Kids more popular than celebs

The little masters on the weekend reality dance show manage to hold their own, even as celebs put on the dancing shoes.

Zee’s Dance India Dance (DID) L’il Masters season 2 captured the audience’s attention from day one (it launched on April 28). Though rival channels had their respective dance shows — Indian Idol (Sony, launched on June 1), Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar (Star Plus, launched on March 31) and Jhalak Dhikhhla Jaa (JDJ, Colors, launched earlier this month) — none have been able to trump the young dancers.

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JDJ made a grand entry with 3.1 TVR at its launch and later bagged 3.0 and 2.6 for its Saturday and Sunday episodes respectively. The recent JDJ, with judges Madhuri Dixit and Karan Johar, has made an impact, but hasn’t broken the stronghold of L’il Masters. Jo Jeeta Wohi Super Star was the lowest rated of all (0.7 for the finale), while Indian Idol did fairly well at 2.5 TVR.

The favourite among the DID dancers is Faisal Khan, who many think will win the competition. After his first performance, judge Geeta Kapur declared that if she ever had a son, she’d want him to dance like Faisal.

“It’s heartening to see that viewers still give precedence to meritorious content over the mere presence of film celebrities on a TV show,” says Ashish Golwalkar, head

of non-fiction programming, Zee TV.

He adds: “While there is no denying that star power has its draw, nothing works better than sheer, unadulterated dancing talent of these innocent but immensely gifted kids. Add to that a refreshingly simple, clean-cut, heart-warming presentation.”