Miss India is a farce

Yet another reality show made its debut on Monday night on Sony. Ustadon Ke Ustad is hosted by a not-so-funny Sajid Khan and has Saroj Khan, Javed Akthar and Shekhar Suman as the celeb judges. The interesting part though is that the best dancers from Nach Baliye and Jhalak Dikla Ja (not the winners) are participating in this show so one gets too watch some fine moves. While Varun Badola and Rajeshwari stole the show with their Rajasthani costumes and classical steps, Shweta Salve and her choreographer stood out in the western dance section. Off-course the drama queen award should go to Poonam Goyal for stopping in the middle of her sequence and kicking up a fuss for some silly reason. While Saroj didn't seem taken in by her act, the channel nevertheless decided to let her continue with her dance. The podgy actress's raunchy moves just didn't gel with her body type. In fact, Saroj, had ticked off Krishna and Kashmira for trying out steps that didn't suit them.

Meanwhile, the winners of the Miss India show seem to be all over the media posing prettily with their crowns. While the show had dances by Kareena, Bipasha and Sameera Reddy, to provide the entertainment quotient, the whole format of selecting a winner from the various rounds — this time more than half the contestants seemed to have won some sub-title or the other — to the clichd questions posed by the contestants, needs a serious makeover. And like actor Madhavan, who was anchoring the show with Dia Mirza wittily pointed out, the word compassion must be banned from the contestant's responses. Dia promptly responded that compassion was inherent in a woman. That might be the case but it doesn't have to spill out from the contestants' mouths for every answer.

All the ladies looked exactly like clones of each other in their identical wardrobes and make up. While the three ladies who won appeared to be the brightest of the lot, the prestige factor has disappeared from winning this beauty contest. And this could be largely to the fact that many of the Miss Indias after Lara, Priyanka and Dia have not really made a mark in Bollywood or any other field and are struggling to make a success of their lives. So, if these contestants are looking at making a career in Bollywood, the going is not going to be easy for them.