MUMBAI: Close on the heels of its national rivals which had been 'bombing' the TV entertainment scenario with talent hunts, the South Indian music channel Southern Spice (SS) Music made big splash across all the major South Indian cities with its hunt for singers.

After the one-month long preliminary rounds held in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi and Coimbatore, The Fanta Voice Hunt will culminate on Sunday, 26 September with the channel announcing the final four winners.

The 24 candidates who had sailed through the earlier rounds have been participating in a 10-day long workshop in Chennai. Now the final four will be selected on the basis of voice, dance, fashion and personality.

The channel has roped in experts in the areas of music and fashion as jury members who will give the final verdict. They include prominent South Indian singer Sreenivaas, dancer John Brito, fashion expert Chaitanya Rao and music director Praveen Mani.

Talking to indiantelevision.com, SS Music president BD Ramesh Babu indicated that the channel would start telecasting the Voice Hunt show during the first half of October. The winners will do a pop album comprising eight tracks for Sony Music under music director Praveen Mani. The channel will create a video album for one of these songs.

According to Babu, the channel earmarked a production budget of Rs 6 million for the whole event. The main sponsor for the event is Fanta and the associate sponsors include Sandpiper, Lawman, Heads & Shoulders and Sony Music.

On the promotion front, the channel has been conducting on-air and off-air campaigns. It conducted an extensive outdoor campaign using hoardings in all the cities where road shows were conducted, as part of the preliminary round. The print medium has also been used to publicise Voice Hunt. Babu said the channel would kick off the second stage of the campaign ahead of the telecast of the show.