Naseer to train TV tots

Contestants from Zee TV’s upcoming kiddie singing reality show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs, and tiny tot hosts Afsha Musani and Dhairya Sorecha, will be attending a theatre workshop with veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and his Ratna Pathak Shah.

Zee TV has collaborated with the National Centre For Performing Arts (NCPA) for Summer Fiesta, a holistic training module for performing arts and entertainment.



As part of the tie-up, a couple of contestants from Zee TV’s upcoming kiddie singing reality show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs, and tiny tot hosts Afsha Musani and Dhairya Sorecha, will be attending a theatre workshop with veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah.



Starting young

Naseer is expected to interact with kids on topics ranging from Shakespeare’s plays to the nuances of becoming a fine actor. He will also fine-tune the kiddie minds to be more perceptive and receptive, which will help them put their best foot forward on TV when they face a national audience.

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Ashish Golwalkar, head of non-fiction programming, Zee TV, would have liked contestants from the show’s top 18-list to participate in the workshop. "It’s essential for them because they will learn a lot. This is a rich exposure because more than anything else, it will enhance their confidence and public performance abilities," he says. "We’ve just wapped up our mega auditions. A couple of kids have gone back to their home cities. So, even if I want, not all of them can be part of this lovely exercise."



Zee TV plans to have a diction class for the participants since most of them are from remote cities where Hindi is not spoken much. Yoga and breathing exercises are also on the cards as part of grooming sessions before the actual shooting starts in June. Before that, next week, all the participants will be attending another workshop at NCPA with comedian and TV anchor Cyrus Broacha.

Branching out The Summer Fiesta ’11 has a larger range of workshops (23 workshops, five plays and four films) in dance, drama, movement, puppetry, circus arts and theatre games conducted by KP Rakesh (Kalakshetra, Chennai), Mehneer Sudan, Seema Mehta, Miti Desai, Shaun Williams, Shaizia Jifri, Roo Jhala with acknowledged experts Jehan Maneckshaw and his Theatre Professionals team.

There is also a selection of films from all over the world especially designed for children, which will be presented in collaboration with WorldKids Foundation.