Participants at the Super Stars audition at Swabhumi.

All the Amitabh and Aamir fans of Calcutta had congregated at Swabhumi on Thursday and Friday to do what they love to — impersonate their favourite star.

Outside, a huddle had formed. The one in the middle was visibly agitated. “He could make out you were raring to deliver a dialogue. That’s why he asked you to dance, instead,” his friend consoled him.

The youth’s disappointment was understandable; it was after all a crack at stardom squandered. The contest — Sahara One’s reality show Super Stars — had come to Calcutta in search of cine buffs who could best impersonate their favourite superstar.

Inside, the audition booths were awaiting queues of youngsters ready to take their pick from a list of 12 actors — from Amitabh and Aishwarya, Shah Rukh to Rani. The initial screening was being done by representatives of Endemol, which owns the international format for the show.

Aditi Das of Barasat had seen Devdas 60-70 times and was totally enamoured of Aishwarya. “I did a scene before Paro’s marriage. And then the Nimbura song.” That won her the ticket to face Kishore Namit Kapoor and Yule Kurup, the judges, in front of whom the Aditi had more of Paro to offer.

At the end, the duo, obviously impressed by her Aishwarya act, extracted a pledge from Aditi. “We are shortlisting you but will you join a Hindi class on the way home'” Aditi was only too happy to agree.

Judges Kishore Namit Kapoor and Yule Kurup. Pictures by Sanat Kumar Sinha

But others did not have it so easy. Arpita Mukherjee, a Kolkata Film and Television Institute graduate, was chided for “lack of emotion” though she got a pat for lack of stage fright after her Dil To Pagal Hai scene.

Romi Nag Chowdhury of Dum Dum scored on the emotions count but was asked if she was comfortable with her hands. “The economy of gestures works in Hollywood, not here,” said Kishore Namit Kapoor, who runs a popular acting school in Mumbai.

The hero of the day seemed to be Sanjay Dutt. Two consecutive contestants ended up essaying the same scene from Vaastav, the actor’s award-winning film. In the dance department, though, they did not display two left feet. Vintage Amitabh was the second most popular act to follow with one contestant trying out the drunken scene from Amar Akbar Anthony. “Utna gol karke mat boliye,” show director Kurup warned as Abhijit Majumdar tried to do to thin air what Anthony had done to his reflection in the mirror — put on a band-aid.

Diction was the big stumbling block for the Bengal brigade. “But all of them seemed determined to overcome the problem,” Kurup conceded. Kapoor recalled how a star hunt had thrown up Rajesh Khanna in the first year and Dharmendra in the second. “Most of the big stars in Bollywood have crossed 40. We need at least a dozen new faces. Not all film-makers can afford Hrithik,” he quipped.

The number of finalists from Calcutta is yet to be sealed but the talent on show was impressive. So here’s to a Super Star from Bengal!