It’s become routine for reality show judges, especially those on musical shows, to denounce the winner more so if he/she doesn’t belong to their gharana . Last year, we had Ismail Darbar running down Sa Re Ga Ma Pa winner Aneek Dhar and judges Adesh Srivastav, Jatin-Lalit felt that Abhas deserved to win Voice of India rather than the late Ishmeet Singh. The latest judge to criticise the champion is Anand Raj Anand who termed Harshdeep Kaur’s win in Junoon as a good PR exercise. However, the 21-year-old isn’t perturbed by such criticism and has defended her territory stoutly. Says Harshdeep, “One mustn’t forget that reality shows aren’t all about singing, it’s your overall persona that counts. I may not have been the best singer but yet there must be something in me which attracted the viewers. Besides, I don’t deny that I asked my family and friends to vote for me. But isn’t this a part of every reality show? However, I never went out of my way to garner votes at the expense of my singing. If that were the case then I wouldn’t have won the show.” Often, Harshdeep was subject to harsh criticism from rival mentors, Anand Raj Anand and Ila Arun. In fact, they never hesitated in saying that she was a mediocre singer. “I was never bogged down with such criticism. In fact, I once even told them that if I’m so bad then they should eliminate me. Ila and Anandji’s squabble only projected their team negatively. At times, one got the impression that they were indulging in favouritism.” Not many are aware that Harshdeep is the voice behind popular tracks like Ik Onkar (Range De Basanti), Loot jao (Karzz). In fact, it was Anand Raj Anand who gave her the first break in playback singing. “When Anandji labelled me a bad singer, I reminded him that it was he who gave me my first break in playback singing. Unfortunately, that film never got going,” chides the singer. Despite being a playback singer, why is that she chose to represent Sufi and not Bollywood in Junoon? “It was a conscious decision to not do Bollywood as I wanted to experiment. Sufi is another part of me which I wanted to explore. Throughout, the show, I experimented with my singing. I sang in Arabic, mixed Sufi with rock and I believe this appealed to the masses,” says Harshdeep on a parting note. In fact the criticism of the mentors worked in favour of the singer as the janta normally backs the underdog. And that’s what helped her win the show.