Salman Ali, who quit school to sing, emerges Indian Idol 10 winner

From being a school dropout in Haryana’s Mewat to winning Indian Idol 10, Salman Ali has come a long way. At the end of season 10 of Indian Idol, the 20-year-old walked away with the winner’s trophy, a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh and a Datsun Go car on Sunday as social media burst with messages of congratulations.

Salman beat Ankush Bhardwaj and Neelanjana Ray to emerge winner. Ankush and Neelanjana were adjudged first and second runners up respectively.

After many weeks of exciting but demanding and keenly contested show, Salman was voted the best. The show also saw actors Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif make an appearance as guests. They were there to promote their film, Zero. Salman was, of course, overwhelmed on winning the contest.

“I am overwhelmed and speechless right now. The feeling of winning the 10th season of Indian Idol is yet to sink in. Indian Idol and Sony Entertainment Television have given me a platform to realize my dreams and I will always be thankful. I haven’t just learned a lot but I have had the opportunity to perform with and in front of legends from this industry. And more than anything else, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude towards the audience who voted for all of us wholeheartedly,” he said.

Salman’s win felt sweeter as he comes from a poor family in Mewat, Rajasthan. But it wasn’t an easy win. Looking back at the last six-seven months—his journey all through this season—Salman said, “We would practice for hours and hours without thinking if it was day or night. The competition was so fierce and everyone was singing so well that I too had to work equally hard to catch up. We would get time only for food breaks. We rehearsed all the time otherwise,” he said.

Salman has been singing for as long as he can remember. He even quit school to practice without any distractions. “I have been singing from a very young age so I couldn’t focus on studies much. I went to school till Class 10 but dropped out after that,” he said.

It was an emotional moment for the contest’s judges — Neha Kakkar, Javed Ali and Vishal Dadlani. Infact, host Maniesh Paul and Neha got teary eyed as the season drew to a close. The Zero team too was amazed that the plethora of talent--Shah Rukh, in fact, requested Salman to sing Sajda from his film, My Name is Khan.