MUMBAI: Talent hunt or reality competition shows have opened the door wide enough for promising opportunists to showcase their respective arts and fulfill the dreams. Be it the widely popular American Idol that found its own versions in several countries across the globe or India's very own ‘The Stage’, these platforms provided alternative option for musicians to travel the road to fame. And, more often than not, these initiatives have - on a yearly basis - managed to serve the cause.

However, to say these platforms gave birth to these musicians’ love for music would be unfair. With the season of reality shows soon to hit the Indian Television sets soon - The X Factor and The Stage (Season 2) – we look back at a few international and Indian artists’ journey to success and how the role of the respective talent hunt shows.

Sunidhi Chauhan

Lata Mangeshkar called her ‘Numero Uno’ artist of the current generation, and director Ram Gopal Varma considers her “the greatest singer in the world”. But before she won these tags and accolades, Sunidhi Chauhan had a long and interesting story that led to her current status as one of the most beloved playback singer. Sunidhi has been a performer from a very young age. The singer-performer portrayed her talent wherever she could – local gatherings, school competitions, etc. Sunidhi’s first moment of fame arrived through a live performance at veteran actor Tabassum’s show ‘Tabassum Hit Parade‘.

The Little Wonder’s exposure to live music only restricted to her hometown – Delhi. Later, the then teenager moved to Mumbai with her family, contested at Sa Ra Ga Ma and the rest is history. Today, she judges several national competitions like Indian Idol and The Voice. And of course, continues to mesmerise the country with her ‘Numero Uno’ voice.

One Direction

Moving away from the Numero Uno female voice in India to the Numero Uno boy band in the UK. To those who thought One Direction had it all easy, you are right. But times did put the boys to task before they claimed fame. The five founding members of the band – Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomilson – appeared on the seventh edition of the popular talent show ‘The X Factor’ as individual contestants. The musicians did not know each other, however, Simon Cowell’s effort to put the musicians together during the ‘bootcamp’ stage of the competition really did wonders.

The musicians earlier failed to impress in ‘Boys’ category but managed to create a strong impact through the ‘Groups’ category. The group gained popularity in UK after their first performance of ‘Torn’ and soon Cowell signed ‘One Direction’ to Syco Records, and the boys haven’t looked back since.

Arijit Singh

Arijit Singh’s love for music began with ‘classical sangeet’ and the love transcended from tabla to his voice under the guidance of his guru. The music director’s vocalist – Arijit Singh – turns every project he holds to gold today, however, the singer’s initial shot to fame did not quite necessarily had that effect. The singer failed to win the ‘Fame Gurukul’ reality show, but the Arijit vehicle had just hit a small block.

The musician continued to pursue his dream through reality shows, and it was through the unique concept of ’10 ke 10 Le Gaye Dil’ – a stand-off between the contestants of Fame Gurukul and Indian Idol – that got the industry sing praises of him. One thing led to another, and today Arijit Singh has more directors waiting in queue than any other singer in the country.

Adam Lambert

Arijit Singh isn’t the only runner-up of a reality show that found more fame than the winner of the respective season. Take Adam Lambert, for example. The runner-up of the eighth season of American Idol, Adam Lambert’s journey as a musician escalated through various elements that forced one of the judges to oppose Cowell’s concern of Lambert’s theatricality, and called his style and voice “current.”

Gradually, Lambert made Cowell eat his own words as the judge later called him “a worldwide star.”

Soon, Lambert’s sexual orientation was brought to attention, but nothing stopped the young musician to achieve the goals he had set for himself. In 2009, Lambert released his first studio album ‘For Your Entertainment’, and today, the musician has grown to become an inspiration for many young American aspiring musicians.

Kamakshi Khanna

Relatively still not a phenomenon when compared to the other names in the list, but there lies no reason why Kamakshi Khanna cannot reach to her true potential. Singing in English in an ecosystem majorly dominated by Bollywood and Hindi songs in itself is a commendable effort, and Kamakshi Khanna – who could not win the first season of India’s latest and only English singing talent hunt show – did leave a mark in the industry with her performances.

The sensational singer went on to create ‘Kamakshi Khanna Collective’ band, and collaborated with several other musicians to form ‘River’. The artist would seen be releasing her second studio album. And that’s not all. Kamakshi Khanna composed one track for an upcoming Hollywood film under Universal Music. From ‘The Stage’ to the international stage - what a beautiful journey it has indeed been for Kamakshi Khanna.

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