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| Kunal Ganjawala |
Kunal Ganjawala, one of the three hosts of Chhote Ustaad on STAR Plus is the product of a reality talent contest himself. He speaks to t2 on talent shows then and now…
The look and feel
The whole set-up is obviously more professional now than it was 10 years ago. There are a lot more television channels and therefore the number of talent shows has nearly trebled. The scale is much larger than before and the stakes are also higher. There is immense audience participation in terms of the voting system. But what has remained the same is the desire to discover and support good singing talent.
The talent
It is difficult to distinguish the talent in terms of quality between what it was earlier and what it is now. But what one can safely say is that the talent pool has definitely grown much bigger now. There are kids as well as adults coming from all parts of India to participate in these contests. There are many more platforms by way of which youngsters can display their talents today — be it acting, singing or dance.
The competitiveness
The youngsters of today are smart and know what they want from life. But there is healthy competition going around, just like it was during our times. Since the level of involvement has also grown — both in terms of the participants as well as their parents — the competition may take an ugly turn sometimes. But thankfully, that has never happened on any episode of Chhote Ustaad. We are just here to promote good music and great talent.
The exposure
There have been people like myself, Shreya (Ghoshal) and Sunidhi (Chauhan) among others who have been a part of talent contests in the 90s and have made it as playback singers. As I have said earlier, the platform is much bigger now and so are the exposure levels. Nowadays, even if one is not among the top three or four contestants in a talent show, he or she still manages to catch the eye of the people. The industry is always on the lookout for new talent and new faces. There is ample scope and opportunity for everyone — be it youngsters or seasoned singers.
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