voice next: Sarnali Bhowmickjudgment girl: Preity Zinta

n From appearing at derby competitions to innovating new colours for bikes, Preity Zinta has been making most of her non-shooting phase. Last Saturday she came to the Indian Idol sets in Mumbai as the chief guest of the popular talent hunt show.

And after her judging stint for the Sony show Preity sounded very excited. ?I am so happy to have come to Indian Idol, these performances were mind-bowling,? said the Salaam Namaste lady.

Preity was particularly impressed with two performances ? N. Karunya and Calcutta?s Antara Mitra. As Karunya sang, Preity couldn?t help but tap her feet and confess: ?It is very difficult to judge and give pointers to such talented singers.? For Antara, she said: ?Wish you could sing playback for me some day.?

On the film front, Preity is set to appear in two big movies this year and both of them are set in New York. While Sajid Nadiadwala?s Jaaneman, directed by Sirish Kunder, will have her opposite Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan, Karan Johar?s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna has Preity alongside the likes of Abhishek Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.

n Calcutta girl Sarnali Bhowmick was crowned the first ever [V] Mobile Singer judged by the Dada of Disco, Bappi Lahiri. Sarnali will not only sing Bappida?s original composition but also star in her own video along with the music director.

?While there have been other competitions, I was ready to take part at the time Mobile Singer was launched,? Sarnali tells Metro. ?I entered twice in the competition singing two of Bappida?s numbers on the phone. Then they asked me to come to Mumbai for the next rounds.?

For Bappi, it wasn?t easy to zero in on Sarnali. ?To find the country?s next singing sensation from a pool of thousands of equally talented youngsters was a very difficult task,? he says. ?In the past, I have discovered talents like Alisha Chinai, Remo Fernandez, Sharon Prabhakar, Usha Uthup. I believe, Sarnali, too, has the talent to create and deliver music that will appeal to a wide range of audiences.?

Sarnali wants to prove her ?mentor?s? vision right and wants to sing both playback and cut private albums. ?I have already sung for an untitled film with Kunal Ganjawala and am awaiting the release of the film,? she signs off.

n Cricket the craze is back in full force, what with India pocketing the ODI series in Pakistan. But there are fans like film-maker Priyadarshan who are not content with just watching the game on the small screen.

In fact, Priyan, as he is popularly known in the film industry, is an excellent batsman and a huge fan of Indian skipper Rahul Dravid. So, during the shooting of his new romantic comedy Chup Chup Ke, Priyan organised a 10-over cricket match every day at the end of the shoot.

On one such day when Priyan was playing, he hit the ball so hard that it went and hurt lead actor Shahid Kapur?s jaw. Thankfully, co-star and real-life maiden Kareena Kapoor was right there to nurse him back!