Age No Bar....

When Nach Baliye started a couple of months back, they were not given the ghost of a chance to win this anokhi jung on television. And why not? Of the dus mashoor jodiyan — some of the couples weren't even 'officially' married — they were the oldest, slated as they were to celebrate their 20th anniversary in December. But at the end of it all, Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar, perhaps best known for the hit comedy show Tu Tu Main Main, danced their way to victory — and Rs 50 lakh — last week.

"It feels great to get so much love and admiration from viewers across the country," says Sachin. "By winning this title, we have proved to the world that age can be no bar. To be honest, at our age what got tough was taking so much of tension."

For Supriya, too, the 10-week journey was "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", and not just for the eventual title win. "After 20 years of marriage, we got to re-discover each other," she smiles. Sachin seconds her: "People close to us felt that the chemistry was getting so strong, ki yeh do bachcha na paida kar de iss umar mein!"

But it wasn't all as smooth as it seemed on camera. "Jo dikhta hai, uske peechhe jo jhelna padta hai…," smiles Supriya. "Back pain became a part and parcel of our lives. We had to take painkillers every day before taking the stage. For our first performance, we got six weeks to prepare but after that every week we got just five days to rehearse."

And every time, their stage performances turned out to be better than their rehearsal gigs. "I know, we always performed better in front of the audiences," says Sachin. "The presence of people helped us give our best and polish our moves. We had made up our minds at the start of the competition that we should not be lousy in our performances and try and put up a good show."

That they did and week after week Sachin and Supriya just got better, not only becoming the most popular in terms of SMS votes but also gaining the confidence of the judges — Malaika Arora Khan, Farhan Akhtar and Saroj Khan.

"We were never perfect, nobody was but yes, we only got better with the audience response," says Supriya. "It was very different from film dance. Apart from the fact that we couldn't go for a retake here. all the steps were very new. Even for Sachin, who's done movies before."

"Mere dadaji ne bhi kabhi hip-hop dance nahi kiya tha," laughs Sachin. "Not only that. Unlike some of the other couples, we usually don't frequent the discos and parties. And we used to be so thrilled to get into our new get-ups every week. You can say, we really wanted to do it."

As a result, neither Sachin nor Supriya took up anything during the 10 weeks the two devoted to Nach Baliye. "We knew this whole schedule would be tough and time-consuming," says Supriya. "So we didn't do anything else during the period apart from a play which didn't demand much of our time."

The two people whom Sachin and Supriya owe their Nach Baliye crown to were their choreographers Al and Melody. "Our choreographers were our teachers and we were like kindergarten students," reveals Supriya. "We used to adopt the moves, step by step, from them — first the legs, then the hands and then the facial movements."

Al and Melody were in fact the only married couple among all the dance directors on the show. While Sachin-Supriya got Rs 50 lakh, Al-Melody bagged a cool Rs 20 lakh and, of course, a whole lot of exposure in the film industry.

"It has been an awesome experience training the cutest couple on the show," says an ecstatic Al. "We always sensed a winning streak in Sachin and Supriya. They have given more than 100 per cent and they definitely deserved to win. At the end of it all, we became one big family."

But it was perhaps the small little family of Sachin's that got home the title. "It was God and the faith of our 16-year old daughter Shriya that got us into this competition and finally paved our way to victory," says an emotional Supriya.

For now, though, it's back to normal life for Sachin and Supriya as they hope to return with another season of Tu Tu Main Main. "Very few people now remember that I am the actual culprit behind all these saas-bahu serials. I started it all," Sachin signs off with that mysterious twinkle in his eyes.