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| Sachin and Supriya, the winners of last season's Nach Baliye | The battle lines have been drawn, and it's a clarion call for war. Star and Sony will clash for supremacy in viewership ratings, as both TV giants are slated to begin similar dance-based shows starting September.
While Star One will host a new season of last year's big draw Nach Baliye, Sony will host Jhalak Dikhlaja (based on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, more popularly known as Dancing With The Stars in America).
'Me too' attitude
While Nach Baliye boasts of a couple (who are not professional dancers) vying for the top spot, Jhalak Dikhlaja pairs a celebrity with a professional dancer or choreographer. Both shows have the couple attempting to win the top spot by scoring the highest points in every round. The couple with the lowest score is eliminated in every round.
Over the weekend, both channels went into overdrive planning their shows. While Sony made a formal announcement of their show, which would air in September, Star One swung into action announcing the second season of Nach Baliye (also in September).
Says Deepak Sehgal, executive vice-president, content and communications, Star India, "Nach Baliye will be back on air for a new season beginning September.
The show promises to bring back the fun, excitement and nail-biting tension of the previous season with a whole lot of surprises thrown in. In fact, the couples will be revealed in a unique manner by mid-August."
Adds Anupama Mandloi, programming head, Sony, "Jhalak Dikhlaja will roll next month or even end of August. We will announce the names of participants next week."
Name dropping
At the moment, both channels are in a tizzy pencilling in names for the respective shows. It is learnt that Star One has short listed 25 names (see box alongside), while Sony is also in talks with several choreographers.
Jhalak Dikhlaja is being produced by Siddharth Basu's Synergy Communications, along with the Singapore-based Theatre Red.
Says Basu, "The BBC show Strictly Come Dancing is the mother show. Jhalak Dikhlaja is based on it. It has a trained dancer with a non-professional dancer as a partner. In the West, they have had participants from various fields, even sports. Soccer legend Diego Maradona has also been on the show." |
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Nach meri bulbul, paisa milega!
But not as much as last year; prize money for Nach Baliye
this season is pittance, say stars
Tushar Joshi
[email protected]
After from making the nation dance to their tunes, the stars of last season's Nach Baliye went dancing straight to the bank.
Last year's participants were reportedly paid Rs 16 lakh per couple, in addition to Rs 5 lakh for every round they cleared. But this year, the prize money is far from appealing to most couples that have been approached for the show.
Says an insider, "This season's prize money isn't as much as what was given last year. The payoff for clearing each stage is Rs 3 lakh, compared to 5 lakh last year."
Understandably, there's a lot of bargaining going on between the stars and the channel.
"The stars want to cash in on the craze and aren't scared of asking for more money.
Except for some actors from the older generation like Kanwaljeet, all the other actors are working on one or more daily show. So if they're earning Rs 30-40,000 a day, they won't settle for less here." | |
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