Washington, Aug 16 (IANS) Emerging Pictures, the producers of Indian-American comedy “Loins of Punjab Presents,” have launched a Bollywood Idol contest ahead of the Sep 12 release of the film in New York and a few other US cities. Contestants don’t have to be Indian to be the next Bollywood Idol!, says the announcement asking them to “Just show us your singing talent by submitting a video of your wildest, nutsadelic, most ridonkulously fabulous performance to the Bollywood Idol contest page on YouTube or directly to Emerging Pictures.”

The performers of the five most viewed videos (according to YouTube ratings) will compete for the grand prize at the Sep 12 US Premiere Party. Entry Deadline is 12:00 a.m. Friday, Sep 5.

The contest will be judged by Rickey Yaneza of Rickey.org, founder of one of the most popular American Idol websites, Manish Acharya, the director of “Loins of Punjab Presents,” and surprise jurors.

The grand prize winner (the Bollywood Idol!) will receive a $1000 cash prize, a free recording session at Bullhead Bay Recording Studio (managed by award-winning composers and sound engineers, valued at $5000) in Syracuse NY and a $1000 gift certificate courtesy of Beam Laser Spa.

Also thrown in is a dinner with the filmmaker and key cast members, possibly including Bollywood celebrity Shabana Azmi and “Office Space” star Ajay Naidu, depending on their schedules.

All five finalists will each receive a $100 cash prize and a DVD gift bag courtesy of Emerging Pictures.

“Loins of Punjab Presents” was a huge box-office hit in India last year. The film is about the disparate lives of seven strangers whose worlds collide in hilarious ways when they all compete in “Desi Idol”-an alternative, Bollywood-style singing contest in a small town in New Jersey.

Following the familiar trajectory of singing competition TV shows, but with the deadpan humour of Christopher Guest’s films, “Loins of Punjab Presents” is a send up of the kitsch shared by both Bollywood and American Idol, where celebrity dreams can be just one catchy performance away.

The film comically embraces the quirks of the South Asian diasporic identity and family, and these characters emerge with truth and humour.