A jhalak of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa!

The dance floor of the latest season of Jhalak looks bigger, better and eclectic this year. At the media meet for the launch of the show the contestants as well as the judges impressed one and all.

The title of the most sporting celeb judge goes to Madhuri Dixit Nene who sat on the steps even as the rest of the proceedings were going on after being the first judge to be introduced on the Jhalak dance floors. Madhuri danced along with 3 participants and their respective choreographers; Shweta Tiwari with Sushant Pujari, Shantanu Mukherjee (Shaan) with Marischa, the kiddie duo – Maraju Sumanth and Sonali Majumdar. Ekdum Perrrfect in Madhuri's words!             

The title of the most sporting judge goes to Karan Johar who even though dances well is a bit conscious and does his best to hide it. His dance got him a 'once more' from all and he obliged with couple of more dance moves. He too danced with 3 participants and their respective choreographers; Drashti Dhami with Salman Yusuf Khan, Siddharth Shukla with Sonia Jaffer, Meghna Malik with Savio Barnes. Truly a 'blockbuster' performance from Karan!

The title of the most dapper looking judge goes to Remo D'Souza who looked graceful in his all black suit with shocking pink socks which were matching the cute pink buttons of his all white shirt. It is always a pleasure to see this graceful choreographer move to the beat of music and each time we watch him we can't help but say – 'This is it!' Remo introduced 3 participants and their respective choreographers: Karanvir Bohra with Sneha Kapoor, Aarti Chhabria with Corneil, and Lauren Gottlieb with Punit Pathak.

The latest season of Jhalak which has 12 participants in all had 3 participants missing – Ekta Kaul (who arrived late), Eijaz Khan (who had injured himself while rehearsing for Jhalak) and Suresh Menon (who was busy)!

The anchors for this year are Manish Paul and Kapil Sharma of Comedy Circus fame. Manish Paul who entertained one and all at last year's season of Jhalak too was missing in action while Kapil had everyone in splits with his one-liners and kept up the energy and tempo of the evening on a high with his quick wit!

Amongst the contestants present at the launch - Shaan, Aarti looked as if they needed more practice to make their dance perfect, it was Karanvir Bohra who looked the most assertive amongst the entire lot. His body language and dance style oozed with confidence and he already looked and acted a winner! Shweta Tiwari who has participated in Nach Baliye earlier and has proved to be an ace dance performer on stage looked ready to take the challenge. The surprise element was Meghna Malik who in a pink, fitting dress and real short hair looked a far cry from the Ammaji of Na Aana Is Des… she looked like one who will reach far in the show. Drashti who has the best choreographer partner in Salman was graceful and they looked pretty as a couple. Siddharth Shukla, with his hunk image looked a wee bit uncomfortable shaking his shoulders and legs! Apparently all of them were scared of just one contestant and that was Lauren who has already won an international dance reality show. The cutest pair was the kiddie duo Sonali and Sumanth who will definitely win everyone's heart!

While Manisha Sharma, the weekend programming duo was absent at the launch, Raj Nayak, CEO – Colors gave all the credit of the show not only to the participants but most importantly the choreographers, "All our celeb participants are important but most important are the choreographers of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. It would not have been possible without the choreographers." He also revealed, "We are having a tie-up with Madhuri Dixit Dance Studio where Madhuri will teach one step everyday to the viewers who can learn from her and upload their video and if they win then they get to dance with Madhuri at the grand finale of Jhalak."

So, get ready to watch some graceful dance and to learn some dance too with Jhalak Dikhla Jaa.

Seema Khot Mattoo