Shibani Kashyap, one of the judges of Bathroom Singer

Unlike the other shows, this, the channel had announced, was for untrained voices. Those who shrieked out loud in front of the judges on Day 1 indeed could well have cracked some window panes from side to side.

Many of them had spent the day before in front of Bhawanipur College where auditions had been cancelled but, even if off-tune, were tenacious enough to turn up again.

Another differentiator was the lack of age bar, explaining the presence of 52-year-old night guard Sushil Baidya and 53-year-old shopkeeper Paras Chowdhury in the queue.

But there were serious singers too, like Arnab Choudhury who had sneaked out of his guruji’s fold (“I haven’t told him”). Their presence muted the bathroom-only singers. “I did not expect such good singers to come,” Samir Sarkar of Dum Dum said on checking out the pedigree of some fellow-contestants.

But what mattered most was the on-stage X-factor. “The show has introduced a unique concept of jhaag (froth),” said Shibani Kashyap, who flew in with the other judge Ravi Kissen on Day 2. Jhaag is what Hasibul Rehman displayed in good measure. Clad in towel and a vest, he used another towel as a prop for an impromptu singalong dance performance that had onlookers in splits. Though he didn’t make it to the Mumbai finals at the end of the screening, 13 others did from the city.

“Calcutta has always been known for culture. Now I know why. The talent we saw today during the auditions was out of this world — better than what we saw in the Ahmedabad and Delhi legs,” said Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kissen.