Participant Sayantani with Kkalpes Patel at the Zee Music VJ talent hunt at Big Ben. Picture by Aranya Sen

Mujhey bakbak karna bahut pasand hai. Good-looking? Woh to main hoon. Talented? Woh bhi...

These startlingly modest admissions were coming from one of the aspirants talking into the camera on the Big Ben dance floor. The occasion: the Zee Music VJ talent hunt.

The walk-in contest was an open invitation to chatterboxes in town to come and ? what else? ? talk. And come they did, in troupes. Despite little publicity, the city registered over 60 sign-ups in seven hours, three times more than Bangalore.

?We have always got a great response from Calcutta, be it India?s Best Cinestars ki Khoj Mein or Musafir Item Bomb. That?s why it is a must on our itinerary,? said Devleena Chakravarty of Zee corporate brand development.

Christened Kkalpes Patel VJ Banega Kya?, the contest, she explained, has created a character by the name who has been appearing in the television promos throwing a challenge to the viewers to beat him to the VJ?s mike.

Four participants each would be chosen from Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai. The 16 would be groomed for a couple of weeks and allowed to host a live music request show Suniyo re on Zee Music for a month. The five best would be chosen on the basis of viewer votes and then drafted into the channel crew.

The passage to the Kenilworth nightclub was resembling the lawns of an examination centre on Wednesday afternoon. Many, like Bhabik Vyas, were students of Class XII. ?My board exams are from March 1,? confessed the boy from Bhawanipur School who came to know about the VJ hunt from a friend the night before during tuition.

Angel Gomes of St Jude School was there, mother Sabita in tow. The mother was clear that the upcoming exams must take precedence, even if Angel was chosen.

Nineteen-year-old Vijay Kumar also has an exam on March 13. But his focus at that moment was on impressing the judges with his hard-sell shayari: ?Har kashti ko kinare tak pahunchane ke liye ek majhi ki zaroorat hoti hai/ Har serial ko aagey badhane ke liye ek talented ladke ki zaroorat hoti hai!? But the way he was tripping over his lines, it was doubtful if his boat ever reached the bank.

There was one who came all the way from Dhanbad, abandoning his fabric manufacturing business. ?If I get a chance to be on TV, I?ll leave the business to my brothers and set off for Mumbai,? Vijay Kumar, 27, was saying, hours before taking the Coalfield Express back home.

Others had other commitments. Sayantani, who had anchored a live show on Zee Music before, had been invited for a screen test. She did ?very well? according to the judges, but then Tollywood beckons, big time. ?I have signed a film opposite Boombada (Prosenjit), called Raju Uncle, for which shooting is on till March. If they call me to Mumbai earlier, I?ll have to refuse,? said the pretty girl.

As for Kkalpes Patel, he was ?trying to inspire confidence in the participants, even meeting them in the loo during make-up?. Going by the feedback, he was doing his job quite well.