‘Wish all of us could have won’: Pawandeep Rajan lifts the Indian Idol 12 trophy and a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh

His world has changed overnight. Pawandeep Rajan lifted the trophy of Indian Idol 12 and a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh after what is being said the ‘greatest finale ever’.

An overjoyed Pawandeep says it still feels like a dream. After over 10 months in Mumbai, as he recalls the journey so far, he says. “The first day when I sang for the audition, I was trembling. And today, as I have been declared the winner, I am still finding it hard to believe.”

In all these months of being with the Indian Idol team, Pawandeep and others shared a bond of friendship. “It felt like we were in a music school where teachers taught us, we did our morning riyaaz, worked on our performances and were always supportive of each other. There was no sense of competition or jealousy among us and I wish all of us could have won.”

This isn’t the first time for this Uttarakhand-based boy to have floored the viewers with his talent. In 2015, he won The Voice title. All of 25, he did his first stage show at the age of two and a half. “That was in 1998 at the Kumaoun Mahotsav. I played the tabla as my father sang at the festival.”

With his father and grandmother being folk singers, he inherited music, literally. “I’ve never attended a formal class in music, not even from my father. I would just listen to music and try to copy it.” And in the process, he picked up over 20 musical instruments. “I can play keyboard, tabla, dholak, guitar, piano, harmonium, drum, pakhawaj, mouth-organ, mandolin, Russian instrument balalaika and some more.”

His singing, he says, improved by listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s qwaalis. “They are more like vocal training for me as his songs are an hour-long and include every lesson one needs in understanding the various parts of music.”

But his favourites are Lata Mangeshkar and Arijit Singh and now he hopes to get to work with the latter. “After a 10-day vacation to Kedarnath, I will come back to Mumbai and set up a studio and start with music direction. It was my childhood dream to become a playback singer and Indian Idol has made it possible for me to live it.” Pawandeep has already recorded a song for Himesh Reshammiya and has received a recording offer from none other than Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. — Gurnaaz Kaur