Tailor scoops labour camp talent show

Singing live in front of a 4,000 crowd at Sonapur labour camp in Dubai has earned tailor Shabbir Khan DH35,000 and the title of Camp ka Champ after impressing judges at a Bollywood themed talent show .

Camp Ka Champ winner Shabbir Khan plans to send his prize money home for his daughter’s wedding. Reem Mohammed / The National

Man who earns Dh2,500 a month wins Dh35,000 cash price after being named Du singer of the season in contest

DUBAI// Every day, as he sits stitching curtains in his job as a tailor, Shabbir Khan sings along to the classic Hindi songs he plays on a mobile phone he keeps in his shirt pocket.

On Thursday evening, Khan’s knack for belting out a good tune won him Dh35,000, as he was crowned Du Singer of the Season in the Champ of the Camp (Camp Ka Champ) contest.

In front of a crowd of more than 4,000 workers at the Sonapur Labour Camp in Dubai, Khan – from Rajasthan, India – maintained a solemn expression while he sang his way to victory, but tears ran down his face as he picked up his cheque.

“I’m sending the money home for my daughter’s marriage,” he said.

Khan, who has worked in Dubai for 11 years, will not be quitting his Dh2,500-a-month job as a tailor for the Al Gurg company.

“I won’t go home because I’m happy here,” he said.

More than 5,000 men from 32 companies and 150 camps auditioned this summer for the chance to compete in the tenth season of the Western Union Camp Ka Champ contest, organised by Right Track Advertising.

The finalists sang in three categories – Antakshari, in which four teams of two had to demonstrate their Bollywood music trivia knowledge, Du Singer of the Season, in which a panel of three judges assessed the vocal talents of four finalists, and the English Unplugged section, which was won by a Ugandan trio of reggae singers who work for Transguard Security.

From her front row seat, ­Aliya Ahmed, marketing director Middle East and Africa for ­Western Union, said she was pleased to see the spirit of the crowds.

“This is an opportunity for these men to come out and ­enjoy life, because this is something really big for which they wait the entire year,” she said.

None of the finalists went home empty-handed, as runners up received prizes, including electronics from Geepas, Dh500 Du phone credit cards and flight tickets from Air Arabia.

The winners of the Antakshari contest were Ibrir Hosen, 31, from Pakistan, who works for Belhasa Projects, and Nusref Khan, 26, from India.

Winning a Dh17,500 cash prize was fortuitous for Nusref Khan who had resigned from his job as a bricklayer.

He is flying home to India in two days, where he will see his one-year-old son for the first time.

Mr Khan is putting his winnings into a fixed deposit savings scheme to pay for his son’s education.

“Now, at least my son can have the opportunities I was never able to have.”