MUMBAI: The serial blast has begun! Zee Music has set off its international hunt for an item bomb - a girl to perform an item number opposite Sanjay Dutt in the movie Musafir - in Mumbai.

Kicking of the proceedings, Zee Music on Saturday night staged an item hunt, which had everything from hot numbers, oomph and some foot tapping music. Not to mention of course, some hot girls doing their thing around the pole set up on stage.

In a closely-fought contest, Mumbai girl Kajal Malhotra stole the thunder from other five contestants to reach the final round.

The jury including director Ken Ghosh, model Malaika Arora Khan, choreographer/ director Ahmed Khan and actress Koena Mitra first evaluated the contestants based on their looks , body and oomph. Then, the contestants were asked to perform dance numbers through which the jury evaluated not only their performance skills but also their ability to follow the choreographer's instructions.

Malhotra had tough competition from other two Mumbai girls Sharon Noranha and Sharada Chamur. After the first round Noranha and Malhotra had a clear lead over other contestants, but the final round saw Chamur making a strong comeback with her vivacious stage performance. But Malhotra, who gave a consistent performance throughout the selection process, sailed through.

The gala event held at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt was attended by the Musafir cast Anil Kapoor, Sameera Reddy, Mahesh Manjrekar, Koena Mitra, Shakti Kapoor and the film director Sanjay Gupta. Speaking at the occasion, Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra stressed on Zee's efforts to bring the best to the audience.

Zee Telefilms director, special projects, Yogesh Radhakrishnan said Zee TV's association with Musafir is providing a tailor made platform for all aspiring youngsters.

"Hats off to them, I respect them", exclaimed Musafir's leading lady Sameera Reddy referring to the participants, after sitting through the selection process and that summed up the mood of the competition.

The contestant from Russia- Emiley Ulumekova captivated the audience as she made sincere efforts to lip-sync the Hindi lines and gave flashes of her belly-dance talent during the stage performance.

The flagship channel Zee's talent hunt Cinestar Ki Khoj has reached its penultimate stage. Item Bomb will be simultaneously telecast on both Zee Music as well as Zee Cinema. Musafir is expected to hit theatres in November.