Till a few months ago, Ravinder Ravi was just a small-time painter from the city who made a living whitewashing houses. That was until he emerged on the latest talent-spotting show on TV and presented a virtually unforgettable rendition of Mohammed Rafi’s ‘‘Khuda bhi aasman se jab zameen par dekhta hoga.’’Today, Ravinder—a man who has never been trained in singing—is a sensation, who holds listeners in thrall everytime he performs on Sony Entertainment Television’s Indian Idol show. As for folks in his hometown Ludhiana, they have already crowned him king.Ravinder has entered the final round on the show where he is pitted against nine other contestants. The winner gets a singing contract with Sony worth Rs 1 crore.Apart from the judges’ selection, the winner will be determined on the basis of phone calls and SMSs sent by the aam janta. Ravinder bagged 41 per cent of the 12 lakh votes polled to reach the final. Now, his fans back home are rooting for him through a poster campaign to motivate others to vote for him.Ajay Chaudhry, an advocate, says, ‘‘I was confident he will make it to the finals. Ravinder has very good control over his voice and though he claims he has had no formal training, his diction, pronunciation, voice quality is just super.’’
