Gone after glimpse-Daily pioneer article

Is the ouster of two celebrity participants ofJhalak Dikhhla Ja a shot at negative publicity?

So all was not shiny and colourful when it came to Colors' big ticket show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa this weekend. Turned out the channel and PH took the meaning of the title a bit too seriously. We indeed did get a glimpse of many glamorous hooks for the show to shore up ratings and perception and saw them dip hole-in-the-bucket style. Two of the show's celebrity members, guest judge and international ballroom expert Maksim Chmerkovskiy and host and TV actress Drashti Dhami walked out of the show, the former quitting and the latter replaced by the channel. Both confirmed their exit through Twitter.

It seems Maksim was never treated for the reason he was brought for " to talk seriously about dance " and given the short shrift so that the sagely Bollywood judges could seem more weighty. They were much more lenient in marking participants and focused more on their extraneous personalities than talent. We have been following Maksim through the two weeks on Jhalak. And he seemed distinctly uncomfortable, speaking the truth occasionally, hiding his real opinion in the chorus of applause and doing Bollywood thumkas with everybody, often with a plastic smile. The acclaimed choreographer was not given any interpreter here and he could barely understand what was going on among the contestants and judges. The comedy sightseeing at the dance-based show only made things worse. The cast of Comedy Nights with Kapil was spotted recently andDadi aka Ali Asgar was seen planting a peck on the judge's cheek.

As for Drashti, she never fared well on the anchoring front as did Ranvir Shorey, who as a smart VJ and host on English shows before, seemed totally at a loss for the chaupal-type rustic humour that Jhalak has of late come to be associated with. Still he is the bigger star and the channel thought it wise to hold on to him. Drashti texted us, "It was communicated to me last night (Thursday) by the channel that I was getting replaced. While it's unfortunate that my stint had to end so quick and abruptly, honestly I had a great time on the Jhalak sets. Nonetheless it's over for me now and I would like to wish all the contestants and the channel all the very best."

We will never know if Drashti could have improved considering she just had a four-episode incubation time and did not go flirty or do the lap dance with the judges like Bharti Singh from the season before last. But hey, didn't the channel do test runs and assess her capability? Or is it that they used Drashti's massive online fan base as a saleable hook and her glamorous image to play the showgirl a la the many magic shows of the West? Neither the channel nor the characters concerned are talking apart from their press-release like statements. But going by Colors' poor ratings of its very regressive and dragged out fiction shows and the next-level approach by other GECs,Jhalak needs to be rescued soon from the home stripper show style confetti and streamers. If all the erotic dance moves and the controversy were planned as a negative publicity tactic, we can just say, "God save us from entertainment television." Maybe, that's why we are going cross-border in the coming week?

Maybe zindagi gulzar hogi.