PIC FOR REPRESENTATION
Arindam Ganguly, OP
Bhubaneswar, July 6:“Humble request to authorities to urgently ban all reality shows involving children. It’s actually destroying them emotionally and their purity”—a thought-provoking tweet by director Soojit Sircar is now the talk of the town. No sooner did the director tweeted against the adverse ramifications on children participating in the reality shows, than the Bhubaneswarites reacted on the matter. While they couldn’t deny the fact that these shows immediately catapult children to fame, they were also worried over kids’ exposure to a stress platform. Orissa POST interacted with some of city’s little stars—who had made it to various reality shows—to bring you how’s the life behind the cam
era, punctuated with drama. Here’s a mixed bag of reactions from the younger ones and their elder counterparts: Reality shows help in enhancing the latent talent in children. I believe that children at younger age go through a lot of changes. Thus, it is the responsibility of parents to understand their child’s psychology. They should not try to pressurise them.
Singer Abhijeet Mishra
A talented kid can achieve success only through hard work. The reality shows undoubtedly help the child in some way. But, this is not the only route to success. The
children less than 10 years of age have a different psychology and level of understanding. They are not like teenagers. This has to be kept in mind. Do you remember Satyajeet Jena’s withdrawal from a reality show? He was too young. His voice was in a state of transition. In this situation, excessive exposure and putting stress on the vocal chors would have hampered his signing later.
Singer Antara Chakraborty
It is not correct to put the blame on reality shows completely. They have gifted us with talented singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Goshal, and Sonu Nigam. We met
wonderful dancers Mandakini Jena and Harihar Das via reality shows. Sometimes, the parents are to be blamed for the adverse impacts. They often force their kids to participate in the shows at a very tender age. They must guide the children and understand where to stop.
Singer Bishnu Mohan Kabi
I strongly believe that the shows should not be banned. However, the production houses can work on the existing formats and try and reduce the stress-period. They can be made shorter. There should also be some acknowledgement for participation. The candidates who are rejected should get some certificates—this will boost their confidence and help them shape their future.
Dancer Harihar Dash
Expert Speak
These talent shows impact children in many ways. Defeat and early departure sometimes make them feel low of themselves. They often cannot take the defeat in a sporty manner. They stop eating and alienate themselves from rest of the world. The loss of stardom is not an easy task to deal with in life. This hampers their future. Over-exposure to these shows is bad for the child. I have dealt with several cases, where the child got deviated from his path and damaged his entire career.
Child Specialist Reshmi Mishra
