Nach Baliye KEEPING TRACK: Love is.. matching steps. Celeb couples get to spend hours together rehears- ing their moves, only to be reduced to tears by a team of sharp- tongued judges. Now into its third season, NB was an instant atten- tion grabber in its first outing with its hit parade dances and oomph-la-la, courtesy judge Malaika Arora Khan. The sec- ond installment kept up the momentum, with some inspired performances, and judge Saroj Khan's taalis and seetees. NB Three has got off to a disappoint- ing start. Too few performers.. too many page-makers. PLEASURE POINTS: Hosts, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Sangee- ta Ghosh's easy camaraderie. Winners Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar's sustained brilliance worked for NB One. NB Two was impressive too. Remember Tina and Hussain Kuwajerwala's blindfold act, Rajeshwari Sachdeva and Varun Badola's gender-blender act and Gauri and Yash Tonnk's Don dhamaka? NB Three's highs so far have been Rakhi Sawant and Abhishek Awasthi's body lingo and Kashmera Shah and Krush- na Kumar's in-sync nach (not fol- lowed up in episode 2). PAIN POINTS: The slow build-up to the dancing. Too much of behind-the-scene trivia.. NB Two gave contestants the power to vote out strong contenders. Narayani Shastri and Gaurav Chopra were out too soon. Judge Kunal Kohli's kisses..ugh.. that no one misses! NB Three has flagged off with contrived dramebaazi (Juhi Par- mar's quick entry.. and quicker exit). Vaibhavi Merchant is not a patch on Saroj Khan. Ishaa Kopikkar lacks Malaika's sizzle. Despite their diligence, hosts Tina and Hussain don't have Shabbir and Sangeeta's chemistry.. nor the variety of NB Two's changing hosts. OUR TAKE: The first one was a topper, the second one was a whopper, the third one is a drop- per.. so far. Star Plus Friday-Saturday 8 p m Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa KEEPING TRACK: This one is inspired by America's Dancing With The Stars. Celebrities shake a leg with professional choreog- raphers rather than inept part- ners. In Jhalak One, Jassi aka the likeable Mona Singh waltzed away the trophy. As for Jhalak Two, hey it's too early to say. PLEASURE POINTS: Farah Khan, the kickass judge of Season One. Mahesh Manjrekar's sur- prisingly cool moves. Shveta Salve's dirty dancing. Mona Singh's girl-next-door whole- someness. Cyrus Broacha (Jha- lak Two contestant) keeps every- one in splits and is an unexpectedly energetic dancer. And it's a relief to see weepy Bani (Prachi Desai) smile for a change. PAIN POINTS: Judge Jee- tendra.. he doesn't exactly fit in and it's a little unfair considering that four of the contestants (Sud- ha Chandran, Prachi Desai, Jay Bhanushali and Ronit Roy) are Balaji Telefilms' protgs. Jhalak Two doesn't yet have the variety and aplomb of the first season's performers. Most of the 'stars' are from the tinsel world with the exception of the real Chak De man, Mir Rajan Negi. OUR TAKE: Jhalak Two doesn't have much to rave about. But one 'twist' in the tale and you could well have yet another success story . Sony TV, Friday-Saturday, 9 p m. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 KEEPING TRACK: Okay, so Sonu Nigam and Shaan were much-in-demand playback singers but S R G M P made their faces and easygoing manner familiar in every drawing room of the nation (alas Aditya Narayan is not in the same league, a theek-hai, no-stub- ble bacha). The appearance of Jagjit Singh and Pandit Jasraj have lent weight to the jury of this worldwide talent hunt. Now deep into its second installment, the show rocks on. PLEASURE POINTS: It has unearthed excellent vocal talent: Debojit Saha and Vineet (SRGMP One) and Amanat Ali, Raja Hassan, Mauli Dave and Aneek Dhar, this time around. Then there are those enormous giggle-giggle close-ups of Bappi Lahiri.. all bong and bling. Himesh Reshammiya.. with his 'mind-blowing' support and tongue-in-cheek digs at himself. Vishal (umm okay)-Shekhar (chocolate boy looks) and Ismail Durbar's talent for waving his arms around as if he was a traffic cop. PAIN POINTS: The sets are straight out of a film award func- tion. And the costumes.. puhlease. OUR TAKE: The most riveting show on air currently. Could become bigger if the technical snags are smoothened. Will some- one stop the camera from flapping around like a duck out of water? Zee TV, Friday-Saturday 10 p m Star Voice of India KEEPING TRACK: It is believed that the concept was "inspired" by SRGMP.In fact, Star even import- ed producer Gajendrra Singh and host Shaan to launch its own talent hunt contest. In its first sea- son, VOI is struggling to match up to the standards set by its 'Chal- lenger'. PLEASURE POINTS: Abhas' mature renditions.. and to think he's only 17. Toshi's raag Rajasthani. Priyani Vani's dim- ples. Harshit's nani. PAIN POINTS: Aadesh Shrivas- tav's arrogance (check out the mirror, dude). Jatin-Lalit's cold war.. cannot be compensated by Jatin's exuberance and embraces. Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik's tu tu main main that has long ceased to amuse. Contestants lack sustained bril- liance. So, there are staged gim- micks and the camera often shifts to the contestants' mentors.. to prevent viewers from switching channels. OUR TAKE: Too much show-sha. Too soapy at times. And don't wor- ry if you miss a week, you'll prob- ably come back to the same bunch of contestants. Just last week, VOI reassembled five of its six voted- out-participants - through a wild card entry and veto power, just when you were getting set for a semi-final clash. Oh well. Star Plus, Friday-Saturday 10 p m. Indian Idol KEEPING TRACK: The adapta- tion of American Idol, Sony's show travels across the country, scout- ing for singers. They are brought to Mumbai for a series of galas and eliminations.. via the public vote. Idol One displaced Sony's flag- ship show Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi from its prime time slot, Idol Two was quite forgettable. But Idol Three, which concluded recently, retrieved its sparkle. PLEASURE POINTS: Anu Malik was the most scathing judge of them all..but his impromptu verses softened the blows. Javed Akthar's ethnic chic and eloquence. Idol Three had an outstanding line-up of contestants. Emon Chatterjee was the find of the season. So was Ankita Mishra. Compere Mini Mathur has been consistently in form. Hussain Kuwajerwala (Idol Three) matched her enthusiasm. PAIN POINTS: Udit Narayan's sitting-on-the-fence stance, Alisha Chinai's simpering sweet nothings. The public voting system that goes by the X-Factor (read looks) rather than the T-Factor (read talent) That explains why Abhijeet Sawant scored over Amit Sana and why Karunya was edged out by Sandeep Acharya. In Idol Three, the bias seemed to have been repeated with Amit Paul losing out to Prashant Tamang. Presentation counts more than vocal chords, it would seem.. OUR TAKE: Idol's become a habit.. but even habits can be bro- ken. Maybe a diva could make the difference in Idol Four. We'll wait. Sony TV, it was on every Friday Sat- urday Sunday, 9 p m.
Hindi TV Shows
Cricket
Kumkum Bhagya
