A young and passionate drummer participating in the Indian Weekender’s Diwali Got Talent segment of Wellington Diwali Festival last weekend was chosen winner amongst five fiercely talented performances.
Winner Akshata Katti stunned the audience with her drumming performance and was joined by the crowd of thousands seated in the arena who clapped to her beats and rhythm.
Akshata was followed by dancer Jey winning the runners-up trophy for rendering a high octane-stage thumping performance ending his act with a tribute mime for Covid warriors.
Akshata Katti with her winner trophy at Wellington Diwali Festival 2020 (Photo Courtesy: Karan Kapoor from KK Productions.co.nz)
The Indian Weekender has been a media partner for the Wellington Diwali Festival event for three years now and has delivered its astoundingly popular talent hunt show every year.
The Indian Weekender has been on a hunt for new faces who deserve a platform and recognition for their talents that both enthral and mesmerises the audience.
For the Diwali Got Talent segment of Wellington Diwali Festival, IWK received several entries of which the top five performers with different talents were finalised who showcased their flair on the big stage.
Akshata Katti with her winner trophy
The top five finalists from Wellington were Sunaina with her traditional Indian and Bollywood dance performance, Gaurav Chopra, a mimicry artist, Karandeep Sidhu- Bhangra dance, Akshata Katti, a drummer and Jey, with his Bollywood dance and mime message for Covid warriors.
Every contestant raved the audience with their performance, but the judges, The Indian Weekender’s Sandeep Singh, Yashmin Chand and Wellington City Council’s Suzzane Tamaki had to decide the best two amongst the five hugely applauded talents.
Speaking to the Indian Weekender, winner of the title this year Akshata says she felt privileged and honoured to have performed on such a big platform and winning it was a dream come true.
Akshata hails from Mumbai and works in the hospitality sector in Auckland. She has been a professionally trained drummer but had a gap of almost eight years as she pursued a different full-time career.
Contestant and runner up Jey performing at Diwali Got Talent segment at Wellington Diwali 2020 (Photo Courtesy: Karan Kapoor from KK Productions.co.nz)
“I started drumming again three months ago when I received the drum set as a wedding gift from my husband,” Akshata says.
Akshata came across the Diwali Got Talent news a month ago and started practising for her act at the talent hunt every day for four weeks.
“I performed western juxtaposed with tribal and rock genre and was quite nervous how it would turn out, but I am glad that I received such a thunderous response both from the crowd of thousands and the judges,” Akshata said.
(Photo Courtesy: Karan Kapoor from KK Productions.co.nz)
Akshata says winning the coveted trophy has strengthened her faith in her talent, and she aims to make it a more significant part of her life and try performing at more such events.
Both the Akshata and Jey were awarded their trophies on the stage by Judge Suzzane Tamaki and organiser of the event from CATNZ, Murali Kumar.