They are versatile, dynamic and naughty but they sing like professionals. Sony TV’s top 10 Indian Idol contestants are a treat to watch. They are here to make a point — ‘chotta bacha samjh ke inko...’ Sangeeta Yadav spoke with them to tell you about their tayari jeet ki

They are young but they croon like experts. They perform as if they will put the stage afire. This years’ top 10 Indian Idol juniors are entertainers and singing ke badshaah in their own right. Each chotte ustad is better than the other and they have all tugged at the audience's heart strings. They have all come from various backgrounds but they have one thing in common — each contestant has it in him or her to win the coveted crown. 

“My father is a fruitseller. Although it was difficult for us to make two ends meet, my father has always made sure that I got the best of everything. When I told him I wanted to audition for Indian Idol junior he was teary eyed. He knows how much these competitions mean to me. I have always taken my singing very seriously and my father has been my support system. He has encouraged me to take up things expense was never a consideration,” Akash Sharma  says. This 13 year-old boy from Haryana has a very different intonation, something even Salman Khan has tweeted about.

This year the organisers have done all they could have to make this a wholesome experience for the young performers. From training and mentoring by professional bigwigs to giving these young singers an opportunity to sing with other celebrities, Indian Idol has provided  an ideal platform for children to learn and flourish.

“A song is given to us according to the theme. We get six days time to prepare and there are two mentors— Anand Sharma and Anuj who help is in learning the song correctly and get the antras, sur and taal right. If we don’t get the song correctly, these mentors change it. On Saturdays, the technical shoot is scheduled where we rehearse with the musicians. The very next day is the final performance on camera,” Anmol Jaswal, 14-year-old trained classical singer tells you.

He like many others, cherishes a dream to meet the legendary lata Mangeshker and take her blessings.

But does all the competition and celebrity status get to their headIJ “We are not here to compete. We are here to  have fun and learn a lot about singing through this platform. We are aware of the fan following and of all the attention that we are getting through this exposure but we have also been told not to be complacent,” Sharma tells you.

Apart from the judges who lace their comments with a lot of sweetness, the hosts in the show too make sure that they create an amicable atmosphere so that children don’t feel the stress at all.  But it is the Bollywood celebrities that excite children to no end.

“We’ve a lot of fun with celebrities that come on our show, be it Farhan sir, Ranveer sir or Govinda.  They have always been our idols and we are so happy to get this opportunity to see them face-to-face. It’s like a dream come true for all of us. On those special days we make it a point to sing our best songs. I am thrilled to meet Bhappi lehri next week,” Eman Choudhury from Assam says. Choudhury like her other co-participants will be missing a few days of school but in the end, they feel it is worth the experience.

“Though our summer vacations are over we have got special permission from our schools to participate in this programme. They are happy that we have come this far and are doing a lot to ensure that we can practise without getting disturbed. As for studies, we have enrolled for extra classes where we are hoping to catch up on everything that we may have missed during this time. We are anyways not allowed to practice in the evening, so we utilise that time in studying connecting with friends,” 12-year-old Sankalp Yaduwanshi who is known as the charmer from UP, says.

As for their favourite judge, the contestants are divided in that opinion — while Yaduwanshi likes Shreya ‘didi’ Anmol Jaiswal from Jammu is mighty scared of Vishal ‘sir’.  “He observes our singing very closely and if he likes our performance, Sir praises us but not too much, so that we don’t get carried away. Whereas, Shreya ma’am gives us valuable inputs but is very particular about sur and taal,” Jaswal tells you.

Yaduwanshi agrees. “Vishal sir is very strict when it comes to expressions. He keeps pushing us to give our best. He tells us all this to make us prepared for the bigger test in life. He is a believer in versatility and wants us to innovate with each passing day. I have a lot of respect for his comments and take everything he says very seriously,” he says.

 Aryan Das who got eliminated last week, was a die hard fan of Sonu Nigam. When he bid adieu to the show, the judges gifted him a Sonu Nigam autographed picture as a memento.

“It is terrible when one of us leaves the show but we are told this is only the stepping stone to bigger things in life. We are told that failure at this stage doesn't mean we cannot make it big in the music industry. We all get a lot of encouragement from these words. We are also given a memento to keep in case we are evicted from the show. Plus there is always a chance that we get to perform in any concert when the channel calls us,” Sharma says, adding ‘We wont disappoint at any level’.