"He will always be my idol!"

This comes from a calm Manisha Sawant, home maker and mother of probable Indian Idol Abhijit Sawant.

Mrs Sawant may not show it, but the anxiety is apparent. As she sits in the tiny one bedroom flat of her building in Dharavi, she keeps busy answering phone calls. For her, as for Abhijeet, the climb up the Idol ladder has an almost Cinderella feel. Right now, their building wears a dog-eared, almost dilapidated look, but Abhijeet, Bunty to family and friends, has gone on record saying the first thing he'd do if wins the prize money, is have his building repainted.

The last few weeks have been tough for both parents and son. "We spent most of the time answering calls from friends, relatives, fans and the press. I am still answering calls on his behalf. I receive calls from his fans wishing him luck or complementing on his smile, but not a single call yet to propose him marriage," she laughs.

"No one is able to get in touch with him. Not even me. The time I spend with him during shoots is the only opportunity to talk to him. But then again, I get hardly ten minutes," his father Shridhar Sawant sighs.

"Look, Abhijeet's mother!"

Ideal mom hoping for victory

So how does the family handle this new found fame? "It is fantastic. We had never seen a studio in our lives. We always wondered what it would be like." The couple who enjoyed watching Dilip Kumar on screen is excited about their son having exchanged places. "I can not believe my son is a star," says his mother.

"A small child in Dadar market called out to me as Abhijit's mother. This is enough testimonial for me to know the public admiration for my son." His fans are praying for him day and night. "But me, I just do my routine prayers. Nothing more." Local papers like Saamna have gone to town publishing his 'kundli', predicting that his stars are just fortuitous enough for him to win the title, but the Sawants laugh off the adulation.

Idol dreams since childhood?

Abhijit, who grew up with dreams of becoming a singer played orchestra as a game in his childhood. "He used to gather family members in the hall and imitate his uncle Sanjay Sawant's orchestra programme," muses his father.

His colony friends miss him when they play cricket and even when they do not. He is remembered as the lad who always sang for his friends, every time he was asked to.

"He was average at studies. He never liked being told to study. We did not push hard. But his most outstanding quality was his loving nature. He always made up after fighting with me," says his mother with tears in her eyes.

Manisha is glad Sony gave her son the platform to exhibit his talent. "Indian Idol is certainly better than serials. It has given thousands of aspiring singers an opportunity, to be heard which is a task."
Will Abhijeet breast the finishing line? "Whether he does or doesn't become an idol is immaterial now," reflects one of his neighbours. "Isn't he already famous enough??"

By SAPANA PATIL