Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 6: Thirteen-year-old Ananya Sritam Nanda, the child singing sensation from the city, has brought laurels to the state by winning the prestigious reality show Indian Idol junior edition 2.
In the mega finale held in Mumbai Sunday, the teenage singer defeated fellow contestants Nithyashree Venkataramanan and Nahid Afrin. The gala round was also complimented by the presence of comedy star Kapil Sharma besides the judges and Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha.
Ananya’s father Prasanna Kumar Nanda told Orissa POST “I am now on Cloud Nine. Earlier, we were not very keen to send her to this platform as she could not reach the top 13 slot last time. However, due to her insistence on taking on the fight at the same platform we finally agreed and she ultimately proved nothing is impossible before determination.” Ananya and her parents are expected to return to the city after September 14. When asked about the future course of action she might take he said, “Right now, we would like her to focus on studies. Whenever she gets an opportunity to playback singing we will encourage her to take part.”
Her mother, meanwhile, thanked the people of Orissa for extending their massive support to Ananya which made her win the mega reality show. Her parents told Orissa POST that they will return to Bhubaneswar along with Ananya after September 14 due to some pre-fixed engagements.
Orissa’s singing sensation Ananya had earlier won the hearts of judges the previous night with her rendition of Morni Baga Ma Bole from Lamhe and Sunta Hai Mera Khuda from Pukar.
All the three girls performed their best on the gala night of Indian Idol Junior 2. After Vaishnav Girish’s exit from the show it was a tough competition between the three girls.
Ananya battled it out with the other two and emerged the
winner of the show. Along with Sonakshi Sinha, Vishal Dadlani and Kapil Sharma joined the finale round.
Ananya, who wants to become a scientist, won hearts of all the judges and the audiences with her dedication and sincerity towards her passion for singing.
Her mother Prasanti Mishra is a homemaker while her father works as a director in a government industrial department.
Ananya, whose favourite singers are Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh, also likes to play the harmonium.
The night also saw some dazzling performance by the judges. While Salim Merchant was not part of the finale, the multi-talented Vishal Dadlani of Vishal-Shekhar composer duo, belted out some of his hit tracks, and first-time judge and Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha lit up the stage with her dance performance.
Sonakshi danced on ‘‘Sari ke fall sa’’, ‘‘Rani tu mein raja’’, ‘‘Tamanchey pe disco’’, ‘‘Sawaar loon’’, ‘‘Party all night’’ and ‘‘Har kisiko nahi milta’’.
Sonakshi was also in for a surprise when her father Shatrughan landed on the show’s set and interacted with the contestants and encouraged them.
Powerhouse performer Kapil Sharma, who came to promote his forthcoming movie ‘‘Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon’’, left the audience in splits with his humorous antics.
The show’s finale was also enlivened by the performances of the top 13 contestants, who were handpicked from a series of multi-city auditions across the country.