He was one of the youngest contestants in his first reality show, Voice of India. Three years down the line, Aabhas Joshi retains his boyish charm, but has definitely added a lot of maturity and experience to his performance, as a singer and an anchor. He hosts Chhote Ustaad with Omi Vaidya. With the grand finale of the show scheduled for October 10, the Jabalur boy is all set to win everyone’s heart with his charming style of hosting. TellyChakkar.com spoke to Aabhas about his journey so far. Hosting a show is a completely different ball game. How has your experience been so far? My career started with a reality show and when I got the opportunity to become an anchor I grabbed it. I am glad I made the decision. Anchoring gives me immense pleasure and one also gets to learn a lot of things. This is my third reality show as a host, the other two being season one of Chhote Ustaad and Bharat Ki Shaan which I had hosted on DD with former Indian Idol contestant Deepali. Hosting has its own charm, co-hosting requires a certain chemistry you have to share with the other person. Luckily with Omi, that happened from the first shot! You replaced singer Chinmayee who was hosting the show initially with Omi… When this season started, I was abroad for my shows. Chinmayee was doing a fine job but something happened which I am not aware of. One day I got a call from Gaj-ji (Gajendra Singh) and he asked me to host two episodes of the show with Omi. I did that and luckily everyone liked it. Then gradually I was asked to come on board. I am glad people liked my work. What is your opinion about the Indo-Pak bonding happening in this show? I find it a very encouraging and positive peace building exercise. Recently filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt was on the sets and he mentioned that Chhote Ustaad is till date the best effort for bringing the two countries together. Since Maheshji is very close to singers from Pakistan, his comments were very encouraging. We have finally managed to establish that the show is not about India v/s Pakistan but it is about India and Pakistan. One should come to the sets to feel the friendly and cordial atmosphere. All the kids are marvellous and extremely talented. They are really blessed to have mentors and judges like Sonu Nigam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. We have also travelled with the kids to different parts of India. During Janmashtami we had been to Ahmadabad and we also went to Ajmer Sharif. We have never faced any problems anywhere. What are the plans for the grand finale? I am not aware about the celebrities who would be present, but we are planning to have a huge celebration with artistes from India and Pakistan. Iconic singers like Ghulam Ali and Abeeda Parveen will be present and this will be a first of its kind on Indian television. Are you looking to hosting more shows or do you want to become a playback singer? When I came to Mumbai I was very young and a greenhorn. Voice of India made me a polished singer and then gradually I became an experienced and matured singer. I have been doing shows for quite some time now. I am happy with my career. I have been singing for films as well. I have sung for myself in a film in which I have acted with Shatrughan Sinha and Rekha in the film Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai. I have also recorded one song with Shankar-Ehsan-Loy for the Bollywood musical Zangoora. I have also been doing lots of jingles with my brother Shreyas Joshi. My brother and I have also launched an album on the internet titled Nirvaan. It has three songs and I have got quite a positive response on this. In a nutshell, I am happy with what I am doing.