Lata Mangeshkar plans new reality show sans public voting

At 83, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar is ready to launch her music label LM MUSIC, and also plans to introduce a reality show with a new voting pattern. The idea, she says, is not to make money, but to promote fresh talent.

"I have always been a singer. With this new music label, I don't intend to just make money. I want to promote new talents, who can genuinely sing well and are looking for a break," Lata told IANS in an interview.

She has major plans for the same.

"I am planning to come up with a singing reality show, where there will be some well-known and experienced judges. I am looking at a new way for this show, where there will be no audience voting and it will be only the judges who will choose the winners. This is what I am planning. But let us see how things fall in place," said the veteran, who has been in the industry for the past seven decades.

Lata, whose younger sister Asha Bhosle was on the judges panel of "Indian Idol 6", is upset with how deserving candidates sometimes lose out on their golden chance due to public voting.

She admits it is is one of the reasons she has stayed away from reality shows all this while.

"I have been watching many reality shows, where because of the public voting, there is only one winner and the other good singers miss the opportunity. Unfortunately, I don't see any of these singers, who got the platform of the reality show, getting a perfect break. This is very sad," she rued.

In 1996, Lata was part of a music reality show Meri Awaz Suno, in which she was among the judges who chose young and talented Sunidhi Chauhan without any voting system.

"I can still recall long time back, Madan Mohan, Pandit Jasraj and I had judged a show and we chose Sunidhi Chauhan as the winner. At that time, we had no public voting. Now see where the girl has gone and she has proved herself," said the singer, known for evergreen numbers like Aaja re pardesi, Kahi deep jale kahi dil, Beeti na bitaai raina, Tere bina zindagi se and Tere bina jiya jaaye na.

The living legend will unveil her music label in Mumbai Sunday. As part of the same, she is also launching an album. Lata says it is the perfect time to come up with such a project.

"Earlier it never struck me to come up with a music label. Now when I had time, I decided to do so. We are launching six albums, which are a mix of Sufi and spirituality," she said.

Further on, LM Music will launch albums featuring numbers by Lata herself, as well as by talents that she will handpick personally.