Kolkata rues defeat of city girl in music contest

Kolkata, April 6 (IANS) Many people in the West Bengal capital are disappointed after a girl from the city lost in the finals of kids' musical show.

Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan crowned 13-year-old Aishwarya Majmudar from Ahmedabad as the first 'Amul Star Voice of India Chhote Ustad' in Mumbai Saturday.

The Ahmedabad-based girl, who was fondly referred to as 'Style Ben Aishwarya' for her high style quotient, triumphed over 14-year-old Anvesha Dattagupta from Kolkata.

IANS spoke to about 20 people from different walks of life here.

The result showed out of the 20, eight think the results were justified, seven were disheartened at Anvesha's defeat, and five were indifferent to the competition and its results.

Sagorika Ghosh, who runs a music school in eastern Kolkata, said: 'Anvesha should have won the competition. She has a finer voice than Aishwarya, while the latter is a better performer.'

Said Pradip Sanyal, a music student of Rabindra Bharati University: 'I voted a number of times for Anvesha. It would have been nice if she had won. She sings like a nightingale. However, now-a-days it's not just about singing but overall performance and Aishwarya excelled there.'

Regular watcher of the show Amrita Naskar said, 'As long as the Bengalis win nothing else matters. Whether it's Aishwarya or Anvesha, it is again proved that we are establishing monopoly in the music talent hunts.'

The show saw a series of livewire performances by the two contenders, with fillers by the eliminated contestants, host Abhaas Joshi, playback singers Shaan and Ganjawala, and also song-based reality show winners Ishmeet Singh, Abhijeet Sawant, Rahul Vaidya and Himani Kapoor.

For the fist time on television, the young girls provided live playback to Bollywood actors Malaika Arora Khan and Isha Koppikar.