5 singing reality show winners we want to see more of

Indian singing reality shows have produced some great singers like Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kunal Ganjawala and Neha Kakkar. Even among the contestants who couldn’t win a particular show, some achieved massive success in playback singing. 

For example, Arijit Singh, who was eliminated from the show Fame Gurukul (2005) is the most popular Bollywood playback singer today. Rarely do we see any hit album without a successful song by Arijit Singh. 

However, there are also some singers who won the reality shows they were part of, by a huge margin, but couldn't make a name for themselves in music. With time, these singers have sort of started to disappear from public gaze and we don't hear much about them.

Here are 5 such reality show winners:

1. QAZI TAUQEER

Qazi Tauqeer was the most popular singer of Fame Gurukul (2005). He was saved by voters each time he entered the danger zone, and thus dodged eviction. Qazi hailed from Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. 

He got to the final of the show and won it along with Ruprekha Banerjee. Though the two achieved massive fame back then, they vanished after just one song.

Qazi never got into playback singing and instead, decided to focus on modelling. The last time his fans saw him was in 2015, in the song Afghan Jalebi from the movie Phantom.

2. ABHIJEET SAWANT

Abhijeet Sawant was the first singing sensation of India, who won the first season of Indian Idol in 2004. He won the title after defeating his nearest rival, Amit Sana. Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan were the judges on Season 1 of Indian Idol. 

He recorded a song Marjawan Mitjawan, with Himesh Reshammiya for the movie Aashiq Bananya Aapne (2005) after the music album that was part of his Indian Idol win. He also sang a song in Dishoom (2016) and Tees Maar Khan (2010). 

In a recent interview, Abhijeet said that winning Indian Idol also hampered his career, as music directors would think that he must have many projects in hand, and hence didn't consider him for any.  

3. DEBOJIT SAHA

Debojit was the winner of the singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge in 2005. He was awarded the 'Voice of India' title. Music composer Ismail Darbar was his mentor on the show. He defeated Vinit Singh in the finale of the show, who was under mentor Himesh Reshammiya.

But Debojit couldn’t make a mark in playback singing in the Hindi film industry. The only two movies where he sang songs were 88 Antop Hill (2003) and Jimmy (2008). 

Today, Debojit records songs for Bengali and Assamese films, and also sometimes performs in live concerts. 

4. PRASHANT TAMANG

Prashant Tamang won the third season of Indian Idol (2007). He belongs to Kathmandu, Nepal, and after winning the show, he became a big name in West Bengal and Sikkim. 

He won the show but disappeared after that. He didn’t sing any song in the Hindi film industry.

Today, he records songs in Nepali films. In fact, from 2009, he also began acting in Nepali films. He also lends voice to his songs in the Nepali movies. 

5. ANEEK DHAR

Aneek won Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in 2007. He was in Himesh Reshammiya's group. The same year, Aneek had also won Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Bangla. He also won the first season of Bangla Bigg Boss. 

But despite winning two singing reality shows, Aneek couldn’t make it big in playback singing in Bollywood. Today, he sings songs in Bengali movies only.