Sri Lankan Actress Anarkali Akarsha

Sirasa Superstar is a musical reality show conducted in Sri Lanka by the TV channel Sirasa TV. Its aim is to find the most talented upcoming singer in the country. The competition's first season began in mid 2005 and ended in March 2006. And Season II finished on 27th of octomber. Sirasa SuperStar is similar to the musical reality series: Pop Idol. Its next appearance (Season 3) is currently underway.

After conducting a series of auditions across the country, 100 contestants are selected for the next round. Next, each contestant is given a chance to perform two songs, and from several groups, final 48 are chosen by the judging panel. Afterwards, the opportunity to engage in the decision-making is handed over to the viewers. From there on until the finals, viewers are given a limited time period to vote for their favorites in the respective rounds (that is, Final 24, Final 12 and Final 2, through the SMS system.

The 12 finalists perform one song each week (two songs in later rounds) based on which the viewers vote. The contestant with the least number of votes is eliminated every week. The final show is held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, among 240,000 audience. According to the number of votes received by each contestant on that day, the one with the higher number is crowned the Sirasa Superstar and the other becomes the Runner-up. For Season II, the winner, will be awarded a Rs. 3.4 million worth car and Rs. one million in cash, in addition to the prestigious trophy.

A favourite among most young people, in last season's Sirasa Super Star competition, this versatile singer is our cover girl this week.

When we caught up with her, 20 year – old Nadini Premadasa, was in the midst of travelling out station to work on an upcoming commercial, one of the many things she's involved with at the moment.

"I have been performing in a couple of shows and doing some commercials these days. Apart from that I've just completed one video for one of my singles "Guru Parata," which is yet to be released," she said. Work is also in progress for her album, scheduled to be released in May.

"About twelve Super Stars will be releasing individual albums with Sirasa, and I'm working on mine as well."

Completing her schooling two years ago, she awaits entrance into the Faculty of Performing Arts, at the University of Colombo, and is currently following a degree in Business Management.

"Since I'm so busy with all my other involvements, I have put my lectures on hold for the moment, but will be getting back to them soon!"

Talking about the experience of participating in the Sirasa Super Star competition, she spoke of the various challenges that come with such a level of competition. "It wasn't easy.

We all worked very hard, practiced hard, and it was certainly a tight contest. There were about 51,000 contestants, so it was tough, but I came to the top five, and that was a great achievement."