Indian sings non-stop for week for world record

Apr 28, 2008, 10:00 GMT

New Delhi - An Indian man completed a weeklong non-stop singing session, seeking a place in the Guinness World Records, a news report said Monday.

Viraag Wankhede, a 34-year-old engineer in India's entertainment capital of Mumbai, began singing at a mall at 12:23 pm April 20 and finished on 12:26 pm Sunday, the PTI news agency reported.

If confirmed, Wankhede more than doubled the current world record of 75 consecutive hours of singing, set last year by Marcus LaPratt of the United States.

During the course of his marathon, Wankhede went without food or sleep and sang more than 1,500 songs by well-known Indian singers.

A spokesman for Wankhede said the singer was on a liquid diet for the duration and was kept under the observation of three doctors.

The singer had registered with Guiness World Records three years ago with an intention to undertake a marathon singing session and had been preparing for the record since 2005, the report said.

Tapes of Wankhede's singing with certification are to be sent to Guinness World Records, and it was expected to take at least six months for his feat to be registered in the record book.

Wankhede had wanted to become a playback singer and had tried for a break in the Hindi film industry, popularly known as Bollywood, but his efforts were in vain, and it was then he decided to use a different tactic so his singing prowess would be noticed.