The competition has toughened as now it's just nine finalists who will be fighting with their vocal cords to be tagged as the 'Bharat ki shaan', the next Indan Idol.

Last evening, all the challengers got together at MC Donald's at V.T, where they shared their feelings of being in the show. We bring to you an exclusive conversation with each of the contestants where they tell us - what is that one factor that makes them the right candidate to be the next Indian Idol. We also dig into their strength, weakness and favourite judge on the show, everything self-confessed!

Deepali
This 18 year old contestant from Patna (Bihar) has completed her HSC and is looking forward to a bright future with Indian Idol. Winning this contest is the utter most important thing for her. "I can sing and perform well, thus I am eligible to become the Indian Idol," she claims.

Weakness as singer: My scale is not too high
Strength as singer: My voice quality.

My favourite judge: Javedji. He is very straight forward and examines each and every contestant very critically.

Abhishek Kumar
This young boy is basically from Jharkhand but is pursuing his engineering from a college in Bangalore. He walked in Mumbai with a big dream of becoming a singing sensation one day. "I don't know about winning the contest, but I have the ability to be the Idol of India," he says excitingly.

Weakness as singer: Lack of confidence

Strength as singer: My performance and feel while rendering any song.

My favourite judge: Anu Malik. He is very candid and tells you where you are going wrong. He makes us understand our flaws and how to rectify them.

Puja Chaterjee
Another sweet eighteen year old, who has recently topped her college, dreamt of doing something in media industry and thus landed in the city of dreams. Even after a small failure she has not left the ropes of hope. "I can become the Indian Idol as I am versatile singer and have undergone vocal classical training," she speaks.

Weakness as singer: I am very emotional

Strength as singer: My voice quality as my pitch is very high.

My favourite judge: Anu Malik, as he tells everything point blank. If you are good then your are and if you are bad then you have to work hard. That's what I like about him.

Prashant Tamang
Hailing from Jharkand, this Sepoy of Kolkata is now looking forward to being the next Indian Idol. "It will be great to have a Nepali ladka as an Indian Idol. If the audience chooses me it will go down in the history of the show," he laughs.

Weakness as singer: My Hindi pronunciation and lack of feel in a song.

Strength as singer: I sing straight from my heart

My favourite judge: Anu Malik as he is the one from whom you can learn many a things.

Emon Chaterjee
A cute looking Bengali boy who has just passed his eleventh grade and who was labelled as an over-confident singer by Anu Malik, is looking ahead to becoming the next star of this season. He states, "I deliver the lyrics well, my pronunciation is good and I am capable of exhibiting the correct feel of the song."

Weakness as singer: I don't have flaws as a singer but yes, my parents are my weakness. If I don't see them, I can't perform well.

Strength as singer: Music is my strength.

My favourite judge: ????? he is straight forward and tells you bluntly whether you did good or no.

Amit Paul
This 24 year old guy from Shillong always aspired to be a singer. He has tried his luck every where and has finally landed in Indian Idol. "I am hard working and highly focused, I think audience should judge me on that and make the Indian Idol," he says.

Weakness as singer: I have not undertaken any special vocal training

Strength as singer: I strive hard to achieve my goal

My favourite judge: Anu Malik for his accurate judgement which becomes a learning process for us.

Ankita Mishra
This sweet 17 who makes everybody groove to her tune is from Kanpur (Uttar Pardesh). She stays with her mom and dreams to touch the sky. "I can become a great Indian Idol as I know how to entertain the public and represent my country," she giggles.

Weakness as singer: I get carried away many times

Strength as singer: My style of presentation

My favourite judge: All the judges are my favourite as I respect each one of them.

Parleen Singh Gill
His chocolate boy image has gone down well with the young generation. Basically from Hariyana, he's currently pursuing his BSc. He feels, "I can be the next Indian Idol as I have the potential of handling it."

Weakness as singer: I am not a trained singer.

Strength as singer: My versatility and confidence.

My favourite judge: Anu Malik as he is like a mirror for us.

Meiyang Chang
This young dentist from Jharkhand is eagerly waiting for the finals to arrive. "The audience should choose me as their Indian Idol because I have been working hard and am dedicated towards my work."

Weakness as singer: I am not a trained singer and my range or pitch is also not high

Strength as singer: honesty in voice and fresh appeal.

My favourite judge: Udit Narayan as I like his happy-go-lucky nature.