Online talent hunt for singers

New Delhi, Jun 17 (PTI) Talent hunt goes beyond the
boundaries of reality shows on television in India with the
launch of 'Bollywood Singer 2010' on a website which boasts of
noted music composers Khayyam, Uttam Singh and playback
singers Kumar Sanu and Abhijit on its panel of judges.
Lafango.com, has launched an online talent hunt that
provides a free platform for Indians anywhere to upload a
video of their singing performance without any restrictions
imposed on their age, sex or economic status.
"We want to change the way of reality talent hunt. TV
reality shows have failed to trap the extensive talent in
India due to their show format," says Jatinder Singh, CEO of
the website who says the pattern of hunting for talent through
such shows imposes restrictions on creative people.
The state of art initiative is free for all with
participants only required to have an access to computers with
a minimum band width of 256 kbps.
The conceptualiser have also done away with the need
of handycams.
"Anybody with an access to a webcam can directly
participate in the first round of the contest, without a need
to stand in long queues," says Micky Narula who hosts the
contest and will judge the initial round.
The website which claims to have users in millions,
has also ensured measures to avoid fake entries.
The participant profile picture is sought to match
with the video to keep fake participants at bay. Also, a team
of moderators would to keep a check over uploading of any
obscene content on the website.
During the 60-day long contest, the website plans to
go in for online voting and organise events in small towns to
extend its reach to the grassroot level.
"There is a lot of untapped talent in India, which is
restricted to small towns and remote rural belt of the
country. Shows like this is an open platform for them," says
singer Khayyam, one of the judges of the contest.
The panel of judges includes singers like Kumar Sanu,
Abhijeet, Sadhana Sargam, Talat Aziz, Anu Kapoor, Uttam Singh,
Khayyam and Anup Jalota.
"We hope to get Jagjit Singh, Jaspinder Narula and
Sonu Kakkar later to join us", says Singh.
The website plans to come up with a production house
to provide a platform not only to the winner of the contest
but to the entire rich talent found during the process.
"We also plan to venture into hindi film and
television industry," adds Singh. The winner of the contest
will also be entitled to a cash amount of Rs five lakhs. PTI
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