TV talent show intrigues global Indian community.

Byline: Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah

CHICAGO _ Even if India's biggest music reality show limited its contestants and voters to the nation's 1.1 billion inhabitants, Saturday's finale would be an emotionally seismic event. Fans of the Bollywood-flavored program take their singers seriously.

But this year, organizers of "SaReGaMaPa" _ an "American Idol"-style show that surpasses its rivals, including "Indian Idol" _ have allowed phone-text voting from the U.S., where fans can watch the show on satellite TV and download shows from the Internet. Online voting is worldwide.

They also invited contestants from around the world, and after five months, it has come down to three finalists: two Indians and a Pakistani.

Just as the bitter rivalry on the Asian sub-continent has found its way into cricket, movies and other innocent pastimes, geopolitical undertones have transformed "SaReGaMaPa" into a sort of musical proxy war, waged on Internet sites from Palatine to Peshawar.

"Indians have a long-standing tradition with music," said Aspi Havewala, a tech worker and Palatine, Ill., resident who blogs about the show on his website, "Aspi's Drift." "There are many forums out there. Performances get analyzed and people constantly discuss the merits and demerits of the contestants."

Not to mention the contestants' nationalities.

"We don't need singers from another country," wrote one fan.

Another wrote: "I wonder how long an Indian contestant would have lasted if this was a show in Pakistan."

"People won't let go of the past," said Athar Bhatti, 42, a musician and businessman from Toronto who became mesmerized by the voice of the young Pakistani contestant, Amanat Ali. "They're turning this into a political thing."

Named for the Hindi equivalents of the musical notes "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So," "SaReGaMaPa" features lyrical ghazals, pop tunes, club mixes and songs from Bollywood musicals.

Last week, more than 5 million votes were cast. By far, the greatest share have come from India, where each round looks more and more like election day. Local politicians and relatives of contestant Raja Hasan have been going door to door in his hometown, Bikaner, Rajasthan, asking for votes.

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Overseas campaigning is heating up, too. Radha Sudra, 26, a software development student in Vancouver, created a site that sets voting goals for fans of Hasan _ and asks members to email her with reports on how many votes they cast. She also took out a full-page ad backing Hasan in a local Indian paper.

Bhatti said he hasn't paid attention to his marble business for weeks. He wakes up and logs onto the Internet, reading the latest predictions about Ali.

"I have not been this inspired since I took up playing the guitar 15 years ago," he said. "I started crying when I first heard him. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up."

Palatine's Havewala touts his favorite Aneek Dhar for his unique sound.

"He has a future and a very sweet voice," he said.

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As the countdown progresses, fans obsess over slights to their favorites, or offer conspiracy theories. For example, Zee TV, the Indian-based satellite channel, edited the end of the show that aired in North America.

What got cut? Guests giving the Pakistani, Ali, a standing ovation and demanding that he sing the song three times.

"Usually when you sing well, they make you sing it twice," said Jibran Ilyas, 24, a graduate student at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "But they made him sing it three times. I believe they cut it deliberately to cut his international votes."

Dimple Shah, 22, a student at Penn State, is beginning to lose hope that Ali will win. Her parents are from India, but she sees no conflict in supporting Ali. She can't understand why people in India can't do the same.

Ali does seem to have strong international support. And the Indian vote tends to split along regional lines _ but even a split vote leaves little opening, observers say, when the vote being split comes from one of the world's largest nations.

"One side of India is voting for Raja, another side for Aneek," Havewala said. "Amanat will be left on his own."

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(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.

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