IndiaPost.com - UK sends three contestants for Indian Idol 3!

NEW YORK: Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) has announced the results of their UK-wide search for Indian Idol 3 contestants. Three promising British Asians have been given the once in a lifetime opportunity to follow their dreams after being selected by judges to fly to Mumbai and compete in the next Indian Idol series competition.

Rajan Singh, Executive Vice President for International Business commented, "This was the first time we’ve held open auditions for Indian Idol in the UK and we were stunned by the response. We are really proud of the quality of applicants received and look forward to seeing the progression of our UK talent in Indian Idol 3 over the coming weeks."

The auditions were held at a top London hotel in mid-April and saw the 23 hopefuls (chosen from hundreds at open auditions held in Birmingham at the start of the month) face the Indian Idol judges for the first time. The judges, made up of the Kajra Re award-winning singer Alisha Chinai and the evergreen music producer Anu Malik, decided upon three lucky Londoners who will be on their way to Mumbai to join their Indian counterparts in the Theatre stage of the competition.

Harshida Madhaparia (19), Chirag Rao (26) and Rekha Paunrana (19) hope to make an impact in India and put the UK on the map for Hindi vocalists. They will ultimately compete to win the title of the third Indian Idol bringing with it a lucrative recording contract with SonyBMG (India) and thus catapulting him/her to unparalleled stardom.

The new Idol will experience a jet set lifestyle, mingling with the stars and following their dreams of becoming professional singers. Indian Idol is a format show based on the "Idol" concept which has enjoyed success across the world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany and the United States.

Previous winners of Indian Idol are Abhijeet Sawant and Sandeep Acharya (with over 50 million votes between them in just their finale shows alone) who have both gone on to become international phenomena. Previous runners up have also been very successful and have gone on to star in dramas, movies and become playback singers for some of Bollywood’s biggest blockbusters.