MUMBAI: Recently, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory asking private television channels to desist from showing kids in an indecent, suggestive and inappropriate manner on dance reality shows. The statement read that the children, who are seen performing dance moves on several dance based TV reality shows imitating grown-up actors or performers and as such, are inappropriate for kids. Therefore, they had asked channels to avoid dance moves performed by the kids that seem rather inappropriate for their age.
Now, when the reality TV show judges were asked about I&B’s advisory, this is what Remo D’Souza, Anurag Basu, Terence Lewis had to say. Read on...
Remo D’Souza, who has judged a few seasons of Dance India Dance said, “In my entire career, even when I was a judge on multiple dance reality shows, I always maintained that children should not be encouraged to dance like adults. We also had therapists and doctors on the set and even on Dance+ we made it a point to not encourage kids if they incorporated such styles in their performances. It is important to protect them especially when they are growing up because everything can’t be inspired from filmi movements.”
Anurag Basu, who judges Super Dancer 3 said, “I don’t know whether any episode of our show has triggered the I&B ministry to issue such an advisory, but I’m glad that they did. I welcome it. However, I’m not sure how this will be implemented because this issue is quite subjective. As judges, we often face this dilemma of how to judge a kid whose performance appeared to be obscene. Even during the auditions, I told so many kids not to imitate adults’ expressions and moves. I don’t know if those were aired or not, but I have been saying this to a number of contestants. In fact, a few episodes ago, I said that I’d never want my daughter to perform like this on stage. And what’s not okay for my kids, how can I allow it for other kids? The question is, where do we draw the line? There is a very thin line between looking cute and looking vulgar in such performances. We shouldn’t let kids imitate expressions and moves of adults. Basically, it’s a collective conscience call.”
Terence Lewis, choreographer and the judge on multiple dance reality shows, said, “I think it’s a great initiative because there is a rising culture of quick fame and fortune that has blinded parents so much that they allow their children to go to any lengths to be seen on TV. Most of these parents come from small towns and are ignorant about how it’s damaging to their children’s psyche. Unfortunately, when judges and audiences praise the kids, they think that this is the way to be. When kids try to mimic moves and expressions that have sexual overtones, neither the kids nor the parents realise how it can rob them of their innocence prematurely. Kids below 15 years of age should not perform to songs that have adult lyrics and gestures. I would also urge parents to not use their kids to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams or torture their kids to do backbreaking circus tricks just because reality shows have turned into a cheap circus and dance has gone out of the picture.”
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