INSTANT STARS

Abhijeet Sawant
The Indian Idol winner was propelled to instant star status and was suddenly seen all over TV, performing live and promoting his debut album, Aapka Abhijeet Sawant. The fanfare may have faded, but Abhijeet continues to work the circuit, performing live concerts around the country.
Debojit Saha
With apparently all of North-East voting for him, Debojit of Assam beat Vineet of Lucknow in the closely fought finale of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005. He’s currently singing for some films under production and launched a missable debut alum under the aegis of Zee TV.
Divakar
This 13-year-old Delhi boy may not have won the final of Li’l Champs, but he sure won the hearts of the audience and the judges. The favourite amongst the three finalists, his head turned upto the sky, “he sang to the Gods”, as the judges put it. Whether, his spot of luck continues, remains to be seen.
Qazi and Ruprekha
This pair of the frizzy haired boy from Srinagar and the sweet-voiced girl from Kolkata won Sony’s Fame Gurukul 2005. Their debut album was titled Jodi No 1, but this jodi, that sent an SMS flutter across the country, soon faded into oblivion.

Ravinder Ravi, Singer
It took more than a month to get Ravinder Ravi, in between cutting his new album and a concert tour of Punjab, to take out time for this interview. The housepainter from Punjab who reached the top five of the first Indian Idol is perhaps the only contestant to have sustained buzz around himself.
The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia lists him as one of the most successful Indian Idols, with the maximum musical performances in India and abroad. Ravi seems surprised at this, “I had no idea.”
Dressed in a sweater and corduroy pants, he poses like a natural for the photo shoot. “Before Indian Idol , I had never got my photograph taken. I was stiff and uncomfortable in front of the camera. Now, I’m surprised to see my photos, and how stylish I look,” he smiles, before breaking into a Punjabi folk song in his startlingly high-pitched voice. A voice that makes you stop in your tracks and listen. “The voice of God,” as the judges on Indian Idol called it before they began trashing him.
In 2005, riding the crest of the instant fame that came after the show, Ravi, underwent a drastic transformation. The man who rode a bicycle, paintbrush in hand, for Rs 60 as his dailywages, was seen in leather jackets and denims, gifted a car to his wife andstarted travelling around the country. He is now mobbed by crowds in towns like Jalandhar, Mandi and Indore. His house in Ludhiana is almost a tourist destination.
“I have seen extreme poverty. There were days when I would sleep without eating. I had to borrow Rs 300 from a friend to reach the auditions of Indian Idol in Delhi. How can I ever forget my origins?” he says. “I never hide my roots. My thinking is the same. Just that I have graduated from a cycle to a plane.”
Ravi is almost the precursor of reality TV drama, tugging at the heartstrings of the nation with his gritty perseverance, despite his “dubious” talent. Just before his elimination, the judges, Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan made it amply clear that they didn’t think he deserved to stay on. Yet, week after week, the people voted for him.
At the time, Ravi went on record to express his discontent with the channel, the show, and the judges. “I did feel then that they were being unfair and at some level I was being victimised because of my background and looks. But in retrospect, I can see that I had my shortcomings. The other contestants were trained, I was self-taught,” he concedes. “I’ve learnt a lot since those early days. If I were to participate now, I’m sure I would win.”
Yet, luck played a huge part in his success. He says, “There are crores of Ravinder Ravis with more talent languishing in every corner of this country and most do not get a chance.” He adds: “I’m all for more and more talent hunt shows like Indian Idol and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. They give people like me a fair chance.”
Where are they now?
Shahzad Kalim
The winner of Lakme Fashion House 2005, he leapfrogged from Patna to Milan by winning an internship with Donatella Versace. However, after the much-touted internship and a debut at the Fashion Week, he’s as much as gone with the wind.

RAVINDER RAVI NEW ALBUM

People remember Ravinder Ravi as one of the top ten finalists in the Indian Idol contest on Sony Entertainment channel. This self-taught natural acquired quite a fan following and they were greatly disappointed when he lost out because he had no proper training on handling the notes.
But his raw energy and earthy tones won him the attention of connoisseurs of popular music and one of them was Jawahar Wattal, the man who had shot Daler Mehndi into fame with Bol Ta ra ra…
Wednesday evening Ravi’s maiden album was released in the Capital by film actor Pooja Bhatt, who is all set to give this people’s singer a chance to playback in her next feature film. So soon Punjab is all over are going to be tapping their feet and jigging to the tune of Jat Lutya Gaya, the title song of the new album.
The new album comes from a new company called Arjun Music World, founded by Rajbir Singh who will be collaborating with Pooja Bhatt for the feature film that will give ‘Ravi’ a ‘Rafi’ break.
The self effacing young man of 27, who took his life’s biggest risk by relinquishing his profession of masonry, wife and two children and try his luck in the talent hunt show announced on SET, is still haunted by his days when ill luck followed him through his formative years in Ludhiana.
“My parents passed away when I was only four years old and my brother, who is a couple of years older and I were left to fend for ourselves,” he says, “Actually it was my brother who wanted to sing. When both of us wanted to try our luck, he being the older one, perhaps, withdrew from the contest and encouraged me to compete.”
Punjabi pop must be accompanied by pretty girls and the USP of the video accompanying the new album is a buxom beauty. She is former Miss Norway, Annelfna, who has a young model Aman Dhaliwal giving her the typical filmi chase as the heart of the Jat is plundered by this Norwegian beauty.
The video is not shot in the cold Norway but the warm Barcelona in Spain with male Bhangra dancers and female flamenco dancers. Punjabi pop is a global phenomenon and thus the ingredients are a merry mix

VISNU IDOL IN RUSSIA

Ancient Vishnu idol found in Russian village

An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia’s Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia, say the reports.

The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.

“We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research,” Reader of Ulyanovsk State University’s archaeology department Dr Alexander Kozhevin told state-run television Vesti .

Dr Kozhevin, who has been conducting excavation in Staraya Maina for last seven years, said that every single square metre of the surroundings of the ancient town situated on the banks of Samara, a tributary of Volga, is studded with antiques.

Prior to unearthing of the Vishnu idol, Dr Kozhevin has already found ancient coins, pendants, rings and fragments of weapons.

He believes that today’s Staraya Maina, a town of eight thousand, was ten times more populated in the ancient times. It is from here that people started moving to the Don and Dneiper rivers around the time ancient Russy built the city of Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine.

An international conference is being organised later this year to study the legacy of the ancient village, which can radically change the history of ancient Russia.