hello folks! i'm back with a brand new, freshly laundered, hot from the oven update for all you NB fans in this NB madhouse we call NB forum! Lately 'NB' has begun to constitute rather a large percentage of my speech, hasn't it? Check the previous sentence to confirm!
So, moving on to the promised update, i'm sure you all know that this week's theme was weddings, and i'm sure you all knew what to expect... the typical cliche wedding scenes! But i must say, that THANK GOD for the choreographers who foresaw this and therefore dished out something NEW for their jodis! But some, unfortunately, stuck to the same old bollywood-style-wedding-scene-complete-with-the bhangra-like-steps performances! Whereas a few added some new masala twists to these overcooked scenes!
So we have seven jodis this week... the field has been narrowed down even further, leaving lesser and lesser room for error... but we must not forget that these couples are no professionals and keeping THAT in mind, we give them some margin with regard to that aspect... not that some couples need leniency, it would insult their dancing abilities! One thing i can definitely say about yesterday's performances is that there were two camps: the stagnated-cliche-wedding camp and the radical-contemporary-wedding camp! Both did well, though there was a definite sense of repitition here and there. Week 5 was slightly thanda in general...
Well, before i start describing the dances, let me just tell you something, call it a WARNING if you must... but since yesterday's show presented many repititive elements in terms of music, concept and choreography, I was tempted to concentrate on the costumes, and what costumes they were too! Lovely... brilliant colour, some innovation and oodles of wedding-cheer were incorporated into the costumes and this really made for some quality presentation!
SANGITA AND SHABBIR GET INTO THE WEDDING MODE!
The wedding-themed show began with a wedding-themed performance by Sangita and Shabbir... now would you call that a marvellous coincidence or brilliant thinking on the part of the show organisers? :wink:... ok, i'm joking! The song was 'rabba rabba' from Monsoon Wedding... apt, no? I absolutely loved Sangita's dress and it was a refreshing change to watch her as a sweet bollywood style girl-at-the-wedding rather than a sexy bombshell!
The dress was very pretty... so good that i just HAD to get a picture of her so that you guys could connect to my comments on her costume. Loved the amethyst hued salwar suit, and loved the silver mango motifs! But the salwar was overdone, with plenty of silver strips running up and down only inches apart! I liked the hairstyle too, it lent itself well to the 'look', but I SWEAR those chandelier earrings are getting longer every show!
Sangita dazzled and sparkled all along, but Shabbir's sherwani didn't go down to well with me, it looked old and faded next to Sangita's dress. And i'm tempted out of my vividly-descriptive nature of writing, to put the colour of the sherwani somewhere between mud and mouse! But there were mirrors! Bet the designer thought THAT would make up for the lack of colour!
Ok, so the steps and music were nothing special, the usual wedding stuff, but it wasn't a bad job and overall it refrained from looking overly stale. What makes me say that? Well, the fact that Sangita was not the dulhan here, probably the banno-ki-behna or dulhan-ki-saheli type... but there was some nice chemistry there and on the whole it was nice...
THE JODIS
We now have seven jodis and it is fast becoming clear who belongs with the creme de la creme and who is there partly due to their ability and partly because they have large hearts and have decided to do this for charity... This time, all 7 seven couples got together and picked chits from a glass bowl... fortunately or unfortunately for Rajiv and Delnaaz they drew the number ONE... Rajeev seems to think that it could be unlucky... Rajeshwari and Varun picked number SEVEN...
Jodi no. 08: Rajeev-Delnaaz
Song: Yeh ladki haaye Allah...
What did I say about 'typical, 'cliche' etc!! Ok, this is not exactly something absolutely novel where weddings are concerned, but one has to choose something, so one might as well go with an SRK-Kajol song... and that is what Delnaaz and Rajiv Paul did do, with the result that it went the way any celluloid wedding goes... filled with boy-teases-girl acts... but there was definitely something new there... Delnaaz and Rajiv... they added a new flavour to this song... she with her cute dolly look and energetic moves and he with his neverending enthusiasm and energy!
Though I must say, Rajiv's v-necked sequinned sherwani (?) looked weird. The shoulders looked as though they'd been hanging onto a metal mesh frame underneath, Delu's look was very cute and I liked the colours, not the best, but an undoubtedly good job! Nice jewellery too! Nice hairstyles as well!
The choreography ranged from stale to relatively innovative. And I forgot to mention this, but for the first time, the jodis were dancing with others, extras... in this case, the extras were lost in the background and our cute jodi were doing their own thing... not a very attractive thing to see in terms of choreography... but a nice show nevertheless!
Overall: nice chemistry, mediocre performance though, I thought it was somewhat thanda despite their energy and enthu! I think Rajeev was right in thinking that the jodi that goes first is doomed... !
Judges' remarks:
Malaika: Delnaaz is live wire! But you seemed clumsy, co-ordination and timing not perfect.
Farhan: Choreographer used the space well, but there were problems with the synchronisation.
Saroj Khan: Choreography was good.
Marks:
Malaika: 5/10 Farhan: 7/10 Saroj Khan: 5/10 Total: 17/30
Jodi no. 04: Archana-Parmeet
Song: Mehendi laga ke rakhna, doli saja ke rakhna...
I love this song... even though it has been 10 years, the magic of SRK-Kajol in DDLJ lives on, and Parmeet and Archana have attempted to recreate it, and i must say, they have succeeded! Firstly, the concept - it was wonderful. The performance started with Archana reliving memories of her dead husband, bringing back memories of their wedding and the mehendi-night!
I LOVED LOVED LOVED the way the dance began! Parmeet looked absolutely dashing, if possible, better than he did in the movie itself! Great music and great choreography. Parmeet's energy and high adrenaline performance pumped fun into their dance and the foot tapping music made me want to dive into the TV screen and shake a leg with them! Both were very on-beat and in-sync. I loved the 'dil tham ke' and 'nazrein jhuka ke rakhna' portions... simply awesome! The 'freeze' act was great as well!
There were several plus points among which was the fact that the extras blended well into the dance and did not look lost, in fact they added some value to the performance and they had a part to play in it, unlike the extras in the Rajiv-Delu performance... plus the costumes were very nice! I loved Parmeet's sherwani. Archana was very good but her contribution did not stand out as much as Parmeet's! In the end, it was his dose or acrobatics and gymnastics that really took the cake! And I simply adored the end portion where Archana says 'kaash tum aaj bhi mere saath hote'... and Parmeet replies 'main aaj bhi tumhaari paas hoon...'
Exceptional timing, choreography and co-ordination! If anything was missing, it was their usual stormy chemistry... it was lost under layers of mush and romance this time, but not to worry! Everything else that they did more than made up for it, but chemistry is an important ingredient, no doubt about it...
Overall: Romance, dance, action, energy: fully masala entertainment! One of the very best this time around... I won't be surprised if Archana gets her dream 30 on 30 score very soon! Fabulous!
Judges' remarks:
Malaika: Lovely, outstanding timing and co-ordination. It was interesting and novel!
Farhan: You seemed to be holding yourselves back... I'm disappointed (when compared to last time's performance).
Saroj Khan: Very nice concept... you did well.
Marks:
Mlaika: 7/10 Farhan: 7/10 Saroj Khan: 8/10 Total: 22/30
Jodi no. 09: Sachin-Supriya
Song: Sapne mein milti hai...
First of all, let me tell you that this performance, for some reason, reminded me of those South Indian film songs - you know, the ones with those great hip movements and vigorous dances! To add to that feel, Sachin here, looks like a south auto driver attending a wedding... but Supriya looks so pretty I wonder whether she can really have been married for 20 years with a daughter as old as me!
The best part about this performance was their chemistry... mercifully, this was one of those few dances that did not follow the same stale stagnant overcooked wedding routine! Absolutely marvellous facial expressions, fantastic energy and brilliant choreography! Waah waah!!! Plus i truly enjoyed the tap dance thing... it was a very good performance, though I would agree with the judges in saying that it was not one of their better ones!
Good song selection and the choreography blended very well with the music... very vigorous dance steps, but this jodi was having fun out there, and so were we, sitting before our TV screens at home! Good job guys!!!
Overall: Great chemistry, great moves, great attitude! Loved Supriya's nautanki...!
Judges' remarks:
Malaika: Very good! Supriya has now taken over from Sachin. The only downside is that it was not as good as the previous performance...
Farhan: You have always done something special... not this time, this time, I find that missing... but very good!
Saroj Khan: Choreographer has done a very good job! Keep it up!
Marks:
Malaika: 8/10 Farhan: 8/10 Saroj Khan: 9/10 Total: 25/30
Jodi no. 03: Amit-Neeru
Song: Mujhse shaadi karogi...
Before I say anything else, let me talk about Neeru's dress!!! Waah, awesome costume... she looked absolutely mindblowing in her ice pale rose tinted ghaghra. Fabulous hairstyle, minimal jewellery (in the context of a wedding, of course)... she looked like a dream... especially with her totally candy sweet sharmili role... very nice! Loved the work on the blouse! Amit looked good as well (as usual)!
Excellent choice of song, nd good choreography... Neeru's totally awesome jhatak-matak's were bang on-beat, she is a very graceful dancer, wonder why the judges never noticed this... She had to just repeat the same jhatak-ing steps and catwalk stuff... but Amit had more steps... and he did a good job of them!
This performance had a very contemporary feel to it, modernish music and great beats unlike some of the other performances. Ample scope for choreography... even though Amit had a majority of the more eyecatching and fun steps, I was watching Neeru, more than him this time... she was looking simply gorgeous! I had a feeling that even though Neeru had a very narrow range of steps given to her, her vivacity overshadowed Amit's bold lover boy act... but both were good!
Fabulous chemistry! Good job Amit and Neeru... this is one jodi that is really and truly improving with time. They stole the show, in my opinion. This one is one of my favourites from week 5!
Overall: Fabulous! Great job guys! Superb chemistry!
Judges' remarks:
Malaika: Equal weightage should have been given to both, Neeru didn't get many steps. There was romance. But an average performance.
Farhan: Good. It was centred around Amit, you have to focus on getting the beats correct. It was enjoyable.
Saroj Khan: Very nice. Keep it up!
Marks:
Malaika: 6/10 Farhan: 6/10 Saroj Khan: 7/10 Total: 19/30
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