Summer Holidays begin and so the kids accompany me to most places these days, vegetable shopping(much to their dislike), laundry grocers...So here we were at Big Bazar, shopping for daily necessities when announcement of a fashion show organized for children caught my kids' fancy.I entered their names not thinking much about it. Like all parents I thought this was a good opportunity for them to be on stage.
As we approached the area, I was quite impressed to see a proper stage with a ramp and all, children were already rehearsing their talent to be exhibited later; the judge was yet to arrive. Wow I thought, the fist and last time I was on a ramp was as the finalist in a beauty contest when I was 19.....how nervous I felt then, I recollected as I traveled to the past, my nervousness, other parents coaching and goading their girls on, but my dad and me wondering what was there to prepare, one should spontaneously voice an opinion, unless it is a fact presenting assignment....
But now when I looked at my kids they were at ease, not ruffled a bit by all the other super talented kids belting out hit hollywood numbers and dancing to those tunes in gusto, like professionals!!
The anchor was encouraging the kids to perform.The judge arrived and the show commenced, I was quite disheartened at the attitude of the organizing team.All they wanted the participants to do was enact a Hindi film actor , or dance like a particular heroine or recite a popular dialogue from a film!! Not that these acts do not need practice and intelligence, but these were the only topics on the anchors mind!!!
I agree it being a fashion show titled ' Cool summer fashion' would not bring science prodigies to the fore, that wasn't the aim in any case, but how completely given it to bollywood are we? Yes, it was a fashion show and a bit of entertainment was looked forward to, but tiny tots gyrating in a bollywood like fashion to the entire length of a bollywood song was the only criterion of a talent hunt.
The judge made a bold attempt, she decided to speak with the kids, rather than the default song 'n dance routine decided by the organizers. Good I thought to myself, a novel attempt indeed, the judge was asking them about their hobbies, likes dislikes ....but my relief was shortlived. Every child's hobby was dance, bollywood dance or a hindi film song that they could sing perfectly!! Whatever happened to good old , "I like playing in the park"?!!! or even "playing pithoo or langri tang with my friends"
Come to think of it majority of the Indian television channels telecast film based pogrammes or family dramas. I am not against them but for how long can we feed ourselves the same masala under the garb of entertainment. Gone are the spelling bee contests and bournvita quizes and the Sidhdhart basus and Derek O'briens or 'Surabhi'. The frequency of such pregames has become miniscule liteally.One has to hunt for such informative and interesting content on TV , the run-of-the-mill is just totally film based!!
Going back to the fashion show, I was glad that a Boy blessed with a mellifluous voice(he sang a bhajan) was adjudged the winner in the 8 to 11 years category. His demeanor was confident and blessed with a pleasant personality, he was naturally the audiences' favorite.
When it was mychildren's turn to introduce themselves and be questioned, they replied from their heart. My 11 year old elder one, told the judge she liked swimming, painting and cooking!!!My 8 year old son made similar statements, also declaring his love for cricket and IPL. Niether of my children liked the idea of giving a performance as in a bollywood dance item, which they too are quite fond of otherwise.However, they are involved in swimming painting,experimenting with fevicol , paper, scews wires, mud,waste material and making the house a mess as well. Very surprisingly my son walked away with the second prize in the 5-8 year category!! My daughter did not stand a chance competing with all the chikni-chameli and dhinka-chika perfomers, not that I mind that in the least.... We all really need to look deeper into the notion of entertainment we possess. A little bit of song and dance accompanying some grey matter stimulating or informative content is what we should be involved in.
As we approached the area, I was quite impressed to see a proper stage with a ramp and all, children were already rehearsing their talent to be exhibited later; the judge was yet to arrive. Wow I thought, the fist and last time I was on a ramp was as the finalist in a beauty contest when I was 19.....how nervous I felt then, I recollected as I traveled to the past, my nervousness, other parents coaching and goading their girls on, but my dad and me wondering what was there to prepare, one should spontaneously voice an opinion, unless it is a fact presenting assignment....
But now when I looked at my kids they were at ease, not ruffled a bit by all the other super talented kids belting out hit hollywood numbers and dancing to those tunes in gusto, like professionals!!
The anchor was encouraging the kids to perform.The judge arrived and the show commenced, I was quite disheartened at the attitude of the organizing team.All they wanted the participants to do was enact a Hindi film actor , or dance like a particular heroine or recite a popular dialogue from a film!! Not that these acts do not need practice and intelligence, but these were the only topics on the anchors mind!!!
I agree it being a fashion show titled ' Cool summer fashion' would not bring science prodigies to the fore, that wasn't the aim in any case, but how completely given it to bollywood are we? Yes, it was a fashion show and a bit of entertainment was looked forward to, but tiny tots gyrating in a bollywood like fashion to the entire length of a bollywood song was the only criterion of a talent hunt.
The judge made a bold attempt, she decided to speak with the kids, rather than the default song 'n dance routine decided by the organizers. Good I thought to myself, a novel attempt indeed, the judge was asking them about their hobbies, likes dislikes ....but my relief was shortlived. Every child's hobby was dance, bollywood dance or a hindi film song that they could sing perfectly!! Whatever happened to good old , "I like playing in the park"?!!! or even "playing pithoo or langri tang with my friends"
Come to think of it majority of the Indian television channels telecast film based pogrammes or family dramas. I am not against them but for how long can we feed ourselves the same masala under the garb of entertainment. Gone are the spelling bee contests and bournvita quizes and the Sidhdhart basus and Derek O'briens or 'Surabhi'. The frequency of such pregames has become miniscule liteally.One has to hunt for such informative and interesting content on TV , the run-of-the-mill is just totally film based!!
Going back to the fashion show, I was glad that a Boy blessed with a mellifluous voice(he sang a bhajan) was adjudged the winner in the 8 to 11 years category. His demeanor was confident and blessed with a pleasant personality, he was naturally the audiences' favorite.
When it was mychildren's turn to introduce themselves and be questioned, they replied from their heart. My 11 year old elder one, told the judge she liked swimming, painting and cooking!!!My 8 year old son made similar statements, also declaring his love for cricket and IPL. Niether of my children liked the idea of giving a performance as in a bollywood dance item, which they too are quite fond of otherwise.However, they are involved in swimming painting,experimenting with fevicol , paper, scews wires, mud,waste material and making the house a mess as well. Very surprisingly my son walked away with the second prize in the 5-8 year category!! My daughter did not stand a chance competing with all the chikni-chameli and dhinka-chika perfomers, not that I mind that in the least.... We all really need to look deeper into the notion of entertainment we possess. A little bit of song and dance accompanying some grey matter stimulating or informative content is what we should be involved in.
Hey Didi,
ReplyDeleteYour article on this incident is really thought provoking. I think we Indians are too stereotyped and we try to find our identity in celebrities. Such talent show or whatever it was has to have a better quality of judges and the impetus should be on the child's intellect and understanding rather than copying Bollywood songs or filmstars
Vidula it is very heartening to know that the kids do not belong where they should not belong :-).Later in life the show runs on application of intellect only-good going Gattu and Manjiri!
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