Riya & Tusshar at BT's Fresh Face 2010

Tons of talent, loads of masti, a dash of zing, all this and more topped with oodles of attitude and chutzpah was what was served ‘fresh’ to the judges at the Bombay Times Fresh Face 2010 powered by itimes.com, for the semi-final round held on Friday afternoon.
Air buzzing thick with charged excitement and hearts hammering hard, the semi-final round saw 40 contestants from various colleges across Mumbai compete to make it to the top 20 for the final round.And if the young titans were nervous, their confident walk-n-talk certainly gave no glimpse of it. The crowd erupted in a loud cheer as the celeb judges for the event — the fun-loving Tusshar Kapoor and the ever-so-gorgeous Riya Sen — sauntered in. Along with two TOI judges, they faced the ardent task of judging the super-talented lot with a smile. Bowled over by the enthusiasm and confidence of the youngsters, Tusshar and Riya reminisced about their college days, more about the fun they had in the canteen, than in classes!
Kickstarting the event was the round that saw the forty semi-finalists come up and introduce themselves in their own witty manner to the judges, followed by a question-and-answer round that proved to be more fun than most expected. Varied impromptu performances and unique talents spiced up the event. Tanuj Parakh and Akhil Krishnan’s mimicry act had the judges in splits, while Prachi Kelkar, Bhavya Pandit, Suraj Bharti, Sagarika Biswas, Saahil Gour, Raahil Rai, Shanya Gupta, Pranav Chandran and Susan Vaidyan had Tusshar and Riya enthralled with their melodious singing. Prithviraj Savashe’s RJing skills and Nishchal Dwivedi’s fiery poetry too infused some more energy. Avinash Tewari’s beat-boxing and Rohan Burman’s B-boying rocked too. Rishabh Chanda, Rahul Kirpalani, Karan Dutt, Nihal Shetty, Nutash Kotwal, Rinish Jain, Viraaj Makwana, Latika Amin, Arshima Thapar, Afsheen Irani, Zhankar Gandhani, and Dharam Shah wowed the judges with their confidence and easy-going charm. Devyani Nagbhirey, Mallika Dinesh, Vasundhara Sharma, Shailee Shah and Siddhika Save too were very impressive.
Lyric Agarwal and Aanam Chashmawala had the judges tap their feet as well, as the girls belly-danced their ways to the top. Aparna Daswani’s break dance, Aditya Ubare’s Bollywood dancing and Aayushi Awasthi’s classical performance were also much-appreciated. In fact, so impressed were the judges that Tusshar even remarked: “They are all so talented that they can give most actors a run for their money,” before jokingly adding, “Thank god they are all still in college.” Riya too was all praises for the contestants as she pointed out that the contestants are raising the bar of excellence with each performance. “Not even our film industry has so much talent,” said Riya.
Judging proved to be no mean task, as they sat enraptured performance after performance and at times were even compelled to give some of them a ten on ten. A charming personality, raw talent and fresh attitude was what the judges were looking out for and there was an abundance of it in all the contestants.
Forty performances, a lot of fun interactions and a few hours later, the judges finally rounded up on their final twenty. And as the names were announced there was air-punching, high-fives, tears of joy and smiles of hope galore. The crowds cheered for each other and themselves as they all hugged and screamed out ‘Fresh’ in unison. Cheered on endlessly by all those present, a winners attitude bound them all together.
These top twenty will now vie for the title in the final round. But not before being groomed and given make-overs by the top industry experts. Keep watching this space to follow your fave contestant’s journey to the top spot.
To check out the pictures of all the finalists and the happenings of the semi-final round, log onto freshface.itimes.com and don’t forget to vote for your fave fresh face! Voting begins on Tuesday
Aakanksha Naval-Shetye and Sanaya Chavda
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