SHAS­TRI BOODAN

Vic­to­ria Am­ri­ta Ma­haraj, 23, took home the $50,000 top prize at the fi­nal of the Sangeet Pradar­shan, a Hin­di film singing com­pe­ti­tion, at the Ma­hat­ma Gand­hi In­sti­tute for Cul­tur­al Co­op­er­a­tion in San Juan on Sat­ur­day night.

Ma­haraj beat nine fel­low fi­nal­ists with her ren­di­tions of Mad­huban me Rad­hi­ka from the 1960 movie Ko­hi­noor and O mere dil ke Chain from the 1972 film Mere Jee­van Saathi.

Ma­haraj told Guardian Me­dia she was elat­ed to have tak­en home the top prize. She is from Rousil­lac in south Trinidad and works as an an­a­lyst at Su­per­pharm.

Plac­ing sec­ond was Ak­shay Khan­doo, who took home the $30,000 prize with his ren­di­tions of Janam Janam and Mitawa.

In third, and tak­ing home $20,000, was Satyam Vishesh Bridge­lal, who sang Dul­he Ka Sehra Suhana Lag­ta Hai.

In the first round, con­tes­tants sang a song of their choice and they were giv­en a test piece to sing in the sec­ond round.