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With the advent of these ‘Talent Hunt’ shows we are able to see the budding artists. They have got a platform to showcase their mettle. We have heard the singers like Abhijeet Sawant, Amit Sana, Rahul Vaidya, Prajkta Shukre, Sandeep, Vinit, Nihira Joshi, Ishmeet, Raja, Poonam, Ujjaini, Himani, Karunya, Debojit etc etc... the list goes on… They all have been a part of the singing talent hunts like Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Star Voice of India. They all got a chance to make their own music albums and some were lucky enough to get a chance for playback singing in the movies.

Like Abhijeet got his first break in Aashiq Banaya Aapne (Himesh Reshammiya) with the song, “Mar Jaawan….”
Amit Sana proved himself in the movie ‘Kalyug’ with a duo with Anuradha Paudwal.

Rahul Vaidya and Prajkta Shukre in the movies Shaadi No . 1, (Anu Malik) the song called... “Hello Madam... I am your Adam….”

Nihira Joshi, who has been my favorite, got a chance to hum ‘tin-tinak-tin-tin-tin na…..’ that comes in the beginning of the song “Dhadak dhadak…” in the movie Bunty Aur Babli (Shakar- Ehsaan- Loy). Then the same music director gave her a chance to sing with Shaan in the movie ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’ for the song “Mera dil dil mera…” She was also asked to sing for Aadesh Shrivastav’s music in the movie ‘Alag’ for the multi starred song – “Le ke dil lamha tanhayee ka…” along withShaan, Kunal Ganjawala, Hemachandran and Ujjaini from Sa Re Ga Ma Pa again.

There are upcoming movies with singers like Raja also coming up. These were some of the talents who were giving the maximum chance and have come to lime-light.

Let me tell you about the talent hunt foray into the field of acting. It was an initiative taken by Zee TV which organized the Zee Cine Star ki Khoj Contest. This has happened just twice so far. The second one wasn’t so successful but the first one was the best. It started off from the scratch of acting, dance, music, modeling and everything. There were three judges, Satish Kaushik, Mahesh Manjarekar and Ken Ghosh. They were the best ones there to judge and the man behind the whole thing, Sudhir Mishra himself. It was a promise made by him to the two winning stars that they would be signed for a movie soon. There were hundreds of contestants who were called to Mumbai and then every week the scrutiny continued. It was a place where they were taught as to what must be done to look like an actor on the silver screen. This went on and on and was also very interesting. There were some 15 contestants left. They were of course not less than anybody as they had come till the last stage. I must say that they have all got a good chance now in the industry. It was a talent hunt conducted in 2004-2005.

- To begin with the winners, Aditi Sharma and Sarvar Ahuja who were the winners of this show. Aditi Sharma made her debut in the movie ‘Black and White’. Sarvar is yet to be seen.
- The runners up Shraddha Arya and Mohit. Shraddha has been seen in many Ad’s like Scooty pep and she made her debut in the movie ‘ Nishabd’ as Amitabh’s daughter. She was also seen in Debojit’s debut music album. Mohit is still invisible.
- Then came the beauty and the queen of hearts, Yuvika Choudhary who has been in the cover pages of various fashion magazines, has been a part of music videos, Ad’s , serials like ‘ Astitva- Ek Prem Kahani’, recently seen as Dolly in ‘ Om Shanti Om’ and now her full fledged so called-her debut movie- opposite Sikander Kher is ‘ Summer 2007’. The music seems good as there is also a female lyricist called Ujjaini Roy who is into light.
- In the same way the others like, Preeti Amin has been seen in the daily soaps and the famous video album of Kailash Kher, ‘Teri Deewani....’
- Amrita Khandvalkar in a daily soap that used to go on in Star One.
- Abbas was seen in Astitva again and also in ‘Mohalla Mohabbat wala’.
- Abhishek, the so called boyfriend cum choreographer of Rakhi Sawant has set his life rolling.
- Sudeepa Singh has been a part of serials again. These were some who have been spotted but I feel after 3 years they have got something. No body from the top 15 has been left unnoticed. All have been a part of this industry. After seeing this I felt that this was one talent show which genuinely brought out talent to the platform and paved ways for them. They all have a long way to go still!

Which one to watch?

Hmmm.. Confusion.. I have been a fan of Reality TV shows from the time the trend actually started. There are talent hunts. Earlier it was confined only to music and dance as seen in the popular shows like Sa re ga ma pa( Zee TV) , Antakshari ( Zee Tv) and Boogie- Woogie( Sony TV). Slowly the trend improved and then came: Indian Idol, Star Voice of India, Zee Cine Star ki Khoj,Nach Baliye, Kaun Banega Crorepati, Kaun Banega Crorepati 2, Mtv Roadies (1, 2, 3,4) , The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.
Now it is the time for more shows... These have increased so much that I don't know which one to watch now.
Let me start with the oldies, Sa re ga ma pa ( be it Challenege 2000's or Li'll Champs), they have their TRP's UP. Inidan Idol4 will be soon there along with Sa re ga ma pa. Though both are yet to start.
Apart from this there's a line of talent hunts...
- Ye Shaam Mastani( Sony tv)- an evening with the greatest singers and listening to them share some of their touching moments with us.( THIS IS MY FAVOURITE).
- War Parriwar( Sony tv)- a musical competition between families.
-Chakh de Bachche( 9X)- singing cum dance performances by kids.
-Yeh Hai Jalwa(9X)- dance comeptition among the dance troups with actors from the daily soaps.
-Ustaadon ke Ustaad( Sony tv)-The creams of all the talent hunt shows. The best among them stands out in their field. Be it, dance, music or comedy.
-Dhoom macha de( NDTV Imagine)- The well know singers have to compete among themselves in a reality tv show. It just shows that singing has no end to it. You keep doing better and better. All are learners.
-Jo Jita Wahi Superstar(Star) - One talent hunt where all the singers who have been the creams in the various Singing talent hunts have been chosen and put into categories. It will bring out the best from them. Yet another indication , that the struggle is still on. - IT'S SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL. You get to see the old favourites again and also get a good demarcation between those chosen merely on the basis of votes - public sympathy-and not so talented. The best one will win.
- Rock 'N' Roll Family( Zee tv)- It is fun and as the name suggests, it's for the family.
-Rock the Dhunn( Zee tv)- Here there are no judges but the audience rates the singing talent and thier performance.
- Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez hain? - You'll surely doubt your intelligence after watching it.
- Mtv Roadies.5- It's actually going to end soon .
- Get Gorgeous and Channel V in search for the top 2 models who'll make it to Paris.
- Comdey Circus( Sony tv)
- Naya Roop Nayi Zindagi(Sony tv)- As the name suggets, you get a " naya roop" and a " nayi zindagi". It'll bring tears to the eyes.

So you see, there are so many shows that, one will forget about the daily soaps. Whatever it is, just have a look at all of them and take your pick. The whole week you'll be engaged and at the end of the day you'll have something to look forward to on the television apart from music, daily soaps and news.