The big fight (article)

With so many reality shows jostling for eyeballs and channels are coming up with new ways to boost their ratings, Sony too didn't want to be left out. While the first season of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa was viewed by 41 million viewers and had notched up an average 4.3 TVR, the second season of the dance competition has had to face tough competition from Nach Baliye. Now both the shows are down to three contestants. while Nach Baliye will witness a fight to finish contest between two contestants on December 22, Sony has decided to have the grand finale of its show a week earlier with three celebrities in the final round. While Nach Baliye has had an average TVR of around 4, Jhalak's average TVR is about 2.5. So is Sony deliberately ducking the competition from Nach Baliye?

Sony's executive vice-president and business head Albert Almeida denies. "Jhalak was supposed to last for three months and it is ending exactly as we had planned," he says. Quiz him about having three contestants in the finale instead of two and he says it's because they brought back one celebrity through the wild card. "Since we got an extra contestant, we had no choice but to have three celebrities in the final," he defends.

Almeida further says that the show couldn't be extended by a week because the celebs on Jhalak are short on time. "Besides we have other plans for our weekend band which we didn't want to postpone," he explains. However, the three-corner fight between Sandhya Mridul, Prachi Desai and Jay Bhanushali will not only result in a three-way split in votes but also make the contest a tough battle to win. Besides, viewers will also find it difficult to choose the best. On the face of it, the celebrities also seem to be fine with the three-way fight. "I don't have any problem," says Sandhya, adding, "The fight will get bigger and better." While Prachi and Jay are maintaining a brave front, they seem to be little concerned with the three-way fight. "It's the channel's call and it's fine with me," adds Prachi. Denying that her comeback was engineered by Balaji, Prachi says no production house can interfere in another production company's affairs. However, both Prachi and Jay admit that the finale is indeed going to be a tough competition. "Sandhya is great but having made it so far I am going to try hard," says Jay.

But who deserves to win Jhalak? In Shiamak Davar's opinion it's Sandhya. "But Prachi and Jay have a chance because they are quite popular among the voting public. I would have preferred Sudha though," he adds. We have got a fair mix of talent and popularity. Now it's up to the jury and voters to choose the best," says Almeida.

Meanwhile, Nach Baliye is also in its last lap. After the maha muqabala fight combined with last week's votes, Aamir Ali and Sanjeeda is the first couple to walk into the finals. The second jodi will be chosen next week. The consensus among the Nach judges is that Rakhi and Abishek deserve to be in the finals. But our sources say that Kiran Patel-Amita jodi is the dark horse. They have been getting less marks but their share in viewers' votes is higher than that of Rakhi and Abhishek's.

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