South Africans vote 'Deewanagi' from 'OSO' as top song

By Fakir Hassen

Johannesburg, Jan 3 (IANS) Listeners of public broadcast station Lotus FM and two community radio stations have overwhelmingly voted "Deewanagi Deewanagi" from Shah Rukh Khan's blockbuster film "Om Shanti Om" as the top song of 2007.

Three radio stations - national broadcast station Lotus FM and two community stations East Wave 92.2 and Durban based Hindvani - had a competition linked to voting. The "Dewangi Dewangi" song gathered three times more votes than its closest contender.

South African homemaker Natasha Naicker of Effingham Heights suburb in Durban won prizes worth 225,000 rands for a makeover of her home as she correctly predicted the final tallies for the top three songs of 2007 as voted by the Lotus FM listeners.

The song "Vaaji Vaaji" from the hit Rajnikanth movie "Sivaji" came in second while the title song from Madhuri Dixit's comeback film "Aaja Nachle" came third.

Natasha, a mother of one, said she was overjoyed and was eagerly looking forward to getting the new air-conditioning units, home theatre system, kitchen cupboards and granite tops installed in her home by the sponsors.

In Durban, 13-year-old winner Nikisha Thotaram showed the festive season spirit of sharing and giving when she decided to share her prize of air-conditioning units worth 15,000 rands with another entrant, Bashnie Govender.

The two were among four finalists who had a lucky draw because all had correctly predicted the top three songs on Hindvani, where the song "Kachchi Kaliyan" from the film "Laaga Chunari Mein Daag" replaced the "Sivaji" song at the second spot.

In Johannesburg, Zameeda Abdul Hamid, an East Wave 92.2 listener, won a Gold Card from cinema chain Numetro that will allow her and a partner to see unlimited movies for a year - worth up to 50,000 rands - after she correctly predicted the top three songs at the station.

Here, "Ajaa Nachle" was in second place and the title song from "Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom" shot on Amitabh Bachchan was third.

• Music News