All set to rock their bodies

Celebs tell us why they decided to participate in Jaalak Dikhla Ja

Rati Agnihotri
I am not treating this show as a dance competition. I am having great fun and enjoying it. In fact, when Sony approached me for the show I said yes instantly. I have danced in films, but that was 24 years ago and that too with a lot of cuts and retakes. Now I have put on weight over the years and my body is stiff. But my choreographer is patient with me. He helped me a lot. Since I was very rusty I started with warm ups and gradually moved on to dance steps. Now I am prepared. I have a few films in hand but now that TV is big medium I am open to do serials.

Akashdeep Sehgal
I am a very bad dancer but am trying to learn and dance well. My muscles are not stiff and neither am I bogged down with inhibitions. But I have two left feet. The whole idea behind taking part in a dace competition is to enjoy the experience. It's a wonderful feeling to share the stage with professionals from diverse fields. Since I am busy with Kyunki I am not getting enough time for rehearsals. I may not reach the last stage but I will try to do my best.

Sanjeev Kapoor
Anything new that you try is going to be difficult. Nothing is easy in the beginning and nothing is achieved without trying. I wanted to be an architect but chose to be a cook. I have been a professional cook for the last 24 years. A few months ago I decided that I will try to do something new every year. I wanted to learn singing but I got this offer to do Jhalak Dikhla Ja and accepted it. My body was stiff in the beginning and I also had to overcome my inhibitions. Now thanks to my choreographer I can at least shake half a leg. Besides my wife is very happy that I am learning dance. She loves to dance and I couldn't give her company. Now we can dance together in parties and clubs.

Mahesh Manjrekar
I took four days to decide before saying yes to Sony. People may not expect me to dance well and they might laugh at my performance. But then what's life without challenges. It's a fact that I am not a good dancer. But my choreographer took it as a challenge to make me dance well. I get tired very fast. My feet were not moving at all in the beginning. But now I am more at ease with different steps though my body is still stiff and my back hurts. May be I will be the first to get voted out. But that doesn't worry me. I am getting tired of making the usual commercial films and don't want to be in the rat race. Dance is just the first step towards learning different things in life.

Mona Singh
It's a wonderful experience to be part of an internationally formatted show that's been a huge success across 27 countries. I love music and the mere sounds of the beats make me shake my legs. I know it's going to be tough competition and everyone is working hard. But then nothing is gained without trying. I don't know whether I will win but I am preparing myself to do my best. I want to have a blast.

Shilpa Shetty
Since the last few years I have been getting offers for serials but I said no because I am not inclined to do television at this stage in my career. The reason why I agreed to be a judge for Jhalak Dikhla Ja is because it is a formatted show and is presented very well. Besides it takes just 16 days off my time and will be over in two months.

Though I will start shooting for my next film Metro with Anurag Basu in the second half of September I will be able to manage my dates for Jhalak. It's not going to be an easy job to judge the participants especially because they have gone through five weeks of intense training. I will try my best to be fair. There won't be harsh comments and criticism. The idea is to appreciate efforts of the participants who are all achievers in their chosen fields and are trying their best to compete in a dance competition. It takes lot of guts to do that