TERRIOTARY/TALENT MUST READ

The final countdown of 'Indian Idol 2', between the South-based NC Karunya and the North-eastern Sandeep Acharya is fast approaching.

Talent shows recently have witnessed much drama with regionalism posing as a real threat to talent. It all started with the 'Mumbai ka Mulga' campaign for contestant Abhijit Sawant ('Indian Idol'). Also, if last year the state of Kashmir pitched in for participant Qazi Touqueer ('Fame Gurukul') then this year we saw Assam and West Bengal ensuring contestant Debojit Saha's ('Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge 2006') win.

Sources reveal that bookies have already received bets of over Rs 400 crore for this battle between the North (Sandeep) and the South (Karunya). On the one hand punters are betting on Sandeep considering that his home-state Rajasthan is pitching for him, while on the other, the apparently more-talented Karunya is being perceived as the tortoise who may eventually topple Sandeep, despite low-voting from his Southern state.

Anupama Mandloi, programming head of Sony, does admit to regional-bias being a potent deciding factor, "Our hands are tied as far as regional bias is concerned. That's the reality we have to live with. It's sure that the votes from the South are considerably less. We often feel frustrated seeing the voting trends but can do little." But Anupama sounds optimistic this time, "Till now over a crore votes have come in, and it seems that regional bias might not be skewed."

The South-based Karunya, whilst on his tour through Eastern India, has received tremendous response from these regions. Celebrities including Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Manna Dey, Bappi Lahiri and Usha Uthup have rooted for him as well.

Not to be deterred is Sandeep's family. They have launched a print campaign all over eastern and northern India along with a sms campaign soliciting votes. Interestingly, an ad in the largest circulated Bengali daily by a Sandeep Fan Association solicits votes for him. It claims that since he appeared for the preliminary rounds from Kolkata, he deserves votes from them.

So while the lobbying continues, it's just a wait and watch till the deciding moment.