Article:The Boogie Trap

W HEN BUSINESS analyst Paromita Chatterjee idly surfed TV channels a few evenings ago, her eyes almost popped out of her head. No, she hadn't caught an illegal adult flick on cable. Rather, she'd caught a promo for the celebrity dance show Nach Baliye 3. "It featured Shakti Kapoor," says Paromita, and she sounds stunned. "Shakti Kapoor, I ask you! Is he a celebrity?" Paromita wasn't the first person to ask this question. With all due re- spect to Shakti Kapoor – and to Rakhi Sawant and Kashmera Shah, and some of the other celebs on Nach Baliye 3 – the ques- tion has been asked over and over again since the publicity for the show began roughly a month ago. And it isn't just the viewers asking this. If the grapevine is to believed, the ques- tion had been asked on several occa- sions at the time the show was being put together. It had been asked by other celebs who, apparently, refused to be on the same show as the above mentioned 'celebs' because their presence, apparently, indicated that "standards have fallen". GENERATION GAP Like most reality TV shows, Nach Baliye too has had controversies in the past. In the first season, member of the jury Saroj Khan, the well known Bollywood choreographer, made her dislike of some of the show's choreographers very clear. In the second season, celebrity couple Shweta Kawatra and Manav Govil were accused of buy- ing 200 mobile SIM cards so they could vote for them- selves. But never before has the show been controver- sial because the star partici- pants were not stars enough. "Whether it's the concept of the show, or the celebrities it features, the show must maintain its high standards," says actress Kishwar Merchant who, along with actor Hiten Paintal, dropped out of Nach Baliye 3 be- cause she wasn't happy with the list of other performers. Compared to the first two seasons, the celebrities featured in Nach Baliye 3 are not of the same status, continues Kishwar. "The last two shows featured couples like Sachin and Supriya, Varun Badola and Ra- jeshwari, Arjun Punj and Gurdip, and Hussain and Tina," says Kish- war. "This show however features rel- ative newcomers. And while people like Rakhi and Pooja Bedi are fairly well known, their partners are not." COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENCE But who exactly is the judge of celebrity status, asks Prem Kamath, vice president, marketing and com- munication at Star India. "We have three couples from Bollywood, in- cluding Shakti Kapoor, Rakhi Sawant and Kashmera Shah with their respective partners, and the others from TV are also fairly well known," he says. "Their serials are doing well and people recognise them. So who's to say whether they are celebs or not?" That's a question that's always dif- ficult to answer – and in answering it, there is always a certain amount of tact involved. So Hussain Kuwajer- wala, the winner of Nach Baliye 2, brings a whole new angle to the question by pointing out that on a dance show, it's the dancing that matters, not the dancer's celebrity sta- tus. "The last two shows may have featured better known peo- ple, but this season features some great dancers," says Hussain. "So the competition is far tougher." It's all a question of perspec- tive, muses Rajeshwari Sachdev, who had participated in the show's first season. "I believe that dancing skills should be the only criteria when it comes to participating in the show. But if some people prefer not to feature with other people, and decide to get out of the show before it be- gins rather than create problems in the middle of it, that's fair." A MATTER OF FORM The celebs (or possible lack of them) aren't the only problem that Nach Baliye 3 has to overcome. The produc- tion house making the show has also changed in this season. This was the real issue, says Kishwar. "When Hiten and I signed the contract, it was with the original production house. But that changed, and the new team was totally confused. So we quit." The basic premise of the show has also changed, says actress Ketaki Dave who had participated in Nach Baliye 2. The first show was about celebrity married couples and the chemistry they displayed when they danced together. The next one fea- tured mostly married pairs, but one couple – Narayani Shastri and Gau- rav – were formally engaged but not yet married. "Now most couples on the show are not even engaged – they are probably just seeing each other," says Ketaki. "If the producers could- n't find enough married celebrity couples, they should have stopped the show rather than change the format." But changes are necessary says Ka- , math. Or else the show would lose its freshness. "It is difficult to find many couples that will dance together," he admits, "But we can't be restrictive in our thinking. And as long as the pub- lic likes the chemistry between the couples, why should we stop?" tavishi.rastogi@hindustantimes.com Trouble couples Rakhi Sawant and Abhishek Awasthi – Detractors feel she isn't an A-grade celeb and her boyfriend is barely known Kashmera Shah and Krushna Abhishek – Kashmera's fights with Rakhi from the Bigg Boss days don't seem to be over. Rumour has it that she made a comment on the removal of Rakhi's silicon implants, spark- ing off another verbal duel Karan Patel and Amita Chandekar – The grapevine says that these two aren't a couple at all. They got together just to be on the show