Have Talent, Will Win! Talaash, Ek Hunar Ki Khoj, Your Next Milestone!

By Vanshika Vipin Varma

STAFFORD: “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God”-Leo Buscaglia. America is not only a land of dreams; it is also home to some breathtaking talent, and even hidden talents. These may range from creativity to athletic abilities and beyond, and while we all have them we may not always be good at identifying and cultivating them.

Talent shows have become a prominent genre of reality television and they are significant in catapulting some amateur artists to recognition and commercially triumphant careers. Talaash, Ek hunar ki khoj, a talent show that is the brainchild of Amir Dodhiya, is one such platform for the South-Asian community and a very unique concept in that sense. The finale of this unique and versatile talent competition was held in the Stafford Performing Arts Centre, on March 11.

Amir Dodhiya, a prominent figure in the greater Houston area is a philanthropist and he actively supports various non-profit organizations. A resident of Sugar Land for close to two decades, Amir has been with New York Life since 2008. He, along with HD & D Events has been working on this novel idea over the last one and a half years. The show invited talent across various genres and age groups. A marvelous treat was to witness artists right from 6 years to 77 years of age.

The artists or stars, as we may refer to them, showcased their X-factors; right from their music and dancing skills to singing, acting, blindfolds acts, magic, painting, sculpting and everything in and around it. The auditions for this magnificent show began from January 21, and were held at the India House in Houston and Asian American Resource Centre in Austin, across various dates. After the highly competitive round of auditions, 33 brilliant contestants were shortlisted for the finales and this was undoubtedly the most difficult task for the esteemed judges. Tickets to the highly anticipated finale were sold out 4 days prior to the D-Day.

The finale kicked off with a bang, literally, to a splendid LED light dance performance by a professional entertainment group that has the accolades of performing in mega-shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Americas Got Talent. A remarkable performance on the famous song Ghoomer by Virtuosi of Performing Arts followed this. The talented duo Shruthi Bekal and Pragya Sen played the perfect Emcee’s for the evening, and welcomed the eminent judges- Pooja Batra, Corey Greene, Pandit Suman Ghosh, Curt Miller, Nagavalli Medicharla and Sebastien Boileau.

In true sense, this was the definition of versatility, where the judges ranged from a Bollywood star to a singer and composer, a dancer, a magician and a graffiti artist. The Grand Prize ($2500) winner was the super-talented duo- Sahana & Deeya from New York Dance Group, who performed to an incredible Bharatnatyam dance. While this prize was sponsored by Amir Dodhiya & the Presenting Sponsor of the show Discount Power, the Grand Prize winners also get an opportunity to train and perform with Virtuosi of Performing Arts by Keka Kar, a local art company that produces several shows a year.

The first runner up ($1000) winner was the talented Janki Prajapati from Infused Performing Arts who did a Bollywood dance and Mousumi Banerjee sponsored the prize. The second runner up ($500) winner award went to the super magician, Ashik Jayprakash, whose tricks left the audiences mesmerized. This prize was sponsored by Desiwindow.com. Being lauded and celebrated by the esteemed judges in a significant and memorable event like this itself is noteworthy. Amir Dodhiya came up on stage to thank all the sponsors.

The intent of the organizers of this mega-show was genuinely noble and 50% of ticket sales that accounted to $5000, along with $1400 that was raised at the live auction were donated to Sewa International. Pooja Batra presented the check to Sewa International’s President Gitesh Desai and Achalesh Amar.

In a conversation with Amir Dodhiya he stated, “I sincerely feel that this was a great and a successful event, managed very well at this large scale. I want to deeply thank my core team- Rishabh Nayak, Vinay Goel, Umang Mehta, Rajesh Desai, Mousumi Banerjee, Bud Patel, Daksha Nagar, Shruti Bekal, DJ Sage & Abiya Malhotra of Sage Productions, Kishore Ramraju, and Damodhara Jammli. Without my team, the show would not have been possible. It was a large-scale event with investments that ran into thousands of dollars. We have learnt a lot from this exciting journey and we plan to do a fantastic event next year as well”.

The sound was managed by Rishabh Nayak and the lightings, LED and graphics by Sage Productions, Videography by Chhaya Photo Studio and Photography by Vinay Goel.

Stay tuned for further details and visit www.talaashusa.com