The drama realm of the Indian cinema and the reality shows have long been churning out massive profits plus harboring TRPs and a dedicated viewership owing to the child artistes. The child artistes seem to be mesmerizing the audience with their awe-inspiring talents and adorable innocence since long. But the flip side has a revelation to make-these kids are twisting slowly in the wind.

At long last, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar has voiced the deep entrenched realities and gave an outcry to ban such reality shows. Concerned with the pure traits of children at the threat of being smeared with grueling pressure, he appealed to the authorities to put an end to groping kids for reality shows. Shoojit Sircar is known for sketching critically acclaimed films like ‘Pink’ and ‘Madras Café’. In its formative stage, few soaps and cinemas presented young talent that gradually paved way for a full-fledged reality show where these budding talents could contest. Overtime, this trend escalated so far that from just a handful of shows we now have kids performing in and for every genre.

In the same vein, filmmaker Amole Gupta has also shared a chilling incident,” “A little, blind boy had made it to the finals of a singing contest. Throughout the day he was rehearsing under grueling circumstances for his song and finally at 1 am when he was to record, he lost his voice. The child was traumatized for life.” He does not blame parents completely and also called them victims of a rat-race. Furthermore, he also shares how laws need to be enforced in order to regulate and ensure their well-being. He adds, “They (the child artistes) are shattered. They don’t know how to process the defeat into optimism. They feel as though they’ve fallen into a deep dark hole.” Amole Gupte has closely worked with Amir Khan while directing Darsheel Safary in Taare Zameen Par and his son Partho in Stanley ka Dabba, has just wrapped up another film Sniff, where he has directed Khusmeet Gill.

On the other hand, there have been nuances too regarding the ban proffer. Actor Tiger Shroff says that such shows are a platform for exploring one’s hidden potential and gives them leverage. He says,” Not really. It is great because it helps the children get a chance to channelise all the restless positive energy and gives them a direction from a very early age. So, it is fantastic.” The ‘Baaghi’ actor makes a point which however is not in evidence with the grim truth staring at the world- that these children have been suffering a lot and the system demands a major overhaul.