Murder on the dance floor
Some random observations on the Wednesday episode of Sony's over-hyped and Nach Baliye-inspired dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa
Anil Thakraney
Clearly, Sony has managed to take the wind out of Nach Baliye's sails… by beating them to it by a cool 20 days. Whatever gimmicks the Baliye people now conjure up, there's bound to be a sense of dj vu. Specially considering that most TV stars are as silly dancers as the wannabes and have-beens we see do their number on Jhalak.
Yana Gupta is a stunner, no doubt on that. And while her muscles are sufficiently supple and elastic for her to be a dancer, she lacks natural rhythm and poetry in her body. Yana should try gymnastics instead. In fact, this Czech born girl seemed to be doing that anyways, her movements on Kajrare reminded me of Nadia, not Ash.
Ditto with Ajay Jadeja, who, frankly, is the one who should have been declared leg before wicket in the first round itself. And not Pooja Bedi & Partner who were far superior. Paaji Sidhu never tires of reminding how stiff Ganguly is as a dancer, he should have been there watching Jaddu move like an iron rod. Being bitchy now, but I sense a case of match-fixing here as well.
Why on earth is Bhansalibhai on the judges' panel? What does he know of dance? This is a naach competition, not a contest to determine who can make a super photocopy of a Hollywood film, and smoothly pass it off as a black 'miracle'.
I think Rati Agnihotri should retire from the show gracefully. It's okay to feel young in the head, but we all have our sell-by dates, and television is a wickedly visual medium.
On a more positive note, I do like the absolute seriousness with which they conduct the show. All that tension, suspense, well-timed commercial breaks, tears, hugs, kisses, etc only to decide which couple would get eliminated tonite! For a moment, I thought Archana Puran Singh and hubby were announcing verdict on the 1993 blasts.
So while all the energy and drama add to the entertainment, we must also bear in mind some people just aren't meant to dance, like some people aren't meant to act or sing or make steam engines. It's not for everybody, and them old fogies really don't make for a very pleasant sight. Frankly, Director Mahesh Manjrekar and chef Sanjeev Kapoor have no business being out there.
So who do I think will finally win? My bet's on Rati Agnihotri. Or Manjrekar. Or Jadeja. Or Sanjeev Kapoor. We Indians are just too damn emotional, yaar. We like to keep our senior citizens happy.
