Song and dance

In a day and age when new daily soaps are churned out every week, NDTV Imagine has gone on air with a pinch-hitting show called Say Shava Shava. "It's like a Twenty20 match," says a channel representative, describing the sing-and-dance show which has TV stars pitting sur and steps against each other.

While the USP of the show has to be the presence of Simi Garewal and Karan Johar on the same judges' panel, the TV actors and actresses have taken up the challenge seriously.

Of the 10 participants on Say Shava Shava, Manish Goyal, Narayani Shastri and Mouni Roy came down to Calcutta to pitch their singing skills and earn more fans in this SMS-voted contest. Manish was the last man to say yes to the show. "I was first offered Jjhoom India by Sahara but I had refused it outright because I didn't believe I could sing," he recalls. "But then the show producers, who had also done Nach Baliye, told me that you couldn't dance before, so maybe you can sing as well… Even my friends and family asked me to give it a shot."

Mouni, who calls herself a "bathroom singer at the most", wanted to take a break from her daily soap routine.

"My mother is a very good singer but my interest always lay in dancing," she says. "But this was a refreshing opportunity. People would get to see me in different looks and it's also great money."

For Narayani, the sole reason she agreed to do Say Shava Shava was because she "really loves to sing". "I am very passionate about music," she says. "And the USP of the show is it doesn't go on for months. It is just 11 days. Above anything it is fun… like a festival. The one month of singing practice has also helped me clear a lot of wrong ideas about myself. Now I know exactly how good or bad a singer I am."

Manish agrees that Say Shava Shava is not about the best singers. "It is not like a Sa Re Ga Ma Pa or a Voice of India," he says. "I would rate myself one out of 10 as a singer. So for us it's more about enjoying every moment on the show. Of course, once you are in it, you give it your best."

With this unique 11-day celebrity singing format where everyday one of the contestants gets eliminated, there's every possibility that by the time you read this either of the three might be voted out. But they sure are better singers now.