MUMBAI: General Entertainment Channel (GEC) Zee TV has undertaken a multi-front marketing and promotional blitz for its musical talent show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa', which is back after a two-year break.

Commencing from 29 September every Saturday and Sunday, the reality show has Hero as its main sponsor and already has a number of brands associating themselves with the product.

Already in the net are nine sponsors including big brands like Ferraro Rocher, Tata Motors (Consumer Vehicles), Lux undergarments, Kraft Kitchenware, Toshiba Color TV, Dell laptops and Microsoft, and Zee is holding talks with a couple more in the FMCG and auto industries.

To attract and retain viewership, Zee TV has also incorporated a number of innovations and changes in the show. The judges panel, which includes Bollywood music directors Shankar Mahadevan and Sajid-Wajid, also has fusion rock band Indian Ocean's vocalist and bassist Rahul Ram. Ram will overlook the ‘rock' songs and singers as the show extends its horizons beyond popular bollywood songs which have become the de rigueur of today's talent shows.

"There is a general perception that for a singer to be successful, he has to sing in bollywood. But that is not so. He can make it big by singing his original songs whether it's in the pop, classical or band format. What we will be looking for is a ‘spark' in the singing – whether it's a ghazal, pop or rock song-you don't need to dance around. We are looking for exclusivity in singing for a genre and will nurture that," Shankar Mahadevan said.

On stage, the contestants will perform their songs closer to the live studio band for a more ‘concert-like' feel and the interactions between the judges and contestants will be more in line with mentor-student than ‘guru- shishya'equation.

A number of mobile and internet based apps will enable viewers to contribute their views and opinions on the contestants.

The ‘Hot or Not' app will allow where people to sing one after the other with audiences rating them. There will be ‘interactive banners' with jumbled lyrics that test their knowledge of music.

The ‘Sur Tab' will have ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa' as syllables on a tab that can be arranged by a viewer to produce different music. Once arranged, the sur can be heard and shared by the viewer immediately.

The ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Mobile App' will have a media gallery of videos and photos, singing and music tutorials by mentors, anchor and contestants. Here, the viewers will get an opportunity to chat regularly with the mentors, anchors and contestants. There will also be a ‘Did You Know' option with trivia related to music. All these will also be available on the microsite, saregamapa.zeetv.com.

"Our aim is to customize the viewing experience with increased levels of audience engagement. Viewers now prefer watching content that not only entertains but also involves them. So, we have taken the interactivity route by understanding their inherent interest in music. There is a special round in the show where we will change the style and the chords of a song and the contestants will have to improvise it to gauge their knowledge of music," Zeel – content head (Hindi GECs) Ajay Bhalwankar said.

"It's not about competition but primarily we felt the need to innovate. We wanted to give them a genuine reason for watching our show. The judges, band and kinds of songs have all been selected taking many things into consideration. Even the audience on the sets is real audience whose voting is considered," he added.