abhijeet, rahul & amit

Though underdog Sandeep Acharya walked home with the title of Indian Idol 2 on Saturday, judges and some of the audience had anticipated NC Karunya to win the battle.

So, the judges were surprised, some viewers were flummoxed. And who else is part of the brigade too stunned to react? The top three of the first season-Indian Idol, that's who. Telly Chakkar spoke to the finalists of last year to check what they had to say.

Karunya tops the list!

Abhijeet Sawant, Indian Idol of the first season says, " Karunya was certainly my choice, for the simple reason that he was a good singer and had a lot of talent."

Amit Sana, the first runner up says, "Karunya always topped my list as I found him to be a good package. He is an excellent singer, very lively and how can one overlook his performance?" Rahul Vaidya too dances to the same tune and chips in, "Well, I found Karunya the best of the lot! He is a very talented guy."

Voting gone awry?

"I guess the voting this time was very aggressive; it was different in our time. We can now track a lot of regional voting than voting for the talent on the stage," says Abhijeet.

Amit too agrees, says that the involvement is such that even if the viewer is asked to vote once, they go on voting for the same person. While this is what the two have to say, Rahul has something different to offer. "This show is full of surprises, so anticipation plays no role here. I guess the winning of a contestant is totally dependent on luck. Even though Sandeep won the competition, I was confident about it as I was aware of the voting system!

Vote out the vote?

All three stick to the voting pattern and don't mind compromising on talent! "If we avoid the involvement of the public on our show, the show will not recieve the kind of popularity it has till date," says a confident Abhijeet.

Amit and Rahul both agree. Sawant adds, "Same happened in the case of Debojit too. Sa Re Ga Ma works n the decision of the judges, but what happens there?

None of the winners earn the kind of recognition we do or any other talent hunt show which involves voting." Amit adds, "We have to compromise somewhere or the other, if we want one thing, have to lose out on the other." Rahul says, "Well, judges' decision justifies the talent, but then we lose out on the popularity!"