Unsung dramebaaz

The nautanki kids are all set to spread the magic on small screen once again with India's Best Dramebaaz Season 3. Musba Hashmi, who travelled to Mumbai, spoke to the mentors about how this season is going to be bigger and better. A report

They are the champions when it comes to acting and love to sing and dance as well. They can mimic any celebrity and rattle off popular dialogues from movies like a pro. The unsung dramebaaz will be spreading their magic on small screen with the third season of India’s Best Dramebaaz that went on air on June 30 and airs every Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm on Zee TV.

The power-packed season kickstarted with a gala launch with three mentors — Sonali Bendre, Vivek Oberoi and Omung Kumar, and hosts Shantanu Maheshwari and comedian Vighnesh Pande.

“This season is full of children who have a lot of spark in them. The judges go out of their way to make sure the kids have fun. We allow them a lot of time to rest and sleep. The best part of the journey is that we get to see their growth every week. One week we give them advise on something and the next week we get to see improvement in their performance,” Vivek Oberoi says.

Coming from a non-filmy background, budding child actors like Nihar Gite, Kartikey Raj, Tamanna Dipak, Kartikey Malviya, Swasti Nitya, Praneet Sharma and many others, claimed to fame from the previous season of India’s Best Dramebaaz and carved a niche for themselves by acting in commercials, TV shows and films.

Oberoi, who has been mentoring the contestants for the last two seasons, says: “We feel a sense of pride when we see our kids working in other shows and advertisements. When the audition process started for this year, I doubted whether this season’s contestants will be able to match up to the level of the previous season or not. But during the auditions, I was shocked to see such talented kids which were no less from anybody.”

This time, the show aims to give a tribute to the unsung heroes of the society by giving them the platform to bring them into the limelight and hone their talent. Deepak Rajadhyaksha, deputy business head, Zee TV says: “The channel is known as a school of talent and it creates its own stars. Our reality shows always aims to bring the talent of India to the forefront and help the kids grooming their talent. In this season, we are saluting the unsung heroes which will be a big surprise for the audience. The anchors are new and the judge is new so definitely this season will be different from the previous ones.”

The show will have some powerful acts that will be performed by the contestants giving out a social message and showcase their talent and wit by answering judges on the spot.

Omung Kumar, who is making a comeback on TV with this show replacing Anurag Basu, left awestruck by looking at some amazing performances. “I was shocked to see how these four-five-year-old children learn their dialogues and perform so fluently. No one in the industry funds a child based movie. Once I tried to make a movie on a kid but I was not able to arrange funds for it. But I promise I will make a movie featuring child actors,” Kumar says.

To add spice to the entertainment, comedian Vighnesh Pande, will be see with his puppet Padmavati and he will be known as Padma ka Pati. The final smart 16 contestants will be shortlisted out of 140 by the mentors and the entire judges feel that it was very difficult to choose them because everyone was good.