Article: Favoritism in JDJ

The stage of Colors' Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is burning'both on and off screen.

On screen, contestants, week after week, are doling out superb performances. However, off screen, we have learnt that all is not "sugary" between the participants.

All the sweet talk that one sees between the contestants in the "green room" seems to be just a media ploy to paint a rosy picture on screen.

Why do we say so? Well, for whenever reporters at Tellychakkar.com chat up with contestants off the record, a litany of complaints emerge and the main target is always Drashti Dhami and her choreographer Salman Yusuff Khan.

Quipped one of the contestants on grounds of anonymity, "I am working very hard, but this season is somewhat weird. There is so much promotion happening around Drashti. For example, the Colors' website only promotes theMadhubala actress' mesmerising performances. Even on air, last week, few hours leading up to the show, only the promos of Drashti's performance were shown. Why were we ignored? Are we not good enough?"

The co-contestant also went on to allege that the judges (Remo D'Souza, Madhuri Dixit and Karan Johar) are favouring Drashti since she is a channel girl (part of Madhubala). "They (Drashti and Salman) score high, sometimes even 30, when they don't even adhere to the given themes. Last week's theme was family and they did a Circus Ring act; there was no dance and no story. It was not until the host (Manish Paul and Kapil Sharma) declared that they were doing a brother and sister act, you'd never even know what they were doing. A story should be inbuilt in the act but they didn't have one."

At this point, one more contestant, whom we again can't name shared, "We are somewhat irked that the judges are not doing their job properly. However, no one is ready to come out in the open just for fear of making the channel and production house (BBC Worldwide) angry and risk elimination."

About Drashti, the participator averred, "She is only good in Bollywood dances but not in other dance forms."

Later, the angered lot turned their ire on Salman saying, "He is not being original this season and is seen copying a lot of dance forms from his previous season and from So You Think You Can Dance. Instead of pointing out this flaw, the judges keep on saying 'we have never seen something like this before'."

The contestants also don't like Shaan too much; for they feel that he too is getting good marks for mediocre performances. Even Shweta Tiwari is on the hit list of her co-contestants; as they believe that her earlier choreographer was not bad. "It is her own limitations as a dancer which is responsible for her getting low marks," they explained.

When we contacted Shaan on this, he said, "It would be wrong to call me mediocre for others are more average than me. I think the judges are fair in their decision and I am happy about the fact that they have been so positive towards me."

Last but not the least, there is a buzz going around that some contestants have struck a deal with the channel that they will last a minimum of certain weeks.

However, we have no independent confirmation of the same.

Refusing rumours of favouritism, Myleeta Aga of BBC Worldwide said, "Promotions are given on merit; Drashti and Salman have been performing well."

Aah, we will certainly keep a watch on this. But this is one show, where daggers have been drawn!!!