First, parties in Nepal became the happy hunting ground of DJs from India. Then, the Himalayan kingdom gave Bollywood starlets more avenues for income by signing them on for New Year and other celebrations. Now, despite misgivings about elections and the imminent threat of a Maoist agitation next week, the country is set to rock with six 'Indian Idol' contestants.
On Friday, Ankita, Chang, Charu, Deepali, Parleen and 17-year-old wonder boy Emon, who made it to the top three before exiting the show last week, will arrive in Kathmandu for two power-packed shows that are expected to be runaway successes.
The contestants remain hugely popular in both India and Nepal despite being voted out of Sony Television channel's gripping talent hunt show.
Sponsored by Mero Mobile, Nepal's first private company to offer cell phone services, the six, who captured the fancy and hearts of viewers in India, Nepal, Dubai, Singapore and even London, will hold a three-hour show at a football ground in temple city Patan Saturday, followed by a more exclusive soiree at the posh Soaltee Crowne Plaza hotel Sunday.
Keeping in mind the immense popularity of the show in Nepal, Kathmandu's event management company DMI, which has pulled off the entertainment coup, has decided to cater to both the upmarket clientele as well as the masses.
For the football ground show, the tickets are priced at Nepali Rs.399 while the Soaltee concert, complete with dinner, will cost Rs.3,500 per head.
The 'Icons and Idols' show will also feature two pop stars from Nepal, Nima Rumba and Anil Singh.
DMI chief Raju Singh, a well known DJ in Nepal, however, says the credit for the idea actually goes to another event manager who three years ago brought Abhijit Sawant, the first Indian Idol, to sing in Kathmandu.
'However, this will be the first - and the last time - that the six Idol contestants will be on the same stage together,' Singh told IANS cryptically.
'I don't know what's going to happen to them afterwards but this was something Sony told me.'
DMI, which monitors Nepal's entertainment pulse keenly to keep abreast of what's in and what's out, decided to bring the six singers for the ultimate party in Nepal.
'There's an 'Indian Idol' craze in Kathmandu,' Singh told IANS. 'Everyone is watching the show on television and everyone knows who they are. We chose the six on the basis of their popularity.
'We had to wait till the top two were chosen since the contract with Sony doesn't allow the contestants to participate in anything else as long as they are still contesting.'
Singh also has plans to organise a concert featuring Prasant Tamang, the obscure young policeman from Kolkata who has now become a household name as well as the icon of the Nepali-speaking diaspora after clawing his way to the top five.
