New York: He won't even turn 18 till September this year, but Sanjaya Malakar has already become a celebrity in America.
Raised in the Seattle area of Washington, Sanjaya made it to the final seven of American Idol. But he gained fame, and many would say notoriety, because of gushing fans and disgusted critics.
The first Indian-American to make it so far on the show, Sanjaya's attempt to become the sixth American Idol stalled on Wednesday night.
The remarkable and reason-defying dream run of Indian American teenager Sanjaya Malakar at America's biggest television show, American Idol, has ended.
For weeks he overcame scathing comments from the judges and merciless ribbing from critics with a curious mix of good looks, goofy humor, passable talent and what seemed to be his trump card.
Sanjaya Malakar’s fan Sid Shah says, “It shows Indian people do have a sense of fashion and they are doing big things, bigger things.”
Bigger things could be right. The last Indian American reality TV star Raj Bhakta, who appeared on The Apprentice, was nominated by the Republican party to contest for Congress in 2006. He lost so did Sanjaya. But the community may have gained another role model.
New York University Student Mili Shah says, “It definitely motivates other people. I know there's a Capella group here at New York University and it motivates to see that look, you don't have to be American to sing an American song, you can be an Indian and sing a Spanish song.”
Sanjaya may be out of Idol but his fans needn't despair - they'll surely hear more of him since a recording deal is very possible.
So America finally voted out Sanjaya - but as they take stock of the remaining six contestants from here on, the question will hit Americans - what are we going to talk about?
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