Is Ismail a mentor or tormentor?

Is Ismail a mentor or tormentor?

With Ismail Durbar's career going in no specific direction, where does it leave his disciple Debojit?

Subhash K Jha

Debojit may have won the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge but there isn't anything worthwhile happening on his career front. Runner-up Vinit, on the other hand, seems to have become a name to reckon with in the industry. He has just recorded a song for his mentor Himesh Reshammiya to be filmed on Bobby Deol in Anil Sharma's Apne.

A source from Zee reveals: "Vinit also sang the film's powerful theme song. But that will probably be dubbed by Sonu Nigam. At this stage of his career Vinit wouldn't want to tread on anyone's toes."

Debojit however doesn't seem to have too many toes to tread on. The source further divulges: "That's because Vinit has Himesh Reshammiya… Debojit doesn't. When Vinit lost the competition, Himesh had taken it upon himself to prove that Vinit was a winner. Debojit's mentor Ismail Durbar has no assignments on hand. How can Ismail help his protg when he needs help himself?"

From here things only get worse for Debojit. It seems that HMV is reluctant to go ahead with the album that they were supposed to produce for him. Apparently it's too late now. And there's no interest in the market for this album.

Gajendra Singh (Producer-director of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa) opines: "Vinit has everything it takes to be a singing-star. Debojit was around for too long, struggling to be noticed, to be a star."