A kid dances for a Vijay song ‘Pokkiri Pongal’. Switch to another channel: A group of girls shake their legs for a western song. Dance reality shows have become a must package for any television channel.
From the days of Thillana Thillana to Boys vs Girls, there's always a demand for dance shows and evidently, these carry the highest TRP ratings. On the day Kalaignar TV was launched, 'Maanada Mayilaada' went on air and it speaks a lot for the confidence level of the channel to have hoped it would boost its TRP ratings.
With each channel airing at least two dance programmes today, Tamil channels alone telecast more than 10 successful dance shows. The trend was first set by Vijay TV and the show Jodi No 1 was a big hit. This was followed by Jodi No 1 season 2 and again Jodi No 1 season 3.
At present, the channel telecasts two dance shows - Boys vs Girls and 'Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhudeva'. While the former is a competition between boys and girls to exhibit their dancing skills, the latterr is a hunt for the next Prabhu Deva.
These shows not only provide an opportunity to television personalities, but also recognition and a platform for the common man to exhibit his skills.
"We're shooting the finals of D for Dance, a dance reality show for kids on Zee Thamizh. We will also continue with season 2,” says director of D for Dance, Sanjeev K Kumar, who also directed Super Dancer 1 and 2 for Sun TV.
Kala's Maanada Mayilaada season 3 is a huge hit and she says, "Recently, I went for a shoot to a village 70 km away from Munnar. Seeing me, an old lady said she would eat only after watching the show on weekends. It’s a big hit in all the three centres A, B and C. I didn't expect the same kind of response to Odi Vilayadu Paapa, a dance show for kids, but right now, it's topping the charts."
Uma kannan@epmltd.com