SINGAPORE – Thedal 2016 has a winner and it is Magalakshmi Sudarsanan, who just might be one of Vasantham’s future stars.

At the grand finals of the talent search, which aims to uncover acting talent, the 19-year-old beat three other finalists — whittled down from an initial 14 — to win the grand prize of S$15,000 in cash.

The live show, hosted by JayNesh and Bharathi, was held on Sunday evening at the Mediacorp TV Theatre. Thedal’s resident judges, Vengadachalam, Mohd Ali and Manjari, were joined by a special guest judge, prominent Indian film actor Bobby Simha.

After giving live performances that were praised by the judges, Magalakshmi emerged victorious over Kartik Anand, Rupini and Seshan, who took second, third and fourth place, respectively.

“I was super shocked,” said the biomedical science student, adding that she was expecting Kartik to win. “I feel great — amazing, actually,” she added. “This is what I’ve always wanted — my childhood dream. I still remember, back in Kindergarten One, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said I wanted to be an actress. My mother was so embarrassed.”

Her mother, who was in the audience, is surely proud of her now. “She was cheering me on — I could hear her voice from the stage,” Magalakshmi said.

“If anyone were to offer me (an acting project), I would accept. I’m just waiting,” she said. She is still in the process of completing her degree, but “biomedical science is just my backup plan. It’s just something to fall back on”.

In the meantime, she said: “I want to keep working hard and keep making myself better at this art. I do it for love of the art, not for anything else. I definitely will have to work on myself. Whatever options come, I won’t take them for granted.” May Seah