Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Goes For A Choreographic Swap, Contestants Unhappy

The reality dance show Jhalak Dikkhlaa Jaa is trying every trick in the book to keep viewers’ interest alive. This weekend the format was suddenly changed with contestants swapping choreographers with one another.

Hence Kiku Sharda was given Vaishnavi Patil as his choreographer, Mouni Roy got Deepak Singh, Karan Tacker got Shampa Sonthali, Shakti Mohan got Punit Pathak, Akshat Singh got Kruti Mahesh, Sophie Choudhary got Jack Samuel Gill, Tara Jean Popowich got Tushar Kalia and Ashish Sharma got Bhawna Khanduja.

The change left a lot of contestants confused disoriented and at the end of the choreographers’ swap scheme, highly frustrated and angry.

One of the contestants spoke on condition of anonymity saying, “Every week they are thinking up new brain waves to keep the TRPs high. This week we were suddenly told to work with other contestants’ choreographers. From next week we will be required to perform two dance performances instead of one. All this is taking a toll on our self-confidence.”

Kiku Sharda who danced as his drag-avatar Palak initially and then as his own self, feels the changes are too much to bear for all contestants.

Says Kiku, “When we were told to work with some other contestant’s choreographer we were taken by surprise. After weeks of working with my choreographer Kruti I suddenly had to work with Vaishnavi who, no doubt, is also very good. But after constantly being choreographed by Kruti she knows my body language and my comfort level as a dancer and how to take my dancing to a level beyond my comfort zone. All this, the new choreographer couldn’t be knowing. So I was suddenly dancing with a stranger. It is like increasing the hurdles in a marathon race. The spectators are thrilled. But the participants are distressed.”

Another Jhalak contestant Sophie Choudry also found the sudden change of choreographer to be disturbing.

Says Sophie, “The concept of changing our choreographers so suddenly was interesting. But at this stage in the show the stakes are too high for this kind of experiment.I got Jack as my choreographer who is wonderful in his style of lyrical hip-hop. But he isn’t used to working with non-professional dancers and his style was too tough for me to catch.”

Sophie says she had a tough time dealing with the change. “Yeah, it was an ordeal, specially with my back injury in last act when my dancer forgot to catch me.”

However other contestants seemed happy with the challenge afforded by the sudden change in choreographer.

Mouni Roy too found it challenging to adjust to a new choreographer all of a sudden. “Working with Deepak is very different. Both Punit and Deepak are brilliant choreographers but their style of teaching is completely different. I was a bit thrown off when the switch happened. Also, the fact that Punit and I have developed a camaraderie over the past two months, working with someone else became a little difficult.”

Ashish Sharma says, “I’m quite an introvert, but my new choreographer Bhawna has been very supportive. She made me feel extremely comfortable in a short span of time.”

Shakti Mohan’s replacement choreographer turned out to be an old friend.

Says Shakti happily, “Punit is an old friend, in fact we went to college together and he was my senior in dance school. We’ve had the best time together. I’m very excited to perform with them. He’s extremely innovative and one of the best choreographers on the show!”