|
NEW
DELHI: In a grand musical extravaganza, Prashant Tamang from
Darjeeling was last night crowned Indian Idol 3 after
a count of an estimated 70 million votes received through
SMS or mobiles.
Tamang,
who is of Nepali origin, is a constable with the Kolkata police.
The
grand finale last night saw actor John Abraham name Prashant
out of the two finalists, the other being Amit Paul of Shillong,
a great favourite in Delhi and the metros.
 In
addition to a recording contract with Sony BMG, Prashant was
awarded a contract worth Rs 10 million with Sony Entertainment
Television. Both Prashant and Amit were also awarded one Maruti
SX4 and one Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone.
Fireworks
lit up the sky as the winner was named after the slip containing
his name was taken out by Abraham. In a recent episode of
Indian Idol, Abraham had announced his preference for
Prashant.
After the announcement, Prashant took the blessings of the
judges and then gallantly walked to the front of the stage
with Amit, both holding the Sony Trophy presented to the winner.
As in the two earlier segments, the finale of the Indian
Idol was an all-male affair. Interestingly, Amit had been
eliminated in the earlier rounds but was chosen by the judges
to be brought back into the competition.
All the judges – lyricist Javed Akhtar, music director
Anu Malik, and singers Udit Narayan and Alisha Chinai –
were also present on the grand stage at the National Small
Industries Corporation Exhibition Ground in Okhla in south
Delhi. Others present were the parents of the two finalists,
and the presenters Mini Mathur and Hussain.
Both the finalists, Prashant and Amit, also met Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandi during two
days they were in the capital preparing for the finale. Congress
President Sonia Gandhi said that she's proud of the youngsters
and they are idols in their own way.
All
those who had qualified as the thirteen shortlisted after
the piano round presented musical items, including the title
song which they have rendered for the John Abraham- Bipasha
Basu starrer ‘Goal’.
Others who performed at the finale included Indipop singer
Mika and playback singer Sukhwinder Singh, apart from Malik,
Alisha, and Udit. Two former winners of Indian Idol,
Abhijeet Sawant and Sandeep Acharya also performed. The huge
audience was in raptures and stood in their seats as Sukhwinder
sang Chak De India.
A special item was the presentation of some of Anu’s
best songs by the two finalists, with Anu himself overseeing
the music accompaniment. Anu was also a judge in the first
two segments of Indian Idol.
Earlier, in interviews to indiantelevision.com, the judges
had said the aim of Indian Idol 3 had been to find
just one voice who would be ‘Bharat ki shaan’ (Pride
of India) and would be proficient in modern, classical, semi-classical,
pop and also in dancing. Indian Idol 3 was produced
for Sony Entertainment TV by the Delhi-based Miditech headed
by Niret and Nikhil J Alva.
The third series commenced as a Friday-Saturday show, starting
with 24 contestants and gradually coming down to 13, and then
two in the finals to select the lone winner. However, the
channel attempted to capitalize on the popularity by extending
it to other days of the week towards the beginning and then
the end.
|
