Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Aman Biswal stormed into Top 13 of popular reality show Rising Star India aired on Colors TV, last night, by polling in highest percentage of votes.

Despite choking in the middle of his performance, the 12-year-old from Bhubaneswar beat the meek 53% score of Hoshiyar Brijwasi, to secure a spot for himself in the next level of the competition.

The episode, which was a tribute to the first female superstar of Bollywood, Sridevi, had singer Alka Yagnik as a guest judge. Every contestant sang a song remembering the exemplary actor of Bollywood.

Aman crooned to ‘Surmayee Akhiyon Mein’, the Yesudas lullaby from Sridevi’s iconic movie Sadma.

His soul-stirring performance garnered the votes of the country, including that of the judges, and catapulted his score to a whopping 91%.

As was the case in his previous performances, Aman last night choked during his performance after surpassing the 53% cut-off. He had been doing breathing exercises and drinking sufficient water to overcome it. However, it did not deter the entire nation from voting for him.

The judges rushed to his side after the performance with water bottles, as did a couple of other contestants.

Judge Monali Thakur joked that Aman always chokes right after crossing the cut-off percentage.

Similarly, judges Shankar Mahadevan and Diljit Dosanjh ribbed this Class VII student of DAV, Kalinga Nagar, for the disruption of his performance.

However, Aman was also heaped with praises for being the highest voted singer in the show. “Yours is the best performance in today’s episode. You struck all the right notes that strummed all the right chords in our hearts and that of the audience,” said Shankar Mahadevan.

“The boy gets nervous at the beginning, but when he starts performing, it feel as if a CD is playing. He sings so well and his voice is so sweet,” said Diljit Dosanjh.

When asked about the reason for his choking, anchor Ravi Dubey joked that scratches develop on the CD. Aman clarified that his voice is transitioning and dries up easily and therefore, he chokes.

Shankar Mahedevan jested that a water tank should be provided to Aman to prevent his voice from drying up. “All this does not matter. You are a fantastic singer,” Shankar added.

Diljit Dosanjh also appealed to Colors channel to arrange for a tub for Aman, so that he could bathe and sing in it simultaneously during his next performance.

Aman’s mother, sitting in the audience, looked nervous throughout his performance but breathed a sigh of relief when Shankar Mahadevan awarded Aman with the signature Tutaari jig for a power-packed act.

Rising Star India (Season 2), LIVE music reality and talent hunt show, has singers perform live with simultaneous online audience voting on VOOT app, besides the app and website of the television channel. A screen that streams live results of the voting literally rises when a participants beats the previous performance percentage, qualifying for the next round.

This episode saw the exit of Meerut’s Hoshiyar Brijwasi from the show for scoring the lowest percentage of votes.