Local Talent Shines at First Bollywood Karaoke Contest

Hosts Geeta and Manoj Singh with Ustad Hamid Hossian, and Natya Bharati President Adarsh Gupta (L-R)

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Rockville, MD – There was an abundance of talent, young and old at the sold out first Bollywood Karaoke Contest hosted by Ceasar Productions at the serene environs of the campus of John Hopkins University in Rockville, Maryland.

The contestant performed in three categories Best Solo Male, Solo Female, and Duet. Contestants ranged from ten to seventy year olds, and songs from the 1960s to the ones from recent movies. The audience enjoyed young second generation Indo-American children singing in Hindi and other regional languages.

The Solo Male category winner was Farid Mahmood and runner up was Samarjit Patnaik. In Solo Female category winner was twelve year old amazing singer Saankia Mahashetty and runner up was Ananya Suri who performed a Sufi music based song “Lutna”. Duet winners were Parasuram Iyer and Lalitha Deshpande, and runner ups were Farid and Sara Mahmood, father and daughter duo.

Solo Male category winner Mahmood said “It was a wonderful event and I enjoyed being a part of it. Winning was a surprise! I was amazed at how many people came to say how much they enjoyed my singing, music has the power to bring us together and that’s what I love about it.”

Awards were presented by well known local music teacher Ustad Hamid Hossain. The contest was judged by: Bharat Bhargava (Economist, Host of In Dialogue Talk Show on GTV), Professional Ghazal Singer Pooja Shah Talwar (disciple of Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh), President of Natya Bharati Adarsh Gupta, and 2008 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Finalist Krushanu Mazumdar. The contest ended with special performance by 2008 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Finalists Krushanu and Deeti Mazumdar, a wonderful treat indeed for the music lovers.

Manoj and Geeta Singh, the couple organizers of the successful event, host annual DC South Asian Film Festival and Manoj is the host TV talk show “Chit Chat with Manoj” on GTV MHz network. In closing comments Geeta said that “for us all participants were winners.”

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