Bathinda's Sunny Hindustani wins 'Indian Idol-11'

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, February 24

The 11th edition of ‘Indian Idol’ found its winner in Sunny Hindustani as the grand finale culminated with much fanfare.

Sunny was awarded a cheque for Rs 25 lakh from Sony Entertainment Television, a Tata Altroz car and one-song contract with T-Series in their next movie.

Ecstatic and overwhelmed, Sunny Hindustani said, “I had not thought of getting through the first round, leave alone winning the competition. I have come a long way and can’t believe that the journey has just started. I can’t believe that the whole of India listened to my voice and voted for me wholeheartedly to make me ‘Desh ki Awaaz’.”

Sunny worked as a shoeshiner outside the Bathinda bus stand and his mother sells balloons to earn a living. They had to go through a lot after his father had passed away.

Sunny never had any formal training in music. The 21-year-old self-taught singer was fond of music right from childhood and would sing at religious events. When he was 11-year-old, he was singing in a street and some people recognised his talent and made him sing on the stage.

The first runners-up Rohit who put up a tough competition was awarded a cheque for Rs 5 lakh. Ankona, the second runners-up, took home a cheque for Rs 5 lakh as well. Third and fourth runners-up, Ridham and Adriz, took home Rs 3 lakh each.

Also Read:

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• FM announces Rs2 lakh for Indian Idol contestant
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The finale was nothing short of a visual spectacle with judges Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani and Himesh Reshammiya setting the stage on fire with scintillating performances on Bollywood chartbusters.

It also saw celebrities like Ayushmann Khurrana, Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Gajraj Rao, Anup Soni, Tony and Sonu Kakkar in attendance.