Small, but doing Big wonders!

Akash Wadhwa / TNN / Dec 19, 2008, 00:27 IST

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With a lead child jodi of a popular TV serial replacing TV’s hot pair Aamna Shariff and Rajeev Khandelwal as brand ambassadors, we check out how banakable kids are.

As if kid Darsheel Safari��s nomination for the Best Male Actor hadn��t shaken the space of actors enough, the situation is getting grimmer now.
With popular child jodi of Avika Gor (Anandi) and Avinash Mukherjee (Jagdish) replacing TV��s one-time hottest pair �� Aamna Shariff and Rajeev Khandelwal, as brand ambassadors for a prominent apparel brand, child actors have found their own place in the industry.
But while child actors may be fast gaining ground in the industry, we wonder if they have actually reached the stature of those bankable heroes where they can be made to shoulder an entire brand...
��Why not? One can relate better to kids than these actors,�� feels Pratishtha Arora, a class XII student and a regular viewer of serial that has Avika and Avinash. She adds, ��Since kids on television usually don��t tend to have a larger than life image, it makes them more believable. As far as big actors are concerned, it feels more like they are saying all good about the brand because they are paid for it. But innocence rules when it comes to the combinations of ads and kids.��

But haven��t the older stars been bigger crowd pullers and much more convincing than the child artistes? Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar disagrees: ��Had this been the fact then Taare Zameen Par would not have been a super-hit. I believe that more people went to see Darsheel Safari��s extra ordinary acting in the film than watch Aamir Khan.�� And at this Kakkar doesn��t fail to feel sorry for these kids, with most of them having to ignore their studies in a bid to become stars.

A thought that gets a nod from model-turned actor Rajneesh Duggal, whose suiting-shirting ad was a like a rage among all age groups. ��Although I'm not at all a television freak, I'm aware of the fact that the serial that has Avika and Avinash is doing wonders and the child artistes in it are going places after its launch. Children, I agree, may not have that sex appeal that an older actor would have but they have their own charm to pull of a commercial and the brand on their own shoulders,�� says Duggal.
Amir Jalel, Executive director of a popular ad agency whose commercial for a well-known bank, which had Sweeney Khara, was a huge hit, opines: ��Tell me one field that is left untouched by kids? Kids on television or movie are popular enough to endorse brands as their star appeal is equivalent to any other adult actor. My add which has Sweeney Khara, highlights a smart kid who is part of the family and can speak her mind. The ad was beautifully done by this young girl and I feel she was the appropriate choice. Her popularity plus her acting skills were enough to convince the audience.��
Popularity is what counts to make one a brand ambassador and agreeing with us is Purnendu Shekhar, writer of a popular serial, who avers: ��When any face becomes popular, endorsements are bound to follow whether he/she is an adult or a child. Also, it's a known fact that we Indians think straight from the heart and not form the mind. And that��s the reason we do and believe whatever SRK and Tendulkar or even Darsheel Safari say in an ad. In that respect, the commercial will do well in either case.��

About the Author

Akash Wadhwa

Akash Wadhwa is a senior copy editor-cum-correspondent at Lucknow Times. He handles the "Lucknow Is Talking About" and "Allahabad Is Talking About" pages, and also does Bollywood and TV reporting, as well as lifestyle and local reporting from Lucknow. He is an ardent television viewer.

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