Nach Baliye 3 - Highs & Lows in Week 2

Yeh Nach Nahin Aasan.. and it truly was, not easy! Few shocks, some surprises and an elimination.. Nach Baliye 3 - Week 2.

The 3rd season of Nach Baliye promised to be bigger & better. With conceptual themes and tasks in the upcoming weeks, it sure seems 'big' on being 'tough' for the participants. Better? The jodi's might not agree to that. The theme for the 2nd week, as Sweta explained, was 'Western dance on Indian beats' or 'Indian dance on Western beats'! Confusion?? No..it was Fusion! So, did the jodi's live upto the theme, judges' & viewers' expectations?

The episode began with Karan-Kavita's performance, which turned out to be rather lacklustre after a promising run in their first week. Vaibhavi Merchant went on to call it a 'horrible performance' and blamed the choreographer for the debacle. If the first performance of the evening was a disappointment..fortunately, the 2nd performance came as a surprise to many. Vikas-Amita's attempt at classical dancing wowed the judges and audience alike. The couple received great compliments from the judges and good scores too! What followed next was an absolute shocker! At start, Kiran & Ritu's performance looked promising, but unfortunately, Ritu blanked out! As per rules, they were not allowed a retake and subsequently got very low scores. An emotional moment for everyone, when Kiran broke down and confessed that he never knew he had such good friends who supported him, despite it being a competiton.

Next came Pooja-Hanif, and back were the smiles! Dressed as Menaka, Pooja went all out to entice Baba Hanif. Theirs was a delightful performance, which was, as Vaibhavi put it - 'fusion in the true sense'. Shivangi's inability to perform (due to an injured back) had Shakti Kapoor perform with his choreographer. Aamir-Sanjeeda, once again, stole the show with an extraordinary performance..combining a classical song with western dance steps, their prop - a table! In return, they got a standing ovation & a rightly deserved score of 30! Sweta-Alex & Rakhi-Abhishek followed it up with wonderful performances and won praises from the judges. Next were Karan-Amita & Krushna-Kashmera's performances, which were rather disappointing.

In the 2nd round, what came across to most was the obvious biasness towards Shakti Kapoor! Why was he allowed to perform without his 'baliye'? In view of a similar situation in Nach Baliye 2, when Shweta-Raja had to bow out of the competition as Raja was hospitalised & was unable to perform..it was only right, and fair to the other contestants, that Shakti-Shivangi voluntarily opt out. After all, its 'Nach Baliye' - dancing with one's real life partner! Or was it that the channel too went by the theme - that of fusing old & new rules & regulations into the format?!Why is it that the channel is now bending rules, the rules that they have made and have been following for the past 2 years?

And finally, the moment of truth - eliminations! As Pooja Bedi rightly put it..it sure seemed like they were "bali ka bakra's", waiting to be slaughtered. The hosts - Husein & Tina - one by one announced the first 6 jodi's in the safe zone. A break (rather relief from tension) came in the form of a surprise performance by celebrity guests, Jimmy Shergill & Neha Dhupia, who later announced the 7th & 8th jodi to enter the safe zone. Another major relief for the jodi's came, when Juhi Parmar announced her decision to opt out of the 'Talaash-E-Baliye' contest that had her enter the contest with a 'baliye' chosen from amongst the audience through auditions. Soon after that, tension was at its peak with the last 2 jodi's - Kiran-Ritu & Shakti-Shivangi - in the danger zone. Lack of audience support & low scores, resulted in the elimination of Kiran-Ritu, and there was pin-drop silence on the set. It was a bitter & emotional exit, with Kiran expressing his shock & anger at being the first jodi to be eliminated..while Ritu blamed herself for the mishap. Overall, an episode full of highs & lows. But, at the end of the day, it is a competition and only one can emerge winner. Like they say, the show must go on...!

Dance, drama, shocks & surprises..that's Nach Baliye 3! Stay tuned to Telly Buzz next week, for more on Nach Baliye. Until then, keep smiling..keep dancing!

Author: Ekta