Prashant Tamang's winning the Indian Idol 3 contest, aired by Sony TV, after beating fellow finalist Amit Paul, is a victory that created a history of sorts. Firstly it was a closely fought contest where some seven crore votes were polled and Prashant won by a margin of over one crore SMS votes. Secondly what was most remarkable was the support both the finalists drew from the hill regions. The North Eastern states of Meghalaya and Sikkim pulled out all stops to ensure that their candidates won the contest. If one chief minister made his state's candidate the brand ambassador of the state, the other chief minister quickly followed suit. Both states’ politicians put up phone booths so that people could vote for their favourite participant. The states even declared dry days and in Sikkim, Monday was declared a holiday to celebrate Prashant's win. Added to that the Nepalese neighbours trooped into Darjeeling and other hill cities to add strength to the SMS hysteria that was happening in the hill regions.
With the alienation the hill states have felt with the Indian State, this was an opportunity that these states were not going to pass up to win the hearts of mainstream India, through a highly popular reality music show. This was an occasion to show that the hill states too have a voice. And although there was only one winner of the title, the kind of support Amit Paul garnered from both Khazis and non Khazis from Meghalaya brought a world of difference to the tiny Himalayan state's internal politics and united traditional rivals in the cause of music. In fact, it is already being reported that Amit would be expected to carry his work forward and be the voice of his state.
What is perhaps amazing about the success of Indian Idol and the two other reality music shows – Saregamapa in Zee TV and Voice of India in Star Plus – reaching their own hysterical final laps, is that the talent hunt fanned out into small towns and remote corners of the country and has given a voice to small town India. Some of the best musical talents have been unearthed from small towns, like Bikaner and Dhanbad. And that's not all. These music shows have reached out into the world, bringing the NRI voice into India, from Dubai and the US, and discovered latent musical talent from neighbouring Pakistan. Music as they say has no language and builds bridges where none exist.
