Just a flash

Just a flash

Chaya Unnikrishnan
Posted online: Friday, September22, 2006 at 0000 hours IST

Recently, we visited the sets of Sony's dance show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa.
We were curious to find out whether the show lived upto its hype and came away thinking it was excellent in parts (Mahesh Manjrekar, Shveta Salve, Ajay Jadeja), surprisingly good at times (Mona Singh) but otherwise an average fare ... The shoot was supposed to begin at 2 pm at Kamala Mills, Mumbai, but not a single TV event begins on time, much less a shoot, so we reached there a good half-an-hour late. Expectedly, there was no sign of the shoot happening as the celebrites were still putting on their make-up and their choreographer-partners were strolling around idly. At around 3 pm, the media was ushered into the studio and seated in a place specially marked for the 'press'. The first thing you noticed was the huge set was lit up beautifully in various hues. Even the steps leading to the floor had decorative lights. Guests invited for the show were being ushered in from the other side of the gate and Sandeep, the floor manager, was busy giving instructions on when to clap loudly and when to maintain silence. "Laugh if you want to, cry if you feel like, just be your natural self, only don't talk amongst yourselves," he kept repeating. To get the audience into the mood, he actually gave demos. On a cue from him, the crowd started clapping tentatively, 'louder' he said and the collective sound decible increased for a second before tapering down. "You clapped, but there was no josh, no energy," groused Sandeep before asking them to repeat the demo. This time the crowd had lost some of its inhibition and the sound was louder, some people even hooted and whistled. Some five demos later, the crowd had got their act right and everyone was laughing. Time was ticking by. It was 4 pm and there was no sign of the judges or celebrities in the studio. The media persons were getting restless. Just then, Siddhartha Basu, producer of the show, walked onto the dance floor and apologised for the delay. "An oil tanker takes a long time to get started or stopped. Just like that it takes time for a huge set-up like this to start rolling. But I assure you we have taken care of everything and the show should start in five minutes," he said charmingly and introduced the hosts Archana Puran Singh and Parmeet Sethi. Parmeet dressed in black tuxedo, Archana in a frilly, long skirt and sphagetti top took centrestage and rehearsed their opening lines and positions for the camera. At 5 pm, a good three hours later, the show finally began to roll. After opening the show with the title track Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, Parmeet and Archana ushered in the three judges of the show Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Farah Khan and Shilpa Shetty looking gorgeous in a pink outfit.

< = src="http://banners.expressindia.com/banner/screenfullstory.js"> < = src="http://banners.expressindia.com/adsnew/adjs.php?para=no&n=152374546&what=zone:443&target=_blank&exclude=," =text/> < code=http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0 height=250 width=300 id=clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000>< NAME="_cx" VALUE="7938">< NAME="_cy" VALUE="6615">< NAME="FlashVars" VALUE="">< NAME="Movie" VALUE="http://banners.expressindia.com/adsnew/adimage.php?name=300x250-nov29.swf&content=swf">< NAME="Src" VALUE="http://banners.expressindia.com/adsnew/adimage.php?name=300x250-nov29.swf&content=swf">< NAME="WMode" VALUE="Window">< NAME="Play" VALUE="0">< NAME="Loop" VALUE="-1">< NAME="Quality" VALUE="High">< NAME="SAlign" VALUE="">< NAME="Menu" VALUE="-1">< NAME="" VALUE="">< NAME="AllowAccess" VALUE="">< NAME="Scale" VALUE="ShowAll">< NAME="DeviceFont" VALUE="0">< NAME="Movie" VALUE="0">< NAME="BGColor" VALUE="">< NAME="SWRemote" VALUE="">< NAME="Movie" VALUE="">< NAME="SeamlessTabbing" VALUE="1">< NAME="Pro" VALUE="0">< NAME="ProAddress" VALUE="">< NAME="ProPort" VALUE="0"> < src='http://banners.expressindia.com/adsnew/adimage.php?name=300x250-nov29.swf&content=swf' quality=high width='300' height='250' ='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspace='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashp'></></>

The first celebrity to perform was chef Sanjeev Kapoor. The theme was cha cha cha and he performed on 'Aap jaisa koi...'. The performance sizzled at times but towards the end it just fizzled out. It was probably his outfit and accessories, too many of them, that weighed him down. The judges also said as much. The second celebrity on the dancing floor was Mona Singh who looked fat in the gypsy outfit. One didn't expect much from her but guess what? She turned out to be the surprise package. Despite her weight, the gal pirouted around flawlessy, did some difficult bends easily and the crowd lapped it up cheerfully. The song she danced for was 'Meter down ...' but the atmosphere was completely charged up. She just lit the stage with her performance. The judges were highly impressed and as Farah said the 'meter was up'. After the two performances, there was a short break, after which Mahesh Manjrekar took to the floor with 'Jawani jaaneman ...'. Oh, what a performance! It was disco mixed with typical Maharastrian folk steps. As a typical Mumbaite would say, it was total paisa vasool. Mahesh's dance had the entire studio in a frenzy. I for one had tears of joy. It was sometime before even the judges could pass comment because they were still laughing. As Farah said, he was the only performer who completely drew away the attention from his choreographer. Not a mean feat, at all. Mahesh's lively act was followed by a sombre performance from the senior most participant of the show, Rati Agnihotri. Rati who had taken flak for her sense of dressing in the last episode had turned up in a pretty blue outfit this time. Unfortunately, just after she had taken position, there was a technical snag and she was forced to take a break for five minutes. We know it's unnerving for a performer who's all set to dance and is forced to take a break. To her credit, Rati maintained her poise, kept her smile intact and when the director finally gave instructions to roll, she did so without a complaint. Her husband Anil Virwani and son Tanuj were there to cheer and support her. Still, her 'Zara jhoom jhoom ...' number left us short of swaying all the way. Her choreographer-partner was too fast which led to a lack of co-ordination and synchronisation between the two. After another break, in came Akashdeep Saigal to dance to the beats of 'Where's the party tonight ...'. Though energetic and synchronised, we felt it was not the best of the performances. It was Shveta Salve who captivated the crowd and the judges with her sensuous 'Aao na, gale lagao na ...' number. Sexy and graceful, Shveta won everyone with some of the most difficult swirls and twirls. Just when we thought that the show will wrap up with Jaddoo aka Ajay Jadeja's performance, the light of one of the live editing boards went off and the shoot was disrupted for half-an-hour. Ajay's dance, however, made up for the delay and had everyone screaming 'It's the time to disco...' That, however, was not the end. After his performance, the producer wanted to take some couple shots of the participants, so they were summoned on the stage and 15 minutes were spent in posing, first for the steady cam and then for two other cameras. The shoot wrapped up with the title track and the dancing couples on the floor. Even Archana and Parmeet joined and did a jig together. Here one must mention that Archana is a natural anchor while Parmeet requires readying up. He goofed up many a times leading to re-takes while his better-half hardly fumbled. Even if she did, she made up with impromptu lines and covered up her faults effortlessly.

Even the show looks effortless on screen but again since you have already seen Nach Baliye, there's no novelty factor, save for the fact that it is supposed to have celebrites from different walks of life. However, except for Ajay Jadeja and Sanjeev Kapoor, everyone is connected to the entertainment field. It would have been interesting if they had roped in a model, a doctor or a litterateur. What say?