India Post News Service

CHICAGO: American Idol is one of most popular TV shows in this country. Its Indian version Indian Idol is doing equally good, if not better. The concept has traveled back to this country again and a group of imaginative people joined by business entrepreneurs led by Syed Monty of Chicago and Ather Mohammed of Canada decided to launch a talent search among immigrants from the Indian sub continent.

The search is aptly christened the North American Desi Idol 2008 for the simple reason that it does not confine to Indian Americans but covers also Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Nepalese. The way it is going now, it looks that down the line it is also going to achieve measurable degree of success, to the envy of Indian Idol and American Idol organizers.

Syed Mony one of the brains behind the Desi Idol concept said that the response from Toronto, Atlanta and Chicago is great, and expectations are that "we would have a better and more intense participation in five more cities in US- New Jersey, Orlando, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston."

Recalling the press meet here a couple of months ago, he said that the contests are for taping singing and dancing talents and "we have picked up winners in Atlanta- Mudit Lal (Song) and Hardik Desai (Dance), and in Chicago Namita Moghe (Song) and Neha Pathak (Dance)." He mentioned that there would be winner each for the areas of singing and dancing from each State and that the final will be held in Chicago on July 5 at Gateway Theatre.

"We have a surprise for the finalists and the members of the audience -Judges would be well known names from Bollywood." Every performance will be judged on merit and those who attend would also be given a chance to opine and vote in selecting the final winners in both the categories along with the Bollywood judges, he added.

The Desi Idol organizers have decided to pick up first and second runners in both the areas of contests if for any reason the winners or first runners up do not show up for the final contests. Dhittu Bhagwaker, a director, said that this if the first year of the launch and there is a great scope for streamlining the entire operation besides covering more cities in years to come. "It will be an annual affair," he promised.

Ather Mohammed said that the North American Desi Idol will be "a great platform to showcase South Asian values and culture to the mainstream fellow citizens. Our mission and vision will be to deliver a message of love and peace through singing and dancing. Our lyrics with Sufism will develop the overall human characters of all races."

The next step, according to him, will be to provide the strong Desi platform to recognize the excellent South Asian Desi Award in the fields of social, cultural, academic and business. The Directors Board also has Majid Macri, Fareed Khan, Munna Khan and Vandana Jhingan. The Secretary is Indica J.