Artist Aloud announces the winners of India’s first digital open mic – Happy Club
A pan-India multi-lingual digital comedy talent hunt, the property sought to recognize comic talent across 7 languages – English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali, and Punjabi
An esteemed panel of 7 judges selected a winner in each language
All winners to get a chance to shoot a digital special each in their respective languages; to be streamed on Hungama Play and Artist Aloud
National: Artist Aloud, a platform by Hungama that supports and promotes independent content, today announced the winners of Artist Aloud Happy Club, a digital talent hunt for budding comedians across India. A first of its kind comedy talent hunt, Happy Club witnessed enthusiastic participation across India and set out to open doors for budding comedians in 7 languages – English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali, and Punjabi. The contestants were judged by a panel of renowned comedians – Rajiv Thakur (Hindi), Nitin Mirani (English), Jaswant Singh (Punjabi), Manan Desai (Gujarati), Sumedh Shindey (Marathi), Mervyn Rozario (Tamil) and Anirban Bhattacharya (Bengali). The winners will get a unique opportunity to shoot a digital special each that will be available to stream on Hungama Play and Artist Aloud.
Winners include – Saadiya Ali (English), Shivam Sehgal (Hindi), Roop Singh Dhillon (Punjabi), Harshil Patel (Gujarati), Shreevallabh Bhatt (Marathi), Sourav (Tamil) and Debalina Das (Bengali). The talent hunt was spread over a span of two months and required all aspirants to upload a video in a language of their preference. Post the upload, the videos were open for votes from the general public with 5 shortlisted entries making it to the final jury round.
Speaking about the property, Soumini Sridhara Paul, Vice-President, Artist Aloud, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. said, “Content creation and curation space in India has undergone a huge transformation. Increasing penetration of the digital medium has ensured that people across geographies are able to access and enjoy online content, necessitating the need to create content in multiple languages. With Happy Club, we aimed to provide aspiring comedians a level playing field by giving them the option to share their performances in a language of their choice without worrying about writing, production value, editing, and scale. We are glad to provide a platform to the winners through their individual shows and will help them hone their talent further.”
Expressing his excitement, Rajiv Thakur said, “I had a great experience as a jury member. Comedy in our country needs a push in the right direction and I am happy that Artist Aloud has provided the right platform at the right time. It is overwhelming to see the extent of comic talent that exists in India and glad to see the talented winners being guided and helped to understand their own potential. I wish all the budding comedians a phenomenal journey ahead.”
Judge for the English category, Nitin Mirani said, “The changing media landscape in the humor industry is a new phase that the comedians need to explore to reach out to the audiences. I think Artist Aloud has taken a thoughtful step in giving a platform to aspiring talent across India. The talent reflected in the entries made my experience of being a judge a memorable one.”
As a part of the talent hunt, Artist Aloud also worked with ATKT.in, a digital platform that seeks to promote original content created by college students, to find young comic talent across India. Winners in Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, and Bengali languages were chosen through ATKT.in’s assistance.
Details about the winner’s shows will be announced in due course of time.