Jhalak & the damp squibs

TV show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (Colors) is back in its seventh avatar with two damp squibs. The dance show has the same judges — gorgeous Madhuri, showman Karan Johan, choreographer Remo D’Souza. And the contestants, as usual, are drawn from telly serials, most generously from the host channel.

There’s Ashish Sharma, the dude from Rangrasiya. He’s an awkward dancer, but is soft-spoken, humble and will soon become everybody’s favourite. Then there’s Kritika Kamra, a talkative telly babe from the stable of Ekta Kapoor who is a mediocre dancer and will not take to dancing;

Andy the VJ, who is doing the rounds of reality shows, will entertain and pakao by his gender-bending extremities; Mouni Roy, the simpering Sati to a glowering Mahadev, is very cute and will work hard; Palak, who is actually Kiku Sharda from Comedy Nights with Kapil, will try to entertain with her same old jokes and kinetic, one-step dancing; Karan Tacker, a gora-chikna model and compere, is a wannabe dude and dancer, that’s why, perhaps, he’s got a foreign choreographer to keep the spotlight on himself; then there’s Akshat the pot-belly dancer from India’s Got Fat Baby Issues; and Purab Kohli, VJ and two-bit actor, is too dull to stay focused on him.

The non-telly contestants include Shakti, a professional dancer who will wow the judges throughout; Sukhvinder the singer who is embarassingly bad and will bore the pants of all and sundry with his singing; Puja from Tollywood is cute; and, finally, there’s Sreesanth the disgraced cricketer who brings some angst-ridden stomping to the stage.

Hosts Ranvir Shorey and Drashti Dhami both haven’t found their groove yet and are decidedly boring. After Manish Paul and Kapil Sharma — it is depressing to have to suffer Ranvir and Drashti, the damp squibs.