Bhubaneswar, Sept. 3: The voting lines for Indian Idol Junior finalist closes at 8am on Friday.
But the vote appeal of Ananya Sritam Nanda, the young Odia talent, who is in the top four of the singing contest, reached every corner of the state.
Her voluntary campaigners made quite an impact by promoting the prodigy. From celebrities to her general fans, many took forward the teenager's appeal in unique ways to reach more people.
International sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik created a sand art to encourage people to vote for Ananya. He made a colourful sculpture with a silhouette image of Ananya holding a microphone and the appeal 'Vote for Ananya' written beside it. Below this, Sudarshan created a mobile sculpture with the SMS number and message to vote.
"She is really talented and as Odias, we should encourage the teenager to win the national singing contest. I did what I do best to reach people and request them to give her plenty of votes," said the internationally acclaimed sand artist.
Woman entrepreneur Jagi Mangat Panda has also posted Ananya's videos from the contest with lots of wishes for the finals on her social networking profile. Also, immensely popular singing sensation from Odisha, Rituraj Mohanty, the winner of another reality show called India's Raw Star last year, has appealed to his followers on Facebook to vote for Ananya.
"She is fantastic and deserves votes since she will surely bring laurels for our state. She is also a clear favourite," said Rituraj.
But it is not only the celebrities who have taken up the onus of getting more votes for the young singer, who is a Class IX student of DAV Public School, Pokhariput, in Bhubaneswar. Many city based cultural organisations have campaigned for her by hanging posters outside well-attended auditoriums with the vote appeal. Similarly, many fans have started sending messages and posts on social networks to their friends, requesting them to help Ananya emerge victorious in the tight contest.
"We have hung flex posters on a few trees outside major auditoriums in the city so that the audience coming for cultural programmes vote for Ananya. She is very talented and we wish another Odia talent to make a mark in the national stage," said Subrat Mohanty, member of Soor Taal, a cultural organisation.
The results of the voting frenzy will be out this weekend when the reality show concludes. Ananya is a trained classical singer under Pandit Chittaranjan Pani of Bhubaneswar and with her versatile voice she has performed classical, modern, rock and pop numbers, impressing all the jury members of the television show including Vishal Dadlani, Salim Merchant and Sonakshi Sinha.
