Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 28, 2019)

Sixteen-year-old Jabalpur girl Ishita Vishwakarma has won the latest season of the singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Interestingly, the teenager was up against her mother, among several others, in the top 15. “My mother has been training me in classical music since I was four. I had some other gurus as well, but my mother is my main teacher. When she got eliminated, her dream was to see me win. Now, it’s a double celebration for us,” she says.

Ishita admits that she hadn’t expected to win the prize money of Rs five lakh, a car and the winner’s trophy. “When I auditioned there were lakhs of brilliant singers competing. I was the youngest contestant, barely making it to the minimum age required to enter the competition. This win is a huge achievement,” she gushes.

Recalling her most memorable moment on the show, she says, “It was my dream to meet Shah Rukh Khan and perform in front of him. I sang 'Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai' for him and he said he would keep me in mind whenever an opportunity for playback turned up.”

What about future plans? The winner reveals that she had already landed a playback offer. “I want to be a successful playback singer but I hadn’t imagined I would land an offer on the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa sets itself. As soon as I won, Amaal (Mallik) sir announced that he wants me to give playback for a film,” she signs off.