the first episode aired on 1 may 1995 and was hosted by sonu nigam. in the year 1999, the show was hosted by the bangash brothers, amaan ali bangash and ayaan ali bangash, sons of legendary sarod-player amjad ali khan. from 2002, shaan started hosting the show. till 2005, the show used to follow a format wherein experts in the field of music would judge the contestants and score them. the format changed with the advent of "sa re ga ma pa challenge 2005" which introduced the judges as mentors of different teams and scoring was primarily dependent on public voting. after shaan quit hosting the show, the show was hosted by many others like purab kohli, manish paul, karan singh rathore, archana jani, vipul roy, jay soni and even kids dhairya sorecha &amp; afsha musani. the most prominent names to host the show in later seasons were javed ali and the current host aditya narayan.