Hema, Helen set small screen on fire

NEW DELHI - From grandeur to glamour, beauty to elegance — the launch of the fourth season of dance reality show “Jhalak Dikhla Jaa” had everything.

Small screen Sunday night witnessed perhaps the first such mega opening show where Bollywoods “dreamgirl” Hema Malini, cabaret queen Helen and dancing star Govinda burnt the dance floor. Hindi film’s original He-man Dharmendra’s performance was the icing on the cake.

The show that went on air on Sony channel has an interesting line-up of celebrity contestants, majority of whom are television actors.

There was dance, drama and comedy in the over two-hour special episode, hosted by actors Mona Singh and Sumeet Raghavan, where 11 out of 12 contestants were introduced in a unique way.

Each contestant was accompanied by either their friend or idol and all of them danced away, keeping the essence of the show alive.

While actor and comedian Krushna Abhishek was introduced by a rocking performance on a medley of songs by his maternal uncle Govinda; his cousin sister, actress Ragini Khanna was joined on stage by her idol Helen.

It was family time for Hema Malini, Dharmendra and Esha Deol as they came to encourage actress Mahii Vij, singer Anoushka Manchanda and boxer Akhil Kumar respectively.

The lead pair of Zee TV’s popular serial “Pavitra Rishta” — Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita Lokhande — who will be on a face-off on the show, were introduced by Kinshuk Mahajan and Parul Chauhan of “Sapna Babul KaBidaai” fame.

Some star power was also added by actress Anoushka Sharma and her “Band Baaja Baraat” co-star Ranveer Singh, who came to show support for Meiyang Chang.

Renuka Shahane and Shekhar Suman are among the older-aged contestants this time, but their energy levels and youthfulness seemed no less than the youngsters. In fact, 50-year-old Shekhar gave tough competition to his actor son Adhyayan Suman on the dance floor in the introductory episode.

“Babuji” girl Yana Gupta got a sizzling welcome from singer Mika, who couldnt help but mention how “hot” she is. But the temperature on the show went up when judge Malaika Arora Khan gave a scintillating performance on remixed versions of “Chhaiya chhaiya” and her latest chartbuster “Munni badnaam hui”.

Malaika also danced with the choreographers, who are going to teach the contestants how to put on their dancing shoes right! But what turned out to be a delight was her impromptu dance with mother-in-law Helen, who was equally thrilled to be sharing the same stage with her.

Choreographer Remo DSouza, the second judge on the show, also displayed his prowess and moved impeccably much to the delight of the audience.

As the best is often reserved for the last, Madhuri Dixit came in at the end, looking resplendent in a Sabyasachi Mukherjee suit. Though her dance sequence was the most awaited, she only gave a “jhalak” of her moves, leaving everyone asking for more.