Reality TV is becoming more and more contentious; intentionally and sometimes unintentionally.
Now that the novelty of the whole concept of ‘reality’ has worn off, channels are finding newer ways of attracting TRPs. A lot of questionable deeds are considered alright whether it is rigging the votes or participant animosity; these unfortunate things garner curiosity viewing.
‘Nach Baliye 2’ wild card round is just another case in a string of unfair judgments passed by the panel of experts in various shows. A fiery performance by the duo Gaurav Chopraa and Narayani Shastri was mistaken by Kunal Kohli as an angry reaction to their ouster. He thought that there was too much attitude in the performance. According to Gaurav Chopraa, “When we conceived our comeback performance we didn’t think of making it sweet and emotional. We wanted it to be a fight-back joshila number. We wanted it to denote that we have got what it takes. We wanted to dedicate it to all the people who have the spirit of fighting for us. We wanted it to have super-energy and at the same time be funky and with a spark. The performance was on the song, ‘Dum’ and that is what it depicted that we have the ‘dum’ required. But we were very clear that we don’t want to rub anyone the wrong way. We added certain elements to the performance that were the positive reactions from the judges from our exiting episode. So we used them in the song in the beginning and then at the end of the performance we dedicated the song to the people who want us back. A day before our performance we were told that you can’t use the judges’ comments as according to them it sounded childish and it looked like we were angry. So on the day of the show we did another voice over and we did our performance. But after the performance the judges especially Kunal thought that we were throwing too much attitude and too much anger. He thought that the anger was targeted towards the judges. If the song says ‘ Dum, jaan mein dum’ you have to show attitude and aggression. I don’t know what prompted him to think like that”.
The same judge who had earlier praised the duo and had shown his disappointment at their getting voted out seemed unfairly angry with the participants, “He said I don’t understand your concept to which Malaika said ‘No, we like your concept but I think you should have toned it down.’ Saroj ji smiled at me reassuringly and said ‘No, I think these guys have done brilliantly.’ She went on to say that ‘agar aap log thoda josh kam kar dete to aapki co-ordination would have been better.’ That is the fine analysis of the performance,” said a hurt Gaurav.
The couple is one of the better dancers on the show, but was ousted in the early rounds of the show. However they were keenly awaited by the public in the ‘Wild Card’ round and they are the general favourites to make a comeback. On being asked what kind of reactions he has been getting about his early ouster, Gaurav smiles, “Since the time we have exited the show, there has been a massive public reaction and it is not just that people didn’t like us getting voted out of the show. It is a general idea of reality shows going down in terms of them being fair. Mona Singh winning over Shveta Salve despite being a better dancer and Manav-Shweta controversy has added fuel to the fire. People have stopped me in the middle of the road to tell me that we were great and it was unfair to us that we were thrown out. It is not a weak affectionate emotion. Yesterday I saw a news channel doing a poll asking film stars and Abhishek Bachchan and many others said that we should come back. Kiron Kher has just entered my show, ‘Aisa Des Hai Mera’ as my mom and the first thing she said to me when she entered the sets was ‘Pls. tell me you are coming back.’ All this love and affection made us feel that this has gone beyond winning and we are so thankful to these people. It has given us a new high.”
How did they feel when they were relegated to the bottom 2 in terms of marks after their performance in the wild card round? “After the judges’ remarks we still thought we’ll get decent marks, but we were no. 4 in the final tally of out 5 performances. I for once will leave modesty aside and say that our performance was up there. When I went backstage I was asked ‘you were the heroes in the song, so were the villains?’ What would I say to that, the show is the villain, or the judges or the contestants?! Whatever I said would have created a controversy. I thank God that I had sense enough to say that heroes and villains are in our minds. Whoever thinks he is a hero is one. I am so proud of myself and Narayani because we still maintained the grace that we had last time. My answer prompted Saroj ji to say, ‘Very well said’.
There have been reports of Shweta Tiwari and Raja Chaudhary getting undue attention from the judges as well as high scores despite Raja being a below average dancer as Shweta is considered the channel favourite owing to her ‘Kasauti’ connection. When Shweta was voted out the buzz was that Hussain-Tina duo is going to win. Out of the Star couples, Hiten-Gauri, Hussain-Tina and Raja-Shweta, the only one who is the closest to deserving is Hussain-Tina. And to make matters worse, Gaurav and Narayani have both refused Star shows ‘Betiyaan’ and ‘Bhabhi’ in recent times. Gaurav puts all these rumours to rest by saying, “I don’t want to get into any of these controversies. I don’t know who is winning and who is losing. As far as I am concerned I am very happy and satisfied with our performance. I have clarified my stand and I reiterate that I didn’t mean any disrespect to the judges. Rest I leave to my fans and the public.”
indiatimes
Who are Gaurav and Narayani angry with ?
Re: Who are Gaurav and Narayani angry with ?
