Till the last few minutes before Prashant Tamang was declared the third Indian Idol, he and Amit Paul, the best of friends anyway, kept standing and holding hands. And when Prashant won the title, the happiness and joy was noticeable on Amit's face too.

"I am really happy that my best friend has won the title, so what if I did not win, it has gone to the same house as he is my family," Amit told on Monday.

"For me both of us are winners and I would have been happy even if Amit would have won it, he has been with me since the beginning," added Prashant.

Amid euphoria and screams of joy, Prashant was Sunday night named the new Indian Idol at the end of the third season of the hugely popular TV talent hunt show. He defeated his friend Amit Paul on the basis of audience votes - totalling a whopping 70 million SMSs.

Now, the doors are open, the birds are flying and the world is colourful for both of them after this dream-come-true event.

While Prashant got a one-year contract with contest organisers Sony, Amit is confident that he will also get a number of opportunities.

"Now there is no looking back, I want to win hearts of millions of people with the help of my talent and I hope this will happen," Amit maintained.

But for Prashant there is a matter of concern: he has to take permission from his Kolkota Police employers to make his passion a profession.

"I will go back to Kolkota and take the permission of my seniors to go on singing," he said.

Prashant, a 24-year-old Kolkata Police constable of Nepali origin, hails from Shillong while Amit, also 24, is from Darjeeling.

During the course of the competition, the harsh comments of the judges spurred Prashant to work harder on ironing out his weaknesses and this helped him further groom his skills.

"I never used to get upset when Anu (Malik) sir, Alisha (Chinoy) ma'am and Javed (Akhtar) sir use to point out my mistakes, I am thankful to them for this as it helped me improve a lot on my skills," he said.

The two singers have different expectations from Indian Idol-4 next year. One says it's the best as it is and the other feels changes are required.

"I don't think any change is required. Indian Idol is best as it is," said Amit.

Prashant felt the contest "should go to small towns too as there is a lot of talent there. Till the time they explore this they wont find the true talent."

Prashant attributed the bulk of his 70 million SMSs to his friends in the Kolkota Police and to Mayor T.B. Rai of Mirik town in West Bengal.

"I am really thankful to my Kolkota police friends who encouraged me to participate in the show," he said.