After auditioning thousands across the nation and posing a slew of challenges at them, Zee TV’s acting talent hunt show – India’s Best Cinestars Ki Khoj, announced their winners at a star-studded night. From standing in long queues to audition for the show, to striving and outshining others week after week, Uttar Pradesh’s Syed Mamoon and Azerbaijan’s Oksana Rasulova emerged as the winners of the season. Week-on-week, the two won accolades for their performances not only from the judges – director Vijay Krishna Acharya aka Victor, Anurag Basu and the gorgeous Sonali Bendre but also won the hearts of millions watching them on television. They were evidently ecstatic to have won the highest number of votes in the grand finale. Talking about his win, Syed who hails from Moradabad said, “It was dream come true! Acting is something that I have always wanted to do but due to circumstances at home, I had to hold back this passion. Winning this competition is a big leap towards pursuing my passion and living out my dream. I am thankful to Zee TV for giving me this opportunity to prove myself and to the audience for loving my performances and voting for me. People barely knew me before the show, but now it’s truly wonderful that people across the country recognize me.” Oksana, who was overwhelmed at the win and could barely contain her happiness said, “ It is unbelievable that I am holding this coveted trophy in my hand. We all have worked so hard for over three months to achieve this and now when I am holding this trophy with my name written on it…it seems like a dream. I am really thankful to the audiences for all the love and votes they have showered on me. Coming from a different country, never did I imagine that the Indian audiences will be so welcoming and give me so much warmth and love. I fall short of words when I thank Zee TV and the judges of the show for all the guidance and love. Hoping this is the beginning of my journey to stardom”. Having mentored the contestants for over 13 weeks, the three judges were ecstatic to hear great things about the contestants from all the celebrity judges who had visited the sets. Wishing Oksana and Syed all the luck for their future, the three put up a special performance for the finale. Joining in the celebrations were the cast of the much awaited film Haider - Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. While the duo had a lot of fun with the contestants, they also gave them a lot of impromptu challenges and were stunned with the performances that were put up by the Top 6. Doing a jig and enthralling the audiences with their moves were dancers par excellence - Lauren Gottileb and ‘Dharmesh Sir’, who were seen cheering the top 6 contestants just before the announcement of the winner. The two winners get a chance to debut with Guroudev Bhalla’s movie which will be written and creatively supervised by ace director Mahesh Bhatt and produced by Dhaval Gada. Present on the sets for the finale, Mahesh Bhatt said, “It is the raw-talent that inspires me the most and I’m glad that Zee TV has provided a platform like this to young and fresh talent to pursue their dreams and has given us a chance to work with raw talent.” Talking about his journey to success, he stated, “I don’t think that there is any map or route for one’s way to success. I’ve failed on my way to success. One of the most important things is to know how to market themselves in the current scenario.” Apart from the coveted trophy and a chance to make their debut in Bollywood, the winners also walked away with a cash prize of Rs.50, 000 from Moneygram and a gift voucher worth Rs. 1 Lakh from Cera Tiles. While the show ends, here’s wishing these bright cine stars on their journey that has just begun…