Reality bites on channels again...:JDJ

The song n dance season begins!

"Nach Baliye is starting tonight, an enthusiastic albeit ill-informed neighbour enthused yesterday. Can't fault her really, though. One successful format on one channel spawns another, uncannily similar (with a few variations to steer clear of plagiarism allegations). But when it happens to almost coincide with the second season of the original, what do you do?

Although Sony and Star One may go blue in the face pointing out the differences in style, treatment and star power on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Nach Baliye respectively, to the ordinary man in the street, it remains a dance competition between celebrities. Of course, the viewers are more educated person now - he knows and values the importance of the choreographer, hitherto ambiguous entity, in the scheme of things.

Oh well, so Sony's Jhalak.... launched with a bang yesterday. There are eight participants against NB's ten, and the difference is that they are paired with their choreographers, not the spouses. The families are gathered in the audience to give their ecstatic reactions. The judges' triumvirate is well chosen - Shilpa Shetty for her glam quotient, Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his sober, often sombre evaluations, and the perky Farah Khan (now almost a resident Sony judge since Indian Idol) who chides and praises with equal felicity. The judging atmosphere is relaxed, witty and friendly with a lot of hugs and kisses for the participants. Parmeet Sethi hosts with elan, but wife Archana Puran Singh as the co-host in the back room, is wasted - she hasn't much of a job, except to boost the participants' confidence and watch the scores.

As for the celebs, being made to do what they just ain't good at, isn't always entertaining. Master chef Sanjeev Kapoor's two left feet, veteran actor Rati Agnihotri's efforts to look agile and former cricketer Ajay Jadeja's attempts at salsa were a tad embarrassing, even for the viewer! The others surprisingly, were pleasing in their new roles, notably director Mahesh Manjrekar, whose candid comments about his abilities raised the show to a higher level.

Credit is however due to the talented choreographers, who not only have to train their wayward wards, but also match steps with the celebs on stage in the actual performances! Quite unlike Nach Baliye, where the choreographers stay behind the scenes. But Jhalak... follows a similar system of participants heading back stage to check out scores, along with the CO-host, and even the scores are read out similarly. A similar system of voting out the eliminated participant per week is also followed. Can you blame my poor neighbour for mixing the two shows?