Reshammiya is celebrity judge on 'Ek Main...' music contest ...

By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service

Mumbai, (IANS) Himesh Reshammiya, who whipped up such interest as a judge on "Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005", will be back this week in the music contest's new avatar "Ek Main Aur Ek Tu" as a star judge.

"I had a great time. To me being on 'Ek Main Aur Ek Tu' seemed no different from 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa'. Some contestants were really good. I really enjoyed Twinkle-Biswas and Aishwarya-Ujjaini's performances," Reshammiya told IANS.

"To have them sing together in a compatible unit is not easy. I think the 'Sa Re Ga Ma' participants who had to sing solo had it much easier.

"On 'Ek Main...' the two singers have to match each other's scales and styles. That means they have to lose some of their singing identity to accommodate their partner. That isn't easy," explained Reshammiya.

Gajendra Singh, the excited show-director, said: "It was like a homecoming for him."

"Himesh is as charged and revved-up on 'Ek Main Aur Ek Tu' this week as he used to be on 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa'. He encouraged the contestants by praising them profusely rather than being unnecessarily stingy with compliments."

It should be mentioned here that last week's star-judge Alka Yagnik seemed to be unnecessarily harsh in her judgement on all the female contestants on "Ek Main..."

"Himesh was a riot. He was so charged, he enthused the participants," said Singh.

Himesh even sings his "Aap Ka Suroor" tracks with these singing couples.

One singing pair, Raktima and Vishwanath, gets eliminated this week. "Due to Vishwanath's misconduct last week they lost out on a lot of votes. Our audiences aren't into vulgar antics," said Singh.