He's the face of Idol this year. Chang, a Jharkand dentist of Chinese ancestry, is a sharp and poised young man, and his studly charm winning him scores of female fans. The PR-woman enthusiastically coos about the women, and Chang winks, flapping his arms in a graceful bird-impression. "And now, back to earth," he smiles.

Unlike the others, Chang's never been into singing. He went along to the auditions for a lark, not even knowing if they took spot registration. Chang labels his getting selected at the auditions a fluke, saying that he wasn't even a good singer when the show kicked off.

"I would believe it was mainly on the voice quality, because it's different, and also because of the novelty factor: you know, a Chinese fellow singing Hindi songs. I personally believe that was it, at least initially," he says.

Since then, he has been slogging it out. "I don't like the 'oh he looks cute, different,' or 'oh his Hindi pronunciation is very good,' etc. I want to justify my being here," he adds.

He isn't all that bothered by the novelty talk and the Chinese Hindi speaker comments. "'Hindi's very good' felt like a strange compliment because I thought that everyone spoke good Hindi. But then I stayed with these guys," Chang grins, asking to excuse Emon and Puja, the Bengalis. "But even the others from the North, their Hindi is a little shaky. So yeah, I guess I have been able to learn the language."

His father -- a dentist from Patna, married to a Mumbai beautician and living in Dhanbad -- made sure Chang's childhood soundtrack was built out of ghazals and old Shammi Kapoor songs. "I used to be pretty off-key, a bathroom singer. In college, I tried out things a little. People told me I had a good voice, but I needed training. I never sang with music accompanying me."

Until Idol, where judge Anu Malik was impressed. "He said you have some magic in your voice that you don't know about, and that's when I realised that I can do this."

"I would say it is a little biased. I do feel that," he says, referring to the gender bias shown by the voting audience, "the girls are coming in the bottom three-four. And I know the other guys and I have screwed up and still, we aren't going to the bottom three. So there is some bias. But now, there's been enough campaigning towards it so I think there'll be a shift. If not this year, at least it's laid the ground for a female Idol next year."

Chang has not stayed in Dhanbad for too long, traveling to Dehradun, Mussoorie and Bangalore for his education. "Dhanbad is a small place. Dad has a car but I don't use it because there's nowhere to go."

Then the bright eyes twinkle with mischief. "You know, apart from it being a small place, people there are really crazy about stars. An actor from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi had come, and girls literally tore his clothes off!"

So does he anticipate trouble when he finally gets home? "Yeah, probably. I also live in the centre of town, so," Chang trails off, laughing.

Also Read: SRK: I'm scared for Chak De'

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