Meditating with music

He is your quintessential small-town boy with big dreams in his eyes. And thanks to Sony TV's Indian Idol, Amit Sana is on the right track to stardom.

A resident of Bhilai and son of a clerk in a steel manufacturing company, it would have been difficult for Amit to achieve his dreams but for the popular reality television show.

"Singing was not a passion for me. It was my meditation. I always dreamt of making it big in Mumbai, but the dream would never have come true had Indian Idol not happened," says Amit, in Calcutta on Friday to promote his first album titled Chal Diye.

"The credit goes to Sony for unearthing talent from nondescript parts of the country and giving them a platform to prove themselves," he smiles.

Chal Diye was released nationally last month. "The distant dream of cutting my own album has finally come true. Chal Diye has 10 songs that are a melange of romance and melody," he adds.

Next on Amit's agenda is making it big in Bollywood. "I have already sung three songs for films out of which two are for Anu Malik."

It's been months, but the loss to Abhijeet Sawant in the finals of Indian Idol still hurts the youth who is indebted to his family for supporting — and even pampering — him .

"I was completely heart broken with the decision. Once you make it to the top two, you are in no way inferior to the other. But maybe Abhijeet kept his nerve better in the crucial final moments," he recounts.

Amit has taken the loss in his stride. "Embracing failure was the biggest lesson Indian Idol taught us. Had I been bogged down by the failure, Chal Diye would have remained a dream," he says.

With Mohabbatein lutaonga, the chart buster by Abhijeet, ruling the charts, does Amit feel insecure about his efforts going unnoticed? "He deserves the position and fame he has got. But I have also done my work sincerely and honestly. Rest, time will tell."