Meet the heroes of Jhalak Dikh La Jaa

 

For winner Ashish Sharma’s choreographer Shampa, this is not the first time she has won Jhalak.  She was past winner Gurmeet Singh’s choreographer too. “I never expected to win a second time,” admits Shampa, before confessing that she was under a bit of pressure because of her previous win. 

Luckily for Shampa, first Gurmeet and then Ashish turned out to be hard-working and talented students. 

 

“Ashish and Gurmeet are very similar, they do not like to take an easy route. Both, like me, were not in favour of repeating any routine, so we never did Jazz, Salsa, Hip Hop and other styles more than once. Every time it was a different routine,” says Shampa. 

 

She did, however, worry about Ashish not giving her enough time due to his hectic TV serial schedule, but luckily her fears were unfounded as Ashish never ignored practice.

 

“Ashish is an unconventional guy; hailing from a theatre background and being involved creatively right from producing shows, he knew exactly what was needed to achieve our goal.”

 

Now that the goal has been achieved, what’s in store for Shampa? “Right now I am planning to go to Israel for a month. I am very keen to visit Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth. Most of my friends have settled down in Israel so it will be great to chill with them.”

 

And what about the Rs 30 lakh prize money? “Well, the prize money will be divided between Ashish and me. But since we can’t split a car and I don’t drive, Ashish can keep it,” she laughs.

 

Another fantastic choreographer, who ensured that Karan Thacker not just made it to the finals but was the first runner-up, is Bhavana. The lady who choreographed the hit Sunny Leone song Baby Doll says that while she felt bad about her initial partner, singer Sukhwinder Singh, being eliminated from the show at an early stage. But she is thrilled about Karan coming so far.  

 

Talking about making this non-dancer dance, she reveals, “Karan being a non-dancer was a challenge for both of us. I remember in one episode Karan had to take a plunge from nine feet; he was nervous, but did it. But he took up the challenge and allowed me to choreograph that episode to my liking. I really liked the fact that both Karan and Sukhwinder had complete trust in me.”

 

Meanwhile Punit, who will now be concentrating on films like ABCD 2, says he enjoyed working with Mouni Roy. “Making Mouni dance was a pleasure because she could do anything. She wanted to perform the Gauri Tandav and would keep urging me to give her tough steps. Though we didn’t win, participation was more important and I am glad that I have found a friend in Mouni.”

 

Another choreographer who had a great run on the show was Tushar Kalia. The fact that he had to choreograph a fantastic dancer like Shakti Mohan made the whole journey very enjoyable. “Yes, it was easy for me to choreograph different dance forms for Shakti since she is a professional and could pick up steps in one go itself.” But isn’t he sad they didn’t win? “We may have not won but we know we were the best.” And what next? “Right now, after the hectic JDJ schedule, I am chilling in Goa. Also I have been offered a film.”