The hunt is still on...

The hunt for the Indian Abba, Bee Gees or Boyzone just got tougher. With the deadline for entries to the Delhi Times Supastars contest being extended by 20 days, the competition is expected to get fiercer, with more bands fighting it out to be the next big pop band.
The bands that have already uploaded their songs on http://supastars.indiatimes.com, are gearing up to brave the challenges before them. Sohaill Gandhi, the 20-year-old guitarist of the band – Nisvann (Sanskrit for sound), is all set to give others a run for their money, with his bandmates – Karamveer Singh, Nandan Khade and Rupak Dhamankar. “Earlier, we used to come together and decide on a date and then jam. It was all on a very casual level, but now Supastars has given us a platform to show our talent and get nationwide recognition,” says Sohaill, who also writes the lyrics for his band.
Talking about how much time it takes to compose a melody, Sohaill says, “It actually depends on a number of factors. The fastest that we have composed is in a day, but it has even taken us close to two months to come up with a song. So, there is no fixed time.”
Because the process of coming up with a winning combination is difficult and time-consuming, the organisers have taken into account the competing bands’ request and extended the deadline for entries from June 21 to July 11. And since this will be a pop band with an international feel, with Times Music giving them an album launch, contestants are going great lenghts to ensure their win. Putting their regular jobs on hold, some of them have even moved to Mumbai, like members of The SQS Project – Samar Puri, Sanam Puri and Keshav Dhanraj are all in their early 20s.
“The good thing about our band is that we all started playing very young. Even though our band was formed recently, we have all been playing in different groups and bands for the last five-six years,” says Keshav, the drummer. Samar and Sanam are from Delhi.
Many of the contestants agree that although rock music has dominated the Indian scene for quite sometime, but pop music will be out of the picture. “Be it metal, electronic or any other genre, there is always an element of pop in it. And it is this element that catches the attention of the audience,” says Harit Bhasin,who along with band members Siddharth Singh and Rahul Sharma forms the band Shloka.
Going by the universal trend, pop music was what made live music a trend abroad. “Pop music is the be all and end all for me. Who can be bigger than Michael Jackson, the king of pop? Supastars is definitely
going to revive the interest of band members in pop music,” says Aman Misra, a 20-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, who is participating with bandmates – Anuj and Himanshu.
There’s still time!
So all those of you who thought you’ve missed your chance, there is still time. Send a demo/sampler CD of your Hindi or Hinglish pop band music to Supastars, Times Music, 8th floor, Times
Tower, Banhem Estate & IT Parks Ltd. Kamala City, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, or upload it at http://supastars.indiatimes.com