Mumbai, (IANS): Composer-actor Himesh Reshammiya and singer Neha Kakkar have been roped in to judge the upcoming sixth season of children singing reality show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs".

Himesh said in a statement: "I am thrilled to be part of the show. Zee Group, Subhash ji (Subhash Chandra) and Punit ji (Punit Goenka) are my family. I have started my career as a serial producer with them at the age of 16 with serial ‘Andaz', when I was a kid myself.
"Later I produced seven other shows with the group. I've had a long association with ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' and for me it's like coming back to my home ground, my family."

The auditions for the new season kicked-off in Bhubaneshwar on December 2. The 16-city auditions have been held in Guwahati, Patna, Indore, Gwalior, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Lucknow and aims to cover the remaining cities including Nagpur, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.

On her association with the show, Neha said: "I'm excited to be associated with the most prestigious and definitive singing platform on Indian television. I started with being a contestant of a reality show and now I'm judging one.

"When I was offered a chance to judge this show, I instantly took it up. ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' has always presented talent across India a window of opportunity to learn, train under the guidance of the finest experts in the industry, mature and evolve as performers and above all, has paved the way to a career in playback for countless talented singers."