The 18th Annual Colors Screen Awards saw a talented mix of nominees in the Best Child Artiste category. While Partho Gupte,son of actor-filmmaker Amole Gupte won the honour for his turn as a school boy in Stanley Ka Dabba,National Award winner Harsh Mayar was also a strong contender for his endearing performance as a village kid who dares to dream big in Nila Madhab Pandas I Am Kalam. Naman Jain and Irfan Khan scored nominations for their roles in Chillar Party,while Armaan Verma was a contender for RA.One. Earning a nomination in the Best Child Artiste category has lifted these kids spirits prompting them to pursue acting seriously. Most of them have already bagged plum projects. For instance,13-year-old Harsh Mayar,a slum kid from Delhi,will now be seen in a Will Smith production wherein he will share screen space with veteran Hollywood star Richard Gere. Apart from this he will also be a part of Pandas next project Jal Bin Jalpari. Harsh is ecstatic with the Screen nomination,I am really happy that I got nominated for the Screen awards. Screen is special,as I grew up watching its award functions on television. The nomination that I got in the Best Child Artiste category made me famous and helped me bag a couple of projects. Surprisingly Harsh was not the original choice for I Am Kalam but Panda was so impressed with his acting prowess that he cast him. The director says,I had finalised someone else for I Am Kalam. One day Harsh came to my office hoping for a role in the film. He seemed to be a good performer. However,it was not easy to make him act on the sets. He used to get scared of riding camels. He needed a push. For 14-year-old Irfan,who resides at a slum near a mall in Mumbai,life changed forever after he landed a role in Chillar Party. This student of Abdulla Qureshi High School,Jogeshwari,Mumbai,says,I had never dreamt of acting but a chance encounter with Chillar Partys casting director Mukesh Chhabra at Heera Panna altered everything. I was just hanging around when Mr Chhabra noticed me. He also helped me to bag my next film,a Canadian production Siddharth where Im playing the title-role. Similarly,11-year-old Naman Jain,who hails from an upper-middle business family never took acting classes. However,this student of Christ Church School at Byculla,Mumbai will now be seen in Anurag Kashyaps Gangs Of Wasseypur. The awards are definitely opening up more avenues for child actors. In fact,this was the very reason why the Best Child Artiste category was introduced in the 2002 Annual Screen Awards. Over the years,Shweta Prasad,who managed to hold her own against veteran actor Shabana Azmi in Vishal Bhardwajs Makdee,Ayesha Kapoor,who essayed a young Rani Mukerji in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Black and Darsheel Safary,who stole our hearts with his soul-stirring performance in Aamir Khans Taare Zameen Par,went on to win the Best Child Artiste Award. They were followed by Purav Bhandare (Tahaan),Pratik Katare (Paa) and Ayaan Boradia (Udaan). Most of these kids went on to do more films. For instance,Shweta who shot into the limelight as a 12-year-old with Makdee,was seen as Shreyas Talpades younger sister in Nagesh Kukunoors critically-acclaimed film Iqbal in 2005. She followed it up with Darna Zaroori Hai and Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! Today,the 22-year-old has made a name for herself down South and is the leading lady in seven Telugu films. Likewise,Parzan Dastur,who stole our hearts with his one-liner Tussi naa jao in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,went on to bag roles in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and the National Award-winning Parzania,which also won the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Award. He bagged the protagonists role in Piyush Jhas Sikandar in 2009,for which he was nominated as the Best Child Artiste. After impressing us with her acting chops in Black at the age of nine,Ayesha,who hails from an affluent business family,went on to bag Sikandar. Now the 17-year-old is studying in the United States. Jha,who decided to cast both Ayesha and Parzan in his film after seeing their previous work,says,If an actor gets nominated and wins an award,it gives a certain amount of confidence to the director to cast him or her in his project. Awards definitely help kids gain publicity and enhances their repertoire of work. Likewise South Mumbai kid Tanay Chheda,who shot to fame with the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionnaire,went on to play the younger version of Shah Rukh Khan in My Name Is Khan for which he also earned a nomination for the Best Child Artiste at the Screen Awards. Tanay,who was first spotted by filmmaker Danny Boyle at theatre personality Raell Padamsees workshops,is now brushing up his acting skills. Similarly this years winner Partho admits that he wants to learn acting and direction by working with his father. However Gupte wants him to take it slow. Right after Stanley Ka Dabba,Partho was flooded with offers,but I didnt want him to take stress. I want him to enjoy his childhood, he says. Apart from opening new avenues for kids,awards help to elevate a films brand value,explains Nitesh Tiwari,Chillar Partys director. A films b-o performance signifies commercial success,but awards validate its critical aspect. Panda couldnt agree more. I Am Kalam won several awards at international film circuits,but still it was perceived as a small-budget film. Gradually we started publicising the number of awards it had won and I Am Kalam was lauded by critics and audiences alike. A win-win situation,indeed.
