| (Top) Farhan Akhtar, and (above) Rohit and Mansi Joshi Roy and Shakti and Sai Deodhar Anand at the Oberoi Grand on Saturday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal |
It was one logistical miracle that STAR has been finally able to pull off. Getting 20 of the busiest TV stars for 10 weeks is no mean achievement and that's what makes the new STAR One show Nach Baliye one of the biggest telly events in recent times. With a tagline saying: "Dus mashoor jodiyan, ek anokhi jung," the new show, to go on air from October 11 at 9 pm, is a dance-off between 10 real-life celebrity couples from the small screen.
Just a look at the names is enough to anticipate the curiosity around the show — Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar, Parmeet Sethi and Archana Puran Singh, Rajiv and Delnaaz Paul, Rohit and Mansi Joshi Roy, Manish and Poonam Goyal, Varun and Rajeshwari Sachdev Badola, Mihir and Maninee Mishra, Shakti and Sai Deodhar Anand, Apurva and Shilpa Agnihotri, Amit Sadh and Neeru Bajwa.
The concept is a first, with all these couples dancing their way to glory with the help of special choreographers assigned to them. Every week, one of the couples is voted out through audience SMSing and show judges. Says Samir Nair, chief operating officer of the STAR network: "The huge success of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge is proof that our audiences are willing to experiment with unique and different content. So we at STAR One will constantly look to introduce such innovative ideas."
Making the contest among the dancing couples even more competitive, the TV stars are going to their home towns to seek extra support. So you had Rohit and Manasi Joshi Roy and Shakti and Sai Deodhar Anand coming to the city on Saturday to mouth a couple of Bangla lines and look for more votes from this part of the country.
Said Rohit: "We don't get to dance at all, unlike our film counterparts. So it would be nice for us, and great fun for the audiences watching us make fools of ourselves. The show also helps us bond better with most of us having married recently."
Like with most shows on TV now, Nach Baliye will also include a reality element with the Tuesday and Wednesday episodes tailing the couples to their homes and their dance rehearsals while the Thursday episode is the actual dance slot. "It's the first show that has brought the TV fraternity together," said Sai. "You will also get to see our insecurities on camera as we get trained to dance."
Nach Baliye will be hosted by two other TV stars, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Sangita Ghosh, but will have three filmi people as judges — Saroj Khan, Malaika Arora and Farhan Akhtar. For Farhan — whose films Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya have redefined the concept of song-and-dance in Bollywood — it will be a first, too. "I always wanted to pursue dancing as a career. But what will make judging this show more unique for me is the fact that I will be looking for more than just their dancing abilities," the ace director signed off.
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