‘6000+ participants, 11 cities, 16 finalists, Snehdeep takes home Maruti Suzuki Swift.’

Bengaluru: Mr. Snehdeep Singh Kalsi of SIBM Bengaluru, takes home a brand new Maruti Suzuki Swift after winning Colors of Youth Season 5. He performed Allah Hoo & Allah Hi Rahem (My Name is Khan) in the grand finale at Kingdom of Dreams, Gurgaon NCR Delhi on 30th March, 2016. After Acoustics – The Country Rockers from D. Y. Patil College and Divyansh Gupta from NMIMS Mumbai were the 1st runner up & 2nd runner up respectively.

Maruti Suzuki Colors of Youth Season 5 partnered by MTV, saw 6000+ students from leading business schools, across 11 cities participating in the initial phase of city rounds. These city rounds were followed by zonal rounds in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru from which, 16 extremely talented students were chosen as the finalists.

Maruti Suzuki Colors of Youth Season 5, the exciting fifth edition designed to draw out the most talented managers from India’s premier B-schools and professional colleges, with an exciting prize Maruti Suzuki Swift up for grabs. With every passing year, Maruti Suzuki Colours of Youth is becoming a rage amongst the student community. It’s a national level platform where multi-talented students get a chance to present their unique skills and an opportunity to excel beyond academics. India’s most talented and versatile youth are pitted against each other to showcase their talents across Music, Dance, Theatrics, Mimicry, Photography, Stand-up Comedy and more.

Judges included Radio and Video Jockey Nikhil Chinapa and Bollywood actress Perizaad Zorabian and a special guest judge, Hard Kaur, British Indian rapper and hip hop singer.

Mr. Kalsi, MBA Batch 2014 – 2016 was also the Vice President of Student Leadership Council 2015-16. Snehdeep, fondly called SK, often used to delight his fellow batch-mates at SIBM Bengaluru with his soulful voice during various cultural events of the college.

SK says “12th March 2015 – Season 4 Finale was happening in Delhi and despite being the finalist I couldn’t go. I was writing end semester exam paper in Bangalore. That day I promised myself – ‘Next time, Mr. Kalsi will hand over the key to Mr. Kalsi’ 30th-31st March 2016 – Season 5 Finale – Finally, Mr R. S. Kalsi, Executive Director Marketing & Sales at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd hands over the Prize to Mr. Snehdeep Singh Kalsi.

This has been a memorable journey. I will really miss it – The ‘Fidaa’ Comments of Perizaad ma’am and ‘Leave MBA, go do Music’ comments of Nikhil Sir. The oh-so supportive COY & MTV team and the fellow contestants, the 16 finalists – had a very good time with them, few became good friends, indeed inspiring talents – will miss all of this and will always cherish these moments.

And finally thanks to all my beloved friends – you know who you are – and Symbiosis Institute of Business Management Bengaluru, my college people, for always supporting me and cheering for me.”

Watch Snehdeep’s performance in the GRAND FINALE on 17th and 23rd June, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. only on MTV.

Here’s a short interview of SK with the PR & Media committee of SIBM Bengaluru, after winning the competition:

PR & Media: How do you feel after being the winner of MTV Maruti Suzuki Colors of Youth Season 5?

Snehdeep: Surreal. I am honoured and feel blessed to have won the show. The feeling hasn’t sunk in yet. The competition was very tough and winning amidst some amazing dancers and singers, makes it very special.

PR & Media: How do you think SIBM has helped you achieving this?

Snehdeep: City Zonal Round & South Zonal Round were conducted in our college at SIBM Bengaluru so the crowd support was amazing and it really helped me perform better. The management has been very supportive encouraging students to participate in such co-curricular activities. Adding to that, the music club of SIBM Bengaluru ‘Saaz’ has also helped me practise regularly.

PR & Media: What is the one quality that is required to win, in any competition?

Snehdeep: Hunger to win and the ability to handle failure is the key. It’s imperative to learn from mistakes and then practise very hard and then repeat. In management jargon, the ability to do a proper SWOT analysis is required. Assess your strengths & weaknesses; play on your strengths while work on your weaknesses. Grab right opportunities at the right time and beware of threats. One must be able to gauge the level of competition around and prepare accordingly. Passion is a must!

PR & Media: Whom do you attribute your success to?

Snehdeep: To the Almighty for giving me this talent, my parents who have always supported and encouraged me and my Gurus for the knowledge of music they gave me. When I had the option to choose either Amritsar or Chandigarh airports to take flight to Delhi, I chose Amritsar, just to visit Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) and take blessings. My friends have been very supportive, boosted my confidence and were always there when I needed them.
Also, I cannot thank the judges enough for all their suggestions. The entire team of Colors of Youth has been very supportive. And last but not the least, I thank my college Symbiosis Institute of Business Management – Bengaluru (SIBM-B) for immense support and the whole student fraternity there. We have a music club ‘Saaz’ back at SIBM Bengaluru where we used to practice. All of them have their share of contribution towards my success.

PR & Media: What message would you like to give to talented students like you?

Snehdeep: I don’t think I am qualified enough to answer this but from my experience, I would say that having talent is not enough. You need to keep working at it and find a mentor who can guide you; who can widen your horizon. It’s like going to the gym and not taking advice from the trainer and instead trying anything random. And no matter what one must never lose hope.

I’ll quote a line that sums up my philosophy of life. It’s from Samuel Beckett – ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’

I participated in Colors of Youth last year also. Was selected for the finals but had exam on the day of grand finale and couldn’t attend. This year I again attempted and here I am. So never lose hope, never avoid taking calculative risks, never stop trying something new and never ever stop dreaming.