Juhi's jhappi stirs controversy

Munnabhai's jaadu ki jhappi melted many a hearts but the same act has instigated a controversy for Juhi Parmar on Star One's Antakshari The Great Challenge Little Stars.

Apparently, a contestant's father queried Parmar as to why she never hugged his daughter. When quizzed about it, the enigmatic hostess said, "I was surprised by this reaction. Normally, I hug only those kids who appear low on confidence as a result of their poor performances. However, since this particular contestant was performing well, I felt no need to embrace her."

Defending her act, Juhi says that most these of children are between the age group of 7- 15 and thus it's very easy for them to lose hope when criticized. At these times, she comforts them by hugging. "As a matter of fact, my embrace has often resulted in an improvement of their performance. So, in some way, it truly is a jadoo ki jhappi," quips Juhi. However, things ended positively as that one unlucky contest finally got a bear cuddle from the chirpy actor as she didn't perform well in the next round, "I told her father that now I've hugged your daughter," she says with a smile.

While Parmar didn't read much into the controversy, her co-host Annu Kapoor has an all together different take on the matter. "As a responsible and fair host, you must take care that you don't indulge into acts which appear as an inclination towards particular contestant. A good host is one who always projects good values and ethics on the show," quipped Annu.

The veteran artist believes that it's not just the hosts but the producers, directors and the channel should see to it that no offending act is displayed on TV. When asked whether he's spoken to Juhi about it, Annu replied, "meri toh Juhi se baat hi nahin hoti (we hardly ever speak to each other)."

Can someone please give us a digestive to swallow that!

Though Juhi is on a jhappi spree on the show, it looks like she's far away from kindling some jadoo when it comes to her rapport with her co-star.