Tina and Hussain interview

By Subhash K Jha

It's been a welter of whirlwind weeks of whirling and twirling for India's most popular dancing couple. On Monday night tv star Hussain and his limelight-shy wife Tina walked away with the crown for Nach Baliye 2.

All three judges Saroj Khan, Kunal Kohli and Malaika Arora are unanimous in their opinion that tv's new golden couple deserved to win.

As they receive innumerable congratulations from jostling admiring crowds Hussain who's used to the limelight and Tina, who's not, seem to have found a new fomula for staying fit and forever compatible. Dancing!

Hussain: " The finale was overwhelming. By the time it all began to sink in we had butterflies in our stomach. … Our choreographers' understanding of the medium is amazing. Tina and I contributed very little to our winning. The entire credit must go to Harshal & Vitthal and the audiences' vote.

"The prize money? It's 20 lakhs. Not much planning to do there. No holiday right away. I'm working. We television actors can't dream of a break. For the next 3-4 days I've not taken work. Right now we're so tired. We just want to take time off to sleep. We want to spend time with family and friends. We've been out of the loop for such a long time."

Tina: "Harshal and Vitthal made sure we were confortable on stage. Once I go on stage I tend to lose my energy. I promised I wouldn't lose my energy at the Finale. But at the finale when Harshal came up on stage and whispered in my ears that I ate the other three contestants, including my husband, raw, I was over the moon.

Then my husband's colleague Shilpa Shaklani called my husband this morning to say I was the best of the lot. Such comments really boost my confidence. Star has given us a huge wedding anniversary gift. It's our anniversary on Dec 21.

All the appreciation for winning isn't sinking in. To me who has nothing to do with showbiz it it's specially unbelievable. I can't believe it's really over. Every day I used to go to rehearsals in the evening. I've spent more time in the last four months with my choreographers than I've done with my husband.

I get really attached to people very quickly. Our fellow-contestants Shweta and Manav have gone away and I'm really missing them. I intend to continue honing my skills at dancing. Our friends joke that there will be an Abhimaan between and my husband (remember Amitabh Bachchan getting jealous of wife Jaya Bhaduri in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Abhimaan).

But my little baby is really happy for me. He made me sign the papers for Nach Baliye. Later he confessed he thought I'd forget my steps in the first round. But he told me he was ready to take a risk. If I was in his place I probably wouldn't have done it."