|  | Saroj Khan later reduced Shweta and Raja's score to 8
I got carried away by emotion. Also, a very important person standing behind me kept saying, 'Do it, do it' (give a 10) | There's something fishy on the sets of Nach Baliye 2.
Saroj Khan, one of the judges of the popular reality dance show on Star One, was forced to give Shweta Tiwari 10/10 when she did not deserve it. This was done at the behest of a channel bigwig present on the sets, causing dissent among the other judges. Later, Khan did a rethink and reduced her score to 8.
The drama unfolded during the shooting of the comedy round on Wednesday, which happened to be Tiwari's birthday. The show will be telecast on Monday.
Says an eye-witness, ''When Shweta and Raja (Choudhary) completed their performance to Manu Tera Hua, Ab Mera Kya Hoga (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi), Saroj declared that she was terribly disappointed and went out of the studio. For quite some time, she could not be traced. Meanwhile, the other judges, Kunal Kohli and Malaika Arora, gave 7 points each to the couple, but not before expressing that they too were disappointed.
I got carried away: Saroj
Shweta started sobbing and Raja began comforting her.
| | | Shweta Tiwari and husband Raja Choudhary during the comedy round of Nach Baliye 2 | A few moments later, Saroj walked in with a big bouquet. She hugged Shweta, wished her and said, ''Tum log comedy kar rahe ho, kya main comedy nahin kar sakti?" And then, she gave her score — a perfect 10. When she returned to her chair, Kunal and Malaika were not amused.
They had a discussion with her, expressing their displeasure on her generosity. After the next jodi (Gurdip-Arjun) had performed, Saroj claimed that she had erred. Shweta walked up to the stage and told Saroj that she should not give her more marks than she deserves. Almost immediately, Saroj reduced her marks to 8."
Saroj claims she was playing a prank on Shweta. ''I am telling you I got carried away by emotion. Also, a very important person who was standing behind me kept saying, 'Do it, do it'," she said. Who was that important person? ''I am not giving names," she said. ''Was that person from the channel?" we asked. Pat came her reply, ''Maybe."
When contacted, Raja admitted to the fiasco. ''Saroj played a prank. Kunal and Malaika were very upset. They staged a walk-out. Shweta had a word with the producers (SOL) and then went on to address Sarojji."
Here's what Saroj added in defence. ''Well, I walked out to tease Shweta. Later I went inside and gave her 10. She was already crying a lot. I got carried away."
'I'm not biased'
And what transpired on the dias? ''Well, Kunal and Malaika scolded me and asked me why I was spoiling my reputation. Plus they complained that I had made them look like fools. I understood their perspective. When Gurdip and Arjun started, I made it clear that Shweta deserved only 8.
Yeh cheezen to hoti rahti hai. It's a reality show. If anybody feels I am generous towards Shweta they can go to hell. In earlier rounds, kya mere baap baithe (referring to the other two judges) the, who gave her equally high marks as I did. I am not partial towards Shweta. That way, why is nobody blaming me for Tanaaz whom I have given high marks?"
Says Malaika, "Saroj wanted to pull off a gag but Kunal and I didn't think it went well with Shweta and Raja's performance. She gave 10 to Shweta for not such a great performance where we had given 7, and it didn't make sense. We felt that it was unfair to the others. So, we brought it to her notice. She was gracious enough to realise it." |
