The Stage 3: The hunt for the best singer in English language enters a new season

In a country like India, which is known all over the world for its diverse cultures and languages and, there also is an equally diverse talent pool — whether it is in the field of sports, music, arts, or science, to name a few. Encashing on exactly this aspect of the country, there have been many reality talent-hunt shows that have capably brought out hidden gems and helped them to attain their share of fame and success. [caption id=“attachment_4119577” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Stage 3. Image courtesy: Facebook/Vishal Dadlani[/caption] One such show is The Stage, which enters its third season on 7 October. The talent-hunt show looks for people who aspire to sing Western music and provides a platform for them to showcase their skills and get mentored by the best in the industry. “The key focus of the show is to discover fresh and new talent in the English music space, and break open this genre on Indian mainstream entertainment television,” states the website of the channel Colours, which airs the show. As per the format of the show, the participants are supposed to perform in each episode. The weakest performers are “benched”, which means that they must perform once more. Of these “benched” participants, the one with the weakest performance is eliminated after a unanimous jury verdict. In this third season, the show is introducing audience voting as one of the deciding factors when it comes to eliminations. In the last two seasons, The Stage has had a successful run with the likes of Vishal Dadlani (of the music composer duo Vishal-Shekhar), Ehsaan Noorani (of the music composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy), Monica Dogra and Devraj Sanyal serving as judges. They will continue to judge and mentor in the upcoming season as well. Famous TV personality Shibani Dandekar will continue her stint as the host of the show in The Stage 3. In the first season, Yatharth Ratnum was declared the winner, while Sharvi Yadav took home the top honours in the second season. The Stage 3 premieres on 7 October on Colors Infinity.