Shubhasree in performance at Fairever Anandalok Nayikar Khonje; (right) judges Partho Ghosh, P.B. Chaki and Agnimitra Paul at the Jamuna Banquets on Thursday. Pictures by Aranya Sen

Who’s the fairest — or potentially the ‘starriest’ — of them all? This was the vital question to be answered at Fairever Anandalok Nayikar Khonje.

The talent hunt contest to unearth the next Tollywood glamour queen had travelled across Calcutta, Durgapur, Siliguri and Midnapore in one month with judges including Sreela Mazumdar, Anjan Chowdhury, Rabi Ranjan Maitra, Arghyakamal Mitra and Probhat Roy touring the districts for a series of preliminary selection rounds.

The 700-odd contestants were trimmed down to 10 for the finals in Calcutta — Soniya, Saloni, Shubhasree, Rumi, Bonhi, Nabamita, Anindita, Manali, Sayantani and Sneha. “Fairever Anandalok Nayikar Khonje was conceived with the idea of contributing a fresh face to the Bengali film industry,” said Rupak Saha of Anandalok.

Thursday afternoon saw 10 anxious girls, with dreams of making it to the silver screen, lining up for a crack at the crown at the Jamuna Banquets. The finalists — included four girls from Calcutta —were put through a rigorous grooming session of 15 days conducted by Samrat Modelling and Performing Arts Institute (SMPAi) to brush up on their styling skills, voice modulation, body language and camera sense.

The judges’ panel on the final day read: Anurag Basu, Partho Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, P.B. Chaki, Pritam Jalan, Probhat Roy and Usha Ganguli.

Probhat Roy (left) and Anurag Basu judge contestants; (below) Manali shows off her acting skills

The grind

The competition kicked off with a brief self-introduction by the pretty young things, who looked quite stunning in colourful designer skirts by Agnimitra Paul. The first round was Jemon Khushi Temon or Do As You Like in which each contestant took turns to perform solo acts in the guise of a dejected lover, battered housewife, wannabe actress…

Next was the Lip-sync Round where the girls were evaluated on their sense of timing in mouthing Bengali film numbers. “The girls seem very confident but lack originality. They should stop aping other actresses. If they are more sincere about their acting, fame and glory will follow because they do have the potential to make it big,” observed film-maker Anurag Basu of Murder and Gangster fame.

Energy bubbled over on stage as the vivacious young girls hit the Dance round with the pulsating beats of popular Bollywood hits like Dhoom macha le, Kaisa jadoo dala re, Kajra re…

Finally, the Judges’ Choice round saw all the seven wise people taking turns to grill the budding actresses, sketching serious and wacky situations to which they needed to perform impromptu. Understated or teary-eyed, most girls managed to impress the judges with their presence of mind. With a rider from Basu: “The girls need to believe in what they are doing to keep things natural.”

Most judges felt that proper training would sharpen their acting skills, while Usha Ganguli seemed to greatly appreciate their talent for dancing.

The glory

The girls’ day was made when Anurag Basu declared at the end of the competition that he would like to cast two of the girls in his forthcoming serial on Sony TV. Director Probhat Roy joined in by announcing that three of the girls would star in his latest feature film Pitribhumi. Theatre director Usha Ganguli rounded it off by expressing her eagerness in training the girls if they were keen.

It will be a nail-biting weeklong wait for all 10 aspirants till the winner is finally announced on November 18, the night of the Fairever Anandalok Awards 2006 at Science City, 6 pm.

The winner of Fairever Anandalok Nayikar Khonje will be launched by a production house in a prominent role in a Bengali feature film. The countdown will be aired on Akash Bangla on November 12.