2009 begins on a high note

On New Year's day, the city chose the best of its voices. Voice of Bangalore winners Santhosh and Aishwarya not only rode away with a car and great debut options

2009 begins on a high note

Aishwarya

On New Year's day, the city chose the best of its voices. Voice of Bangalore winners Santhosh and Aishwaryau00a0 not only rode away with a car and great debut options

Luck was in store for this year's voices of Bangalore as jury members decided on the spot to offer winners a chance to sing in their future ventures.

Santhosh and Aishwarya Kashinathan were judged winners of VOB (Voice of Bangalore) Season 2 that took place at Garuda Mall. They set aside 5,000 singers in a fierce fight to win the coveted title. Besides offers in the cinema industry, the winners walked away with one Audi each.u00a0

"Today's winners are lucky," said Nandeesh M R, general manager, Garuda Mall. "Besides a car, they have been offered a chance to sing for films, which was their dream."u00a0

VOB 2008

Six of Bangalore's best singers made it to the finals in a three-month-long talent hunt. Garuda Mall hostedu00a0 the event for the second time, which saw an overwhelming response.

Over 5,000 singers went through various rounds beginning with auditions over the last three months in places including the Infosys campus, Convergys campus, MSR institutions and National College.

This finally zeroed in on six contestants in the final race for the title. Of the three male finalists and three female finalists, three were engineers, two students and a professional track singer.

But luck was with Santhosh, the track singer, and Aishwarya, an engineer with Mico Bosch who were declared the winners.

Apart from the car, the winners had offers by eminent personalities in the jury comprising popular Sufi singer Kailash Kher, Mungaru Male director Yograj Bhat and singer-director Gurukiran.

"We certainly support such budding talent," said Kher. "Just as some songs give singers a break, this event offers a break to young talent. We will certainly bless them with chances in our future ventures."

The young singers were in tears. "It's a huge gift," said winner Santhosh. "With this, my journey in the cinema industry has begun and I hope I will make it big in the days ahead."