The 49-year-old singer from Kolkata, who was discovered by ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh and got his break with Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt's romantic film "Aashiqi", is in Kathmandu for two shows.

Sanu, who started out singing songs popularised by legendary singer Kishore Kumar and had to struggle for years before he could gain a foothold in Mumbai, is dismissive about "Indian Idol".

Abhijit Sawant won the show with a Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) contract as well as a car and a vacation in Switzerland.

"It's just a gimmick by these channels to make some money," said Sanu, born Kedarnath Bhattacharjee. "There have been such shows in the past too. But where are those winners today?"

Sanu went on to give the example of one of the pioneering pop contests, "Meri Awaaz Suno".

"The winner was even signed up by Bollywood director Yash Chopra to sing in his film Mohabbatein. But who remembers him today? There are hundreds of such singers in Mumbai today," Sanu said.

Sanu, who made it to the Guinness Book of Records by recording 28 songs in a single day, says his mission is to revive the nostalgia that used to be present in the Bollywood songs of yore.