What went Wrong in Nach Baliye 6 and What went Right in Nach Baliye 6
Let me start by saying: We, the People/the Junta, especially the Youth
(generally speaking) of today, are free-thinkers and more of leaders
than followers - see what happened with the rise of Arvind Kejriwal and
the Aam Aadmi Party! The youth (generally speaking) left behind the
thoughts and feelings of their parents' and grandparents' generations
and decided to break away respectfully from the status quo and say, No,
we are not going to vote for Congress and BJP just because my parents
and grandparents did, we are no longer going to be dictated to as to
whom we should support and vote for, we are going to do our own research
and we will decide and vote for whom we want and think is the best
candidate and the best party! Thus, because of the junta and especially
the youth, the Aam Aadmi Party, a Political Star so to speak, was
Born!! As a mother of 3 children of similar age who are also
free-thinkers and from whom I have learned a lot and who awe-inspire me
every day, I say to the youth: I salute you - Take a bow!!
I
know there is a lot of chatter out there since the winner was announced
and believe me it is not necessary for one contestant to feel the need
to justify why he decided to come on the show or whom he called to ask
and what that other participant said ahead of the start of the show
because that is rather naive and pure of heart to believe that the
participant in question or any other participant for that matter would
say anything other than yes, you should participate!!! Also, just
because that participant said yes, you should participate does not mean
he had a hand in the winner winning - to be clear that participant only
had a hand in the winner deciding to participate in the show, that's all
- end of story!
First, let me begin with what went right - in
the Grand Finale, the integrity of the voting for the winner was in tact
given that it was solely based on the public's choice and their votes
and the couple that won, Rithvik and Asha, were in No. 1 position
consistently and so it's not rocket science to know who had the greatest
chance of winning. Thank you StarPlus for ensuring the accuracy and
integrity of the voting for the winner of Nach Baliye 6.
In my
opinion and that of the majority of the People/the Junta, Rithvik and
Asha are as talented as they are popular and they can rest assured and
hold their heads high knowing that we the audience and viewers, yes even
as far away as North America, have watched them perform week after week
and can say without a shadow of a doubt that they are indeed very
talented and very popular, both elements which are essential to win a
Reality Show because that is how these shows are set up by the mere fact
that the audience is allowed to vote and they cannot be faulted for
that - they are popular because they earned it and it was earned for all
the right reasons and they are truly deserving of that popularity and
being declared the Winner. It was certainly a well-deserved win and I
repeat, they cannot be faulted for their popularity since that was the
format of the show.
Having said that, What went wrong in Nach
Baliye 6 and there were many things that went wrong and did not sit
right with We, the People/the Junta!!! I will not go into all of them
but just the ones that stick out in my mind primarily regarding the 2
couples for whom a rivalry was created on the show.
It started
with Nach Baliye 6 initially promoting just one couple, Gurmeet and
Debina week after week as if to say this is our chosen couple and you
the audience/viewers deal with it. So we the people decided to deal
with it right from the start and decided to shuffle the deck that was
stacked in favour of one couple against the other 10 couples and find
out for ourselves who deserved to be the winner and what an eye opener
that was, at least for me.
Throughout Nach Baliye 6 when Judge
Sajid Khan right from the very first performance of the Show and the
very first performance of Gurmeet and Debina declared them the winner he
got our backs up! Why, because he had not seen the performances of the
other 10 couples yet, did not know what they had to offer and he was
picking a favourite and declaring them the winner - in essence he was
disrespecting the other 10 couples - this was an insult to their hard
work and preparation and an insult to the intelligence of the audience
and viewers! Very proud of the fact that Kiku apparently said aloud
(which did not sit well with Debina as she herself mentioned in the Sach
Baliye portion of the show) after one such pronouncement by Judge Sajid
Khan with words to the effect that if Gurmeet and Debina were already
the winners then what were the rest of the couples doing on the show?
Take a bow Kiku!!
Then there was the farce of "Sach Baliye" in
Nach Baliye - I was literally sick to my stomach watching this and what
Judge Sajid Khan did to Rithvik in response to his answer was unbearable
to watch and I, as a viewer, felt distressed and tormented - for me, I
felt this Sach Baliye was created solely for this judge to ask this
question because he was chomping at the bit at the thought that his
"ghora" might lose because of the immense popularity of Rithvik and Asha
but what this judge forgot is that this couple is also talented - yes
both Rithvik and Asha did not start out on the same footing and I
believe that Rithvik did not dance to his full potential and capability
initially but as Asha bloomed in style and substance under his support,
guidance and encouragement and with the tremendous support, guidance and
encouragement of their extremely talented choreographers, Vaibhav and
Bhawna, this couple was on par with Gurmeet and Debina. This sach
baliye seemed to imply that if Rithvik and Asha won it would be solely
because of their popularity but we the people/the junta saw their
immense talent and were not buying any of what this judge was trying to
sell to us repeatedly!
And when week after week, Judge Sajid
Khan kept on repeating his mantra in favour of his "ghora"
Gurmeet/Debina, always comparing Rithvik and Asha's performances to
theirs and going to the extent of telling them that they were good but
that Gurmeet and Debina were better and way ahead of them as dancers we
thought Really? We the audience/viewers/junta for the most part felt
Rithvik is a better dancer than Gurmeet and, Debina being a trained
dancer was initially better than Asha but as the weeks went by, Asha
grew stronger, had a lot more finesse, flow, ease of footwork with
beautiful lines and she no longer appeared as an untrained dancer - so
almost 1/4 of the way into the show starting and right to the end of it
all, taking each couple as a whole entity, they were on par with each
other right to the very end.
But that was not enough for Judge
Sajid Khan - he did not stop there - every opportunity he got he cast
aspersions, belittled, ridiculed and found some fault with the hard work
and talent of Rithvik Dhanjani - giving marks and standing ovation only
for Asha - we thought - hello, really? Does this judge even know what
it means to dance as a couple - it's not rocket science to know that
when a couple dance together both have to do their respective parts for
the dance to be successful as a whole - the couple is only as strong as
the weaker link but when an intricate dance is executed in such an
exquisite way with such success in one take, it means that both links
were very strong and deserving of credit and one who truly knows
anything about dance and how a perfect act is executed will not say: I
am only giving marks or a standing ovation for one dance partner and not
the other (this really boggles my mind)!!! It would be an entirely
different story to say this if the act did not go well with one partner
not doing his or her part, made errors and the other partner carried the
performance right through to the final step of the dance - but this did
not happen in any way, shape or form!!! How can a judge not even
realize how good of a dancer the male partner has to be in order for his
female partner to be able to dance in a certain way and perform
flawlessly. Did giving marks only for Asha also mean that Rithvik
deserved a zero for his performance!!! This is what it sounded like to
us. Give me a break!
Then there was the direct vote appeal to
the public with words to the effect that if any other couple other than
Gurmeet and Debina won for him, Judge Sajid Khan, they would only be the
winners. At that point, my thinking was then why do you not just
declare Gurmeet and Debina the winner, hand them the trophy, the prize
money and the car and be done with it - what is the purpose of Nach
Baliye 6 if you will not accept any other couple as the winner - that
declaration just defeated the purpose of the show and was an insult to
StarPlus and its own format for the show.
As an aside, Judge
Sajid Khan's visible dislike and insulting comments regarding Raqesh and
Ridhi's performances were unbearable too - he kept saying he was
confused and could not understand what they were doing - Confused?
Whose fault is that - the other judges did not appear confused at all -
since he was the only judge who was so confused, he should have sorted
out that confusion for himself by himself and judged them on the dance
itself and not punish their performances for his confusion and lack of
understanding!
Then came the semi-final round where in my
opinion there should have been a clean slate with all 4 couples starting
on the same footing with no favouritism of any kind but that was not to
be - we the audience/viewers/junta were shocked that a video was being
shown of the struggles of only Gurmeet - nothing wrong with that at all
but it should have been shown in one of the previous weeks and not in
the semi-final round - this was an epic fail and for many of us, me
included, who sat their dumbfounded by what we were witnessing, felt
absolutely no empathy or sympathy at all - for me that was a shock
because things like this touch the core of my being deeply and I often
reach for tissues.
In addition to that, in this the
semi-final performance of Gurmeet and Debina there was a voice-over
(over the music) of Judges Shilpa and Terence heaping praise on this
couple while they were still performing - that took the cake! How on
earth did this happen and how was something like this even allowed to
happen???
Then came the final kicker in the semi-final round -
even in this the last performance of Rithvik and Asha, Judge Sajid Khan
could not find it in his heart to judge their performance solely on its
own merit but decided to start his comments by mentioning his "ghora"
Gurmeet/Debina and bringing them into the mix once again and talking
about a rivalry between the 2 couples - I think he forgot he initiated
this rivalry - he said words to the effect 'both of you are superb
meaning both couples Gurmeet/Debina and Rithvik/Asha...but today for
Asha he was giving a standing ovation' - I thought to myself not
again!! Rithvik and Asha have worked hard (as have all the other
couples) and couldn't he at least this once just judge them on their own
performance with no comparisons. Correct me if I am wrong but I think
even Parineeti Chopra and Siddharth Malhotra appeared to be on pins
listening to what Judge Sajid Khan was saying in his comments as
compared to their expressions and body language when Judges Shilpa and
Terence were giving their comments.
Judge Sajid Khan saying in
his comments to Rithvik and Asha after their Grand Finale performance
that he loved them as much as he loved the other 3 and that if any one
of the 4 couples won he would be happy rang hollow to my ears and for me
it was a false statement because what he did after Rithvik and Asha
were announced the winners spoke volumes - his actions spoke far louder
than his words - the camera panned on him - he was removed from the
winners and standing with Gurmeet and Debina (probably
consoling/comforting them and soothing his hurt ego for backing the
wrong "ghora") and from his demeanor and body language, he did not seem
"happy" at all - he did the bare minimum of what he was required to do
as a judge - nothing more and nothing less. I don't think he realizes
that his face is very expressive and even when he did give a standing
ovation or praise Rithvik and Asha during some of their performances his
expression was not one of pride and joy but very forced - as if he had
his back to the wall and had to do it but not because he wanted to do it
- he just seemed very uncomfortable and ill at ease when it came to
this couple, especially Rithvik and yet he gave Rithvik some of the most
fabulous and well-deserved comments too. I think he got so entrenched
in his stance in favour of Gurmeet and Debina and really dug himself in
so deep reaching the bottom that he found it difficult to extricate
himself and come out of that pit!
I am now going to say
something that I have not mentioned yet in any of my comments or
write-ups on Nach Baliye 6 so far - In my opinion, not knowing the man
and based solely on my observation in this show, Judge Sajid Khan deep
down inside has a good heart, is a good person and has a lot of sympathy
and empathy for the less fortunate among us but he also has a mean and
stubborn streak in him so that when he decides on something even if he
is proven wrong he cannot accept it - he cannot accept being proven
wrong or accepting defeat - he remains adamant and inflexible so we got
to see this negative side overshadow his positive side repeatedly during
the entire show and even at the Grand Finale.
To be fair to
Gurmeet and Debina many of there performances were very good but Judge
Sajid Khan's over-the-top support hurt them more than it helped them -
their only fault was in that they basked in the warmth and comfort of
his praises week after week, even when he kept putting Rithvik and Asha
down (especially about their popularity) and building Gurmeet and Debina
up, they blew him kisses and showed him expressions of thanks instead
of staying out of the mix especially since both Gurmeet and Debina know
first-hand that it was this same kind of popularity that enabled Gurmeet
to win Jhalak 5 when other dancers, and Rithvik is one of them, were
better than him whereas in Nach Baliye 6 both couples were on par with
each other and this did not sit well with the audience/viewers/junta who
watched both shows (by this I am not just talking about the fans but
the TV viewers/junta for some of whom this is probably their best
pastime and mode of entertainment) and who want to see a fair and
authentic show with no partiality and favouritism towards only one
couple from start to finish. I am not suggesting that if this overt
partiality was not there towards Gurmeet and Debina, they would have won
because that is clearly not the case - based on reliable information
out there on the ground they just did not have the votes - the
consistent difference of votes between Rithvik/Asha and Gurmeet/Debina
was not even close during the entire show .
What is most
rewarding is that the farce and travesty of Jhalak 5 did not succeed or
was not allowed to succeed in Nach Baliye 6!
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
but it is only powerful if we do something with that knowledge - this
time around we did not sit around helpless twiddling our thumbs with the
knowledge of what was transpiring by saying "that's the way it is,
there is nothing we can do when the winner appears to have already been
chosen" - it was important to hold the judge/channel's feet to the fire
so to speak - FOREWARNED was FOREARMED!
Most important of all,
We, the People/the Junta worldwide did not want the channel or a judge
to dictate to us whom we should vote for - let this be a lesson - the
times they are a changing - there is a Wave, a Ripple, a Leher, if you
will, sweeping across this beautiful country called India for the better
not only in politics to get rid of bribery and corruption but it is
going to have a far-reaching effect in every sector, yes even in the
entertainment business - let's change the status quo - if not for
ourselves, at least for our children - we owe it to them, the youth of
today! Jai Hind!
Sometimes I wish I was not as intuitive as I
am and able to read body language the way that I do (even from a
distance) because then it would be easy to pull wool over my eyes but
then I say no, I am glad I am the way I am and grateful to God for this
gift and for also giving me the gift of writing straight from the heart,
championing whatever is true, right and just with no malice intended.
Edited by ashfaque2012 - 10 years ago
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