Max Life Insurance,one of the leading life insurers in India and leading music label Universal Music India,todayannounced Maithili Thakur and Tannishtha Purias winners of ‘i-genius Young Singing StarsSeason II’.

The Grand Finale witnessed outstanding performances by the 10 finalists. The 10 were chosen by a jury including Salim Merchant & Shraddha Sharma, from over one lakh entries received from across the country. The two winners from the junior and senior categories Tannishtha Puri & Maithili Thakur respectively have won an opportunity to record their own album. 5 top winners from the Primary category will feature in a special music video, and the4 finalists each from Junior & Senior Group win a contract eachto record a single.

After the grand success of ‘i-genius Young Singing Stars’ in 2014, Max Life Insurance launched ‘i-genius Young Singing Stars Season II’ in 2015. The programme has become a huge success and has attracted the interest of over 2.5 lakh participants who registered for the programme in the last two years. The programme has provided an exciting platform for aspiring and talented young singing stars aged between 4-15 years to have their songs heard by industry professionals and come one step closer to realizing a dream of recording their own music album. Through a rigorous three-phase selection process, the panel of jury shortlisted many top performers. Following this, a video conferencing round was used to finalise the top 10who went through mentoring sessions with Salim Merchant and Shraddha Sharma.

Commenting on the programme, Mr. Rajesh Sud, CEO and Managing Director, Max Life Insurance said,“We are extremely excited with the response that our ‘i-genius young singing stars’ programme is continuing to receive since its launch in 2014. It is a privilege for usto be able to nurture the future talent of the country by giving them a platform to showcase their talent. Our i-genius programme which was launched in 2010 has become a benchmark and has connected with over 26.5 lakh children from across the country through our various initiatives including i-genius Scholarship and Young Authors Hunt programme.”

Commenting on the occasion, Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director - Universal Music Group and EMI South Asia said, "The amazing response to the Max Life i-genius Young Singing Stars continues in Season 2. Yet again we have seen the entries surpassing the figure of 1 lakh. What makes this season special is the quality of talent, which has surpassed that of Season 1 by miles and is unparalleled to any other singing platform that I have seen in this age group. I am very proud of the way this program is shaping up and I can’t wait to start working in the studio with these stars of the new generation.”

Commenting on the occasion, Salim Merchant, Jury & Brand Ambassador said,“The quality of talent we have seen in Season 2 of Max Life i-genius Young Singing Stars has been truly astonishing. As an industry professional, you want to encourage every child that is giving their 100% but as a judge, given the level of talent that I witnessed, in all honesty, I had a hard time choosing them from the initial pool itself. The passion that these young children have shown when combined with the right mentoring will help them go a long way in becoming the future stars of our industry.”