Hunting for the ?superkid?

With television channels going whole hog on talent hunt shows, children couldn?t have asked for a better time to showcase their talents.

With television channels going whole hog on talent hunt shows to find ‘Amazing Kid’ and ‘Superkid’, children in India couldn’t have asked for a better time to showcase their talents in front of a national audience and also rake in some moolah.

Whether it is POGO’s Amazing Kid, National Geographic Channel’s Nat Geo junior Hunt or Zee TV’s Saregama Li’l Champs, the focus is clearly on churning out little champions. “India is a multi-talented country and we believe that talent is not just about singing and dancing,” says Monica Tata, Vice-President, Turner International India, which owns POGO.

The ‘Amazing Kid Award’ will be given in eight categories, including arts, sports, music, singing, dance and genius. The channels say that they want the ‘fun’ element to be the focus of these shows and not the competition that comes with it. “On Nat Geo Junior Hunt, the focus is not on the winner alone, we are very conscious of this fact,” says Rajesh Sheshadri, Vice President, National Geographic Channel India.

Although the channels are not offering prize money, they are willing to dole out benefits. POGO’s winners will get a child benefit policy worth Rs 8 lakh and a chance to be on the channel for a year.

Nat Geo Junior will get a chance to host shows on the channel for three months plus a corpus fund of Rs 5 lakh for future education. The audience can also voice their opinion about the contestants through text messaging.

But although viewers votes would matter, it is the juries that will ultimately decide on the winners. This, the channels believe, will decrease the pressure on the kids.

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