Buddha Lama Wins Nepal Idol 2017

Buddha Lama (20) of Pokhara is the new Nepali Idol for the year 2017 and an official announcement in this regard was made at the grand finale event held in Qatar on September 22, 2017.

The event, which had the Nepali Ambassador to Qatar Dr. Ramesh Prasad Koirala as the chief guest, was held at Asian Amphitheatre, Grand Mall, Qatar.

Amid the presence of around 15,000 attendees, Lama bagged the Nepal Idol 2017 title and received a Mahindra KUV 100, a record deal worth 1.5 million Nepali rupees along with a cash prize of Nepali Rs 2 million.

In this event, that was judged by Singer Indira Joshi and musicians Kali Prasad Baskota and Nhu Bajracharya, Lama won the top prize, followed by Nishan Bhattarai and Pratap Das who stood after him in the first and second runner-up positions and were given receiving a cash prizes of Nepali Rs 1.5 million and Nepali Rs 1 million, respectively.

According to the organizers of the event, the winners were selected based on the voting process through SMS and mobile app and around 93,100,000 members cast their votes during the finale.

As part of the occasion, the Nepali Ambassador called on Nepalese in Qatar to reach out to the Nepali Embassy in case of any issues troubling them.

Excited over the victory, Lama said, “I want to be adored, not only by the people of my community but by everyone. I will pursue my career in music and see people appreciating my musical works.”

Lama remained dedicated to learning music since his childhood. His process of learning music positioned him as the top-four singer in the Big Icon, a singing competition in 2012, among various others.

Apart from music, Lama is currently pursuing Tourism Hospitality Management course.

Bhattarai, the first runner-up, said that the show provided him a platform to exhibit his singing skills. He expressed satisfaction saying that he won the hearts of the public even if the title was missed.

The second-runner Das, one of the top 10 contestants of Nepali Tara, welcomed the support extended by the audience.

Apart from the contestants, the event also witnessed the performances by comedian duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya, popularly called as Maha Jodi.

Teria Magar, Nepali winner of two Indian dance reality shows, singers Hemanta Rana and Nalina Chitrakar are among others who performed at the event.

This event was jointly organized by the Onix Action International and Everest Nepal Youth Association. Nepal Idol, affiliated to the Idol franchise, is a reality show aired by Nepal’s only HD television AP1.