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JASSI JAISA SHVETA NAHI!

Mona Singh steals hearts and votes to win Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa

Cheers, whistles and screams were all that could be heard after Mona Singh was announced the winner of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa last night. The entire stage was showered with sparkles as Mona was congratulated by fellow participants of the show, her competitors, the judges and the anchors. The audience went ecstatic with the news and gave Mona a standing ovation while she went bizarre screaming and jumping with joy.
Meanwhile, Shveta Salve, her competitor and the better dancer of the two, took the news very gracefully, but broke down into tears when she was asked to comment on the win.
All this drama took place in the last 15 minutes of the show, after all the audience votes were taken into account. As Jhalak began its last episode at 8 p.m., the first performances were of Shveta and Mona. While Shveta, touted as the next Madhuri Dixit, danced to the Ek Do Teen number, Mona swayed her hips to the Helen song, Piya Tu... The eight weeks of the competition seemed to have taken a toll on these two, since these last two performances certainly would not have got them any winning points.
These performances, in the absence of the judges were for the audiences. Phone lines were open for voting till the first half-hour of the show. And as expected, it was the audience votes which led Mona to win the competition. As for the judges, they had already awarded Shveta the winner with 85 points, while Mona was left with 72 in their last performance of the previous episode.
The next hour-and-half was filed with numerous performances. The eight couples and their choreographers shook their legs with different partners each time they came on stage, choreographed by Sandeep Soparkar.
Surprisingly Ajay Jadeja performed like a natural, while Mahesh Manjrekar was at his funny best. Rati Agnihotri too was graceful, but Pooja Bedi and Sanjeev Kapoor would probably have to go through another Jhalak to call themselves decent dancers. Actor Arshad Warsi too made a fleeting appearance, dancing, and promoting his upcoming show, Bigg Boss.
Judge Farah Khan herself took to stage, dancing on the songs originally choreographed by her. And while her performance was good, it was Shilpa Shetty whose hip shakes stole the wind
out of all the performances last night. Dancing on the number UP Bihar Lootne, this lass could sure give Shakira tough competition.
All in all, the participants were having fun dancing on the stage, with the knowledge that they will no longer be judged. And except for Mona and Shveta, the rest on the sets of Jhalak were happy to get back together and enjoy a musical reunion.
Mona Singh said, "I can't believe I won. I thought I would be gone in the first two rounds. This is my next show after Jassi, and I am glad that the audience loves me so much as Mona, just as they loved me as Jassi."
Toby said, "The first time I met Mona, I knew that she was a non-dancer. But I am really glad that she worked very hard, without complaining."
Shveta Salve said, "Mona is a born winner. I can see that. Yes, the audience did play a major role in making Mona win. But since this is a reality show, the audience involvement is necessary. This show has given me so much recognition in the last three months that years of my career haven't."
Longinus said, "I am an old player in this field, and the first time I met Shveta, I told her not to worry. Even though she was the smallest celebrity on this show, I told her I will make her get the votes from the judges, but for the audience votes it is a different ball game all together."
But judge Sanjay Leela Bansali summed it up best when he said, "Although I do think Shveta should have won, I do not feel that Mona should have lost, as Mona very stubbornly continued to work on being in the show. But I feel bad that the audience let Shveta down."

http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthep ress&subsection=news&xfile=October2006_news_standard 3190

Reality shows are booming! Some original concepts, while others choose to follow. But they have made their place in everyone's heart without fail. But its reality element is always doubted! Time and again there have been debates about the reality quotient of these shows whether revolving around celebrities or the common people.

Riya V Anandwala talks to a few television personalities and gets their view on reality shows, its reality and how far are they convinced!

Sumeet Raghvan

Opinion- People have mixed reactions about these reality shows and so do I! At times it does seem staged. They show the stars or people having catfights which normally are not so hyped. It is very difficult to believe the voting bit of these shows, I feel they are fixed.
Will I do it?- All in all I feel its fun and I would definitely go for it.

Ravi Chopra

Opinion- Reality shows are booming and have grabbed many eyeballs. It's a very good platform for showcasing talent. They are very much real, but of course certain things on the show like voting out a talented person because of lack of mass appeal becomes a bit of a problem. About the voting system it is very economical for the producers and beneficial too. In my opinion they don't intend to fool people.
Will I do it? - I don't want to make a replica of something which is ruling the charts like some have done. If I get an interesting concept, I will definitely materialize it.

Juhi Parmar

Opinion- I have never been a part of a reality TV show, so have no clue what happens behind the scenes. But from the face of it, it looks pretty real. I do have doubts at times, but who knows what the truth is. There are people coming from small towns and earning name and fame through these reality shows, but celebrity based reality shows are mostly to attract the audience, so you never know how real they are.
Will I do it? - Yes, why not!

Achint Kaur

Opinion- At the end of the day it's all in the name of entertainment and is definitely scripted. There is no major difference between international reality shows and the shows made here, they cater to their audience, and we cater to ours. Even Nach Baliye to an extent is scripted, and it is very much evident. There are some elements of reality which don't make these shows look completely untrue!
Will I do it? - If some good reality show comes my way, I will definitely give it a shot. More than participating, I would like to host.

Kiran Kumar

Opinion- Well, it cannot be fixed. Producers and channel officials will never do that. But yes the voting and SMS patterns come across as being fixed. I am very excited for the new show coming up, Big Boss.
Will I do it? - If I get the time then I am game for it!

http://www.tellychakkar.com/y2k6/oct/25oct/boletoh_reality.p hp

Mona-polising voters

Last Friday saw the grand finale of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, the Indian version of the international popular dance contest show, Dancing With The Stars. This programme is very popular in Australia and in the UK it is aired as Come Dance With Me. Sony has bought the rights of Dancing With The Stars format and did a good job of it. Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa was no doubt a much more slicker version of Nach Baliye 2. The latter, on the other hand, looks very tacky.
Like most reality shows, Jhalak also had its ups and downs and its fair share of surprises. The hottest find of Jhalak was of course Shveta Salve and her choreographer Longines Fernandes. Both of them have been in their respective professions for some time now, but it was Jhalak which catapulted their talents. From the very first episode, they were consistent and good and both somehow complemented each other. It was clear that they should win.
But then the surprise package was Mona Singh and Toby. They did manage to reach the finals and if you look at Mona's graph, it was impressive — from being a clumsy dancer to one with a lot of confidence and finesse towards the end. Besides, the junta was with Mona, obviously because of her Jassi avatar. No doubt, she would garner the maximum audience votes than a relatively unknown Shveta. But certain things do baffle the viewer. I remember an actor friend of mine telling me weeks in advance that Mona Singh would win. This, when Mona was nowhere near the top three. How did the man surmise it? "Simple," said he. "Sony needed to bring back Mona post Jassi and launch her as an actress. But the Jassi image was hard to shake off. So to give her a new and slicker look, nothing could be a better launchpad than the Jhalak stage. So there you go."
Come to think of it, in retropsect, certain things do fall into place. Mona Singh starts out as a weak but potential dancer. Shveta from day one proves a hit with viewers and judges alike. A couple of episodes later, word leaks that Shveta has trained as a dancer professionally.
a) Why didn't the channel look into the matter while taking her in as a contestant?
b) Why didn't the organisers check the allegation out when rumours were floating and disqualify her then?
Much later, when Shveta and Mona were in the running, there was a subtle character assassination on Shveta. That she refused to part with 20 per cent of the prize money to her choreographer and that she was very arrogant. Agreed, her being arrogant does make her unpopular with the contestants and the crew and obviously they will not vote for her. But to the average viewer her attitude would not make so much of a difference as her movements. Also, is there any guarantee that Mona Singh would give 20 per cent of her prize money to Toby?
I am not saying Mona Singh did not deserve to win. What I am saying is that it was Sony's responsibility to defend each contestant, be it Shveta, Mona, Ajay or Mahesh, and refute rumours when they are rife. Their silence speaks volumes of the channel being hand-in-glove with the source of such rumours.

Think beyond Anthony

What's with the name Anthony? Looks like the Christian community in India do not have much choice in names apart from Anthony? Or that writers and directors don't have much imagination beyond that name. Otherwise, why would every Christian character in Hindi films be named, Anthony. First Amar Akbar Anthony, then Anthony Kaun Hai and now My Name Is Anthony Gonsalvez. Or is it merely the name is stuck on one's mind like the endless number of filmi Vijays.