get more spontaneous. Well, Shaan is truly the best at what he does!

 Talking about reciting his lines in his sleep, Shaan revealed, "I used to wake up from sleep at times and say 'Welcome everybody to Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' and my wife used to think that I have gone mad. But those were the days!  I don’t know if I was the best host or not, but back in the day, things weren't as easy and I put in a considerable amount of effort to ensure I did my best. I was somebody who didnt have a strong command over spoken Hindi and neither did we have teleprompters to help us with our cues. So we had to stand beside the participants even while they were performing only to boost their morale and had to remember every line and every cue by heart. There was no scope for mistakes and everything was manual. But I guess that's what made it natural."

The singer also mentioned how it is now difficult for him to host, but he is quite kicked about Ek Desh Ek Raag. As Shaan added, "To be honest, I will be turning 50 in three years and since my eyes have lesser optical power now, I wear glasses. So the teleprompter is a big issue for me while hosting these days. But, I feel honoured to be the sutradhaar of this industry-first concert where the most popular faces of the franchise cutting across regional boundaries perform for India during such a testing time from the confines of their homes. I urge our viewers to do their bit for the underprivileged as proceeds of the concert and the 25 hour LIVE-athon across ZEE's official Facebook pages will go to the India COVID Response Fund by GiveIndia,the fundraiser platform that is working towards Covid-19 relief with partner NGOs".

How excited are you to see Shaan host Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Ek Desh Ek Raag?

Tune into the official Facebook page of ZEE TV for 25 Hour special LIVE-athon on 23rd May and the musical concert ‘Ek Desh, Ek Raag’ on 24th May at 7 pm across all ZEE channels!

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