After eighteen weeks of grueling hard work, Salman Khan, a 23-year-old from Bangalore, was announced the winner of Zee TV’s dance reality show “Dance India Dance” at the grand finale that concluded here Saturday night.

Khan beat Mumbai-based Siddesh Pai and Alisha Singh from Ranchi to walk away with the winner’s cap as well as a contract worth Rs.5 million with Zee TV.  “I thank god, my mother and the audience for giving me so much love,” Khan said after being announced the winner.

The event, held at the sprawling Andheri Sports Complex, was a dazzling evening with livewire performances by the participants, judges as well as the host, TV actor Jay Bhanushali. 

“Dance India Dance” had set out to look for raw talent within the age group of 15-25 who would be trained by professional Bollywood choreographers - Geeta Kapoor, Terrence Lewis and Remo D’Souza as well as be judged by them.

Bollywood actor and ‘disco king’ Mithun Chakraborty presided as the grandmaster throughout the reality show.  Apart from the participants, judges and the audience, the grand finale also saw filmmaker Boney Kapoor and actor-turned-director Prabhu Deva take centrestage as special guests.

The two came to promote their forthcoming film “Wanted”, which stars Bollywood actor Salman Khan. It is being helmed by Prabhu Deva. The filmmakers announced that they would give the winner a chance to exhibit his talent in their film.