Lovingly called Chote Sultan, Aftab Singh hails from Punjab and comes from a humble background.Alfaz nahi hai mere paas, samajh nahi aaraha hai kya kahun (I am speechless, don’t know what to say)”, shared Aftab Singh as he spoke exclusively to indianexpress.com minutes after being announced the winner of Rising Star 3. The 12-year-old further shared, “The feeling is yet to sink in. I never imagined that I would win the show. This is the biggest moment of my life and I can’t express my joy in words.”
Aftab Singh beat Diwakar Sharma and Sanjay Sateesh to clinch the winning trophy and prize money of Rs 10 lakh. While Diwakar Sharma was the first to reach the final round, Sanjay and Aftab tied at 90% votes. Instead of two, the judges allowed all three in the final round. Sanjay performed first and received 76% votes, while Diwakar scored a whopping 82%. However, Aftab Singh’s powerful performance on “Tharki Chhokro” got him a record-breaking 89% score.
Stating that he had lost hope after Diwakar scored big, the overjoyed winner said, “I knew it was tough. I felt I wouldn’t be able to sing. But it was the blessing of God, my family and all the people who voted for me that I performed. As I saw the score meter rising up, I could feel my heartbeats also going up. It was a dream come true moment for me as the wall rose up and I was announced the winner of the show.”
Also read | Aftab Singh wins Rising Star 3
Lovingly called Chote Sultan, Aftab Singh hails from Punjab and comes from a humble background. His family is in debts after his father took a loan to build their house. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who came on the show to promote Bharat has assured he will pay off his loans so that he can keep training without any worries; “All my dreams have been fulfilled on Rising Star 3. From getting a chance to sing on stage, in front of a worldwide audience, to meeting my idol Salman Khan. He even offered to help me, and that was definitely one of the biggest moments of my life.”
The young champ further shared that he hasn’t yet chalked out his future plans but knows that he will continue singing forever. He said, “As the wall rose for the last time, my entire journey, struggle and hard work flashed in front of me. I have learned so much in this show. And I will always be thankful to the judges and audience for all the love and support. This is just the beginning of my musical career.”
Hosted by Aditya Narayan, Rising Star 3 had Shankar Mahadevan, Neeti Mohan and Diljit Dosanjh as the judges. It aired on Colors.
