First Look at Jhalak Dikhla Jaa

Yesteryear's Hindi cinema hero fondly called 'jumping jack', Jeetendra, is most probably the third judge of Sony's reality talent hunt contest Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. Jazz dance expert and chorepographer Shaimak Davar is also slated to sign his contract for the show. They will appear along with Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar as the judges.

A channel spokesperson says, "Talks are on with them, but the contracts have still to be signed. Shiamak has a few earlier commitments on a few days and we're trying to adjust those. A formal announcement will be made soon." The last edition had Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Shilpa Shetty and Farah Khan as the judges.

The show, produced by Synergy, is an adaptation of the international hit TV series Strictly Dancing with the Stars. The twelve participants in the second season are Ronit Roy, Cyrus Broacha, Sonali Kulkarni, Prachi Desai (Bani), Mika, Mir Ranjan Negi, Sandhya Mridul, Sudha Chandran, Aadesh Srivastav, Mini Mathur, Jay Bhanushali and Tapur Chatterjee.

Meanwhile, Sony has been conducting roadshows this month in the cities/towns that the participants belong to. The last one, this week, was at Nagpur with Sonali Kulkarni, in which she is believed to have wowed the residents of the city with her dance moves. This week, it is in Ahmedabad with Prachi Desai. With announcements on local radio stations and tickers running through cable TV, these shows are packed with audiences who come to watch their favourite star perform and plead for votes. These roadshows will culminate with all the twelve contestants coming to Mumbai to announce the show on September 21st.

Last year's winner Mona Singh is hosting the show with Rohit Roy. The show will go on air on September 28th.

Author: Usha Thomas