| Sunil Pal and Navin Prabhakar, participants in The Great Indian Comedy Show and Abhijeet Sawant, Rahul Vaidya and Amit Sana, from Indian Idol, have replaced models and stars at college festivals.
"They are real-time performers. Most of them are young, we can easily relate to them," said Firoza Bhatena, from Hinduja College, Charni Road.
Popular and young
The college is trying to get some of the final 10 participants from the Indian Idol Show and also two guests from GICS, for their annual day meet.
"In an award function, the students who don't receive awards, have to sit through the function with no entertainment. Having such entertainers for the function would also help in keeping them glued to their seats," said Bhatena.
Students of Sydenham College, Churchgate, have also been trying to rope in the first five Indian idols for the inter-collegiate fest, Brouhaha, in the last week of December. "Their fan following is obvious. They have become idols just because they have received so many votes," said Aditi Nayak.
Perform free
A major deciding factor is that college committees save on costs as most of these performers do it free of cost. Says Sunil Pal (GICS), "I have performed at Rizvi, Kirti and Raheja college free as I love performing before students."
Ruia College is already talking to Raju Srivastava and Navin Prabhakar (GICS) for their intra-collegiate festival Utsav, but they have not yet confirmed dates. "We are having a similar show in our college and we wanted them to judge the show," says Swarupa Ananth, the cultural head of the festival. "They have achieved celebrity status in a short period," she adds.
Better crowds
Said Prajakta Shukre, among the five runner-ups in Indian Idol, "The crowds at colleges are much better. I've already performed at Mithibai and KC."
The KC College intercollegiate festival, Kiran, which got over last week, in fact, had three Indian idols performing there. "They were actually called in to judge a singing competition, but they couldn't make it. However, they came on the last day of the event," said Aditi Panchmatia, a student.
Idols oblige
Said Amit Tandon one of the finalists from the Indian Idol show and an actor in the serial, Kaisa Yeh Pyar Hai on Sony, "Everything depends on my shooting schedules. If they call me on days when I am not shooting, I will surely oblige."
Navin Prabhakar of Pehchaan Kaun fame said, "I went to a function at Jai Hind and Sydenham College. It was fun performing at these colleges. If I am in town, I always try to make it for such shows." |
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