The Hindu Business Line : Jus' hunting...

Two channels, MTV and Nickelodeon, were recently on a hunt for VJs for their channels — teenagers and kids respectively. The turnout for the selection is an indicator of the growing popularity for this profession among youngsters.

The finalists of the MTV VJ Hunt.

MTV's been on a VJ Hunt these last few weeks, and it's your kids they are looking for. In the space of 10 weeks, there were 10,000 entries to the Colgate Fresh Energy Gel and MTV VJ Hunt — you'd think there was no other profession left in the world but being a VJ! Of these, 14 finalists have been short-listed, and these youngsters are now going to get your TV screens sizzling, in a new half-hour reality show, `Wannabe VJs Do Goa', beginning June 24.

The point of this is so that you — or the teenagers in your home — can watch them "do their thing" and then give MTV the verdict, in order to decide who will be the next big face on the channel. The youngsters have been chosen for their personality, love for music, presence of mind, WQ (wackiness quotient) and sense of fashion and style. Now, it's up to the viewers to decide which one of the 24 has the most of these qualities, and one lucky voter even gets the opportunity to be a VJ for a day on MTV. "Eventually, the winners will be those who best reflect the spirit of MTV — Enjoy!," says Natasha Malhotra, Vice-President, production, programming and TAR, MTV India.

It looks like it will be a tough competition; the short-listed participants seem to be of a pretty high standard. There's a 22-year-old called Renuka, for instance, who's acted in a popular music video, `Yeh Vaada'. She also happens to be a trained kick boxer. Then there's Vivan Bhatena, 23, the Graviera Mr India who is "tons of fun and full of bad jokes", and someone called Ishq — real name Sunil, otherwise known as `Sunny Boy' — who has hosted radio shows, acted in stage musicals, is a dancer, musician, practises martial arts, and is even a doctor of acupuncture and a massage therapist.

What they, and the other finalists, are going to be doing on screen, does not promise to be for the faint-hearted. MTV calls it "Bay Watch time" on the channel, so if you are one of those very conservative people, tough luck.

The Chhota VJ Hunt

Actually, I've been wondering if there are any conservative, sensible parents left out there. If you had been to the Nickelodeon Chhota VJ Hunt happening in various cities across India, you might have wondered too. The Chhota VJ Hunt, presented by Nestle Munch and conducted by the guys at MTV, has been looking for a child below 14 years of age to host the Nick Masala show and a two-hour Nickelodeon block on Zee TV. The nation-wide search kicked off on May 17, and has travelled to Bangalore (June 1 and 2), Chennai (June2), Mumbai (June 8) and Delhi (June 15).

I went to the one in Mumbai and discovered 200 children at the venue, waiting to try their luck. In fact, the only reason there were just 200 or so registrations on June 8 was because the Nickelodeon team stopped accepting any more; they even had to let the auditions spill over onto the next day in order to cope with the crowds.

The wannabe Chhota VJs — many of them dressed by doting mamas like 18 rather than eight-year-olds — had a great time at the party that had been organised on June 8, while the auditions were happening upstairs. They were getting their hair braided, being entertained by jugglers and musicians and listening to live music rendered by Rahul D' Mello and Hema Sardesai.

The problem was at the auditions themselves. Saurabh Kanwar, MTV's Manager, Marketing, asked several children during the test, what it was that made them want to be Chhota VJs. The number of seven and eight-year-olds who said they were there because their parents had forced them was scary. In fact, there was one woman who even brought her one-year-old toddler to audition for the VJ Hunt. I asked the lady what she expected her daughter, who could barely stand without toppling over, to do. "Oh, she's very active, so I thought she would do naughty things in front of the camera," the lady said!

What is it about the prospect of fame that makes people take leave of their senses?

The author can be contacted at menka@shivdasani.org.

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