On the dance floor, O Kudiye!

If you have been wondering why at least 15 actors across different soaps are looking tired and puffy eyed on their shows, blame it on Star One. The channel's second season of Nach Baliye, hinged on hope and tinged with glitz, started this week.

Not much has changed since the first season, except for the lavish sets and a different judge (Farhan Akhtar gives way to Kunal Kohli). What rankles though is the lack of novelty value the first season breathed of. Now we know just how much cleavage Malaika will show, we know Saroj Khan's going to whistle and bless her favourite couples with currency notes. In fact, even the participants come loaded with expectations.

"I wanted to have a seeti from Saroj-ji so badly!" chirped at least a few of the contestants at the end of their performances. And true to expectation, some got it, some didn't. Shweta Tiwari and her husband even made it to the currency note stage. In the last season, Varun Badola and Rajeshwari had to wait till the fifth round to get similar honours. Now, apparently, the message to judges and contestants is clear - keep the hype up.

Tanaaz Currim and beau Bakhtyar Irani must have taken the message too seriously. Their exultation on the reading of scores was so alarmingly loud, one wondered if the channel keeps a team of paramedics ready to handle emergencies. As for the rest of the couples, they just look happy to have made it to the final 10 of the second season, if not the first.

Anchors Sachin and Supriya are charming by themselves. But did they have to revert to Marathi every five minutes just to stand apart? Or did they forget they were catering to a national audience?

http://www.indiantelevision.com/special/boxpopuli/y2k6/sep/b oxpopuli21.htm