Meet The Tween Talent Toppers

Updated on: Friday, September 11, 2009

Kolkata: It is seldom that all talented tweens of the city get a common platform to showcase their creativity and intelligence before a huge audience. The Times of India did just that by organizing a unique contest to identify the Best All Rounder Tween on September 10 at GD Birla Sabhaghar.

After a month-long hunt and several rounds of incisive screenings, Kolkata had its best three Tweens at a star-studded grand finale on Thursday. Angad Burman, student of The Heritage School, was adjudged the Best Tween All Rounder while Baibhab Kundu of Salt Lake School and Yash Kamdar of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy came first and second runners-up.

The Times Best All Rounder Tween Hunt saw students of Classes VI and VII from around 70 schools across the city — including Don Bosco Park Circus, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, The Heritage, GD Birla Centre For Education, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Calcutta Public School, Saifee Hall, Delhi Public School Megacity, Apeejay School Salt Lake and Apeejay Park Street, Army Public School Barrackpore — pitting wits against each other.

At the finale on Thursday, there were as many as 700 students in the preliminary written round (the number a testimony to the young talent of the city). They were tested for intelligence quotient for the initial screening.

The screening had such high standards that only 20 participants qualified for the second round — the 'Live' one — where the kids displayed their myriad talents in creativity. There were song, dance and storytelling sessions, with singing being the hot favourite as contestants matched their voice with popular tracks like Allah ke bande, Phir milenge chalte chalte, Aazma luck aazma alongside the evergreen Rabindra Sangeet Puranoshe Diner Kotha. Many showed their expertise in storytelling and dancing in the allotted one-minute.

“It was truly an entertaining programme and I expected my students to perform well in the contest since they have participated here despite exams,” said Meera Dutta, teacher, Mahadevi Birla Girls’ Higher Secondary School.

The other events were ‘sportsmanship’, where students had to try and put as many basketballs in the hoop in five attempts, and a personality round where participants had to answer questions asked by a panel of celebrity judges.

The team of judges had actors Sonalee Chowdhury, Anindita Bose and Joyjeet Banerjee, model Pooja Gupta and footballer Mehrajuddin. Joyjeet heaped praise on the young participants, saying the talent hunt had made him see his two-year-old son's future. “It showed me where my child will stand after five years when he will perform in front of a huge audience,” he smiled.

The day-long contest was hosted by RJ Rupsha of Radio Mirchi who gushed: “I wish I could be in their age group. It was very nostalgic for me as it reminded of my own school days.” Adding zing to this day were dance performances by Padatik and Odissi dancer Sharmila Biswas and her troupe.

The winners — Angad Burman, Baibhab Kundu and Yash Kamdar — were overjoyed when crowned kings of the evening. They were each handed a trophy along with certificates and holiday vouchers from Club Mahindra by Tollywood actor Locket Chatterjee. “It is a very good initiative by The Times of India to organize a talent contest for tweens. Considering the kids’ ages, it was a splendid show,” Locket said.

Meet The Tween Talent Toppers

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