Qazi Touqeer and Ruprekha Banerjee perform after being crowned the country?s first Fame Jodi

QAZI TOUQEER

More than winning the coveted Fame Gurukul crown, this Kashmiri boy recently created a record for garnering the highest number of votes for any single contestant on Indian television ? more than 2.5 crore. He also holds the dubious record of slipping into the danger zone 10 times in the Sony reality show. No wonder, he feels that the danger zone should now be renamed Qazi Zone for the future seasons of Fame Gurukul. The son of a teacher and a lawyer, Qazi loves to wake up in the middle of the night to practise his songs, much to the other contestants? disapproval. As for the secret of his long locks, it?s a simple dose of sarson ka tel. And this is what the janta ka dulara has to say about his win and more?

It?s a dream come true ? the happiest moment of my life.

I always wanted to be a superstar from the time I was a schoolboy in Srinagar. My family always supported me but my other friends and relatives use to laugh at me. ?Qazi kya sapne dekhta rehta hai? Kya handycam leke ghumta rehta hai??

But I knew I would be a star someday.

When I saw the Fame Gurukul advertisement, I told myself: ?Tera din aa gaya Qazi, ab tu superstar banega.?

I initially thought of going for the Calcutta auditions but finally decided on Delhi. I was there much before and saw 20 films in 25 days at PVR. Then the audition happened and Usha Uthup was the first to tell me: ?You are the guy.?

So, I made it to the top 100 and went to Mumbai. From there to 50, then to 30 and finally to the last 14. Then in the first week, pehli baar danger zone mein aa gaya (the elimination group). The next 10 times I was in the danger zone, public ne mujhe bachaya. Then just a couple of weeks back, for the first time, the judges saved me and put me in the safe zone. But my (source of) confidence has always been with the public.

I don?t know anything about singing, main sirf dil se gaata hoon. But I want to be a complete performer ? performance comes naturally to me. I want to entertain everyone. Main public ko sab kuch doonga jo unhonne mujhe diya hai. In fact, I will give them double of what they have given to me.

I am very happy that Ruprekha has won the crown with me. We are complete contrasts. I still remember the day we sang together for the first time ? Ek main aur ek tu?

RUPREKHA BANERJEE

Pinky, Nakchadi, Rupie, Fruity? she has hordes of nicknames but as Ruprekha, she?s sealed a place in Indian music history as one of the winners of the first ever Fame Jodi contest. Her parents may run a catering business, but Ruprekha has always cooked great music, putting in hours of riyaz everyday and eventually getting to sing for Bengali films and TV serials.

At the Gurukul she soared up the popularity chart with her part-Hindi, part-Bengali and part-English speeches. She might shied away from physical exercise and kept munching something or the other, but Ruprekha did lose six kg at Gurukul. She also holds the envious record of being the only one to have been the top student thrice. Here?s what the girl from Agarpara has to say from Mumbai, where she celebrated the memorable moments with her father and uncle?

It?s been a long, long journey, kintu ekhon khub bhalo lagchhe. I always believed, sometimes hoped, that I would make it to the top. Mon bolchhilo hobo hobo but the dangerous decision I took of bringing back Rex and Arpita a couple of weeks back put a lot of pressure on me.

Aami bhalo gaan gaite parchhilam na. I was really tense and was thinking that I had made a big mistake by voting them back. But then, God had told me to bring Arpita back.

Fame Gurukul has not been the easiest of experiences at all. We hardly ever got the time to breathe. I remember how I really wanted to run away from all this, (and go) right back home. I had nerve problems and as the weeks went by, it kept getting worse, with galas and recordings and practise. At every stage, I just told myself that I have to keep going and make something out of the whole thing.

I had told my father: ?Give me four years and I will buy a car? and it?s really funny that within only one year, I have been gifted this car from Sony. Baba, kaka amra ekhane shobai khub celebrate korchhi. Once all this is done, I will return home but would have to eventually shift to Mumbai.

It?s great to have Qazi as the other winner. Qazir shathe bhaloi jombe. He was always talented. But he couldn?t sing that well initially. Now, he is really singing well and we?ll have a great time singing together everywhere.

Things have never been smooth between Rex and me. There was a cause of concern of him becoming more popular than me. But now that I have won and have to perform with him at many places, I have to overcome this and try and be a bit professional.