Nach Baliye 7 has started off on a very thanda note. The celebrities are not really top line actors on TV or elsewhere. The format is too confusing and, last but not least, the three judges are neither compatible, nor are they sizzling on screen! But the biggest eyesore of the season is the otherwise renowned author Chetan Bhagat on a strange gyan trip on the show. Deebashree Mohanty gets you some viewer reactions from outraged eyeballs
Chetan Bhagat judging Nach Baliye is like Alia Bhatt hosting KBC!
— Tweet by Yusuf Bamare which was instantly and liked by 10,000 people and counting
Are you really in loveIJ ReallyIJ’ Chetan Bhagat asked a couple on Nach Baliye 7, last week and the Tweeple immediately swung into action. Is he there to judge a dance reality show or do a personality assessmentIJ And if he admits he has no fundas right for dancing, then why give him the coveted seatIJ Such and many more pertinent queries have deluged the cyber space.
The IIT and IIM alumnus and India’s top selling author has been facing the heat from the very first day. But he doesn’t seem to have learnt much about being a dance reality show judge.
He’s (not) got the looks!
The Nach Baliye jury has always been about glamour, grace and glitz. In the first season, Malika Arora Khan with her figure hugging attire and Swarovski studded heels made heads turn. New age cinema’s hot and happening director-cum-actor Farhan Akhtar gave her a close contest. But 10 years down the line, the producers seem to have lost the plot.
“I love his books, not his looks,” scribbled Preeti Desai on her Facebook wall, tagging the author himself. The comments she attracted on her status were also in the same vein. “He has this constipated expression on his face, whyIJ” wrote Ria Das on the same thread.
The point is, if you are not a dance doyen at least get some fashion statements to the table. like Terence lewis did with his mufflers or Kirron Kher does with her jewellery and exquisite Indian wear which she has been wowing the viewers with on the newest season of India’s Got Talent.
He talks too much!
And we thought that this honour was reserved only for Preity Zinta (remember how her BFF Shahrukh Khan had said, ‘once Preity is on a tirade, she doesn’t stop’IJ). At this show, Preity has some serious competition because Bhagat is not letting anyone speak!
“'He was saying blah, meaning blah!” is how one viewer reacted on a social networking site. She confessed that she was a huge fan of Bhagat’s sense of humour but she certainly was not impressed with his banter about relationships on a dance show!
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One doesn’t know what is going on in Producer Ekta Kapoor’s mind but viewers are not happy with Bhagat’s strict role play. On the show, he launched into a diatribe about a couple, saying they have wronged their parents by not letting them know about their love life! This did not go down well with gen-next at all.
“Are the makers wanting to make him look like DraculaIJ Because he is certainly behaving like one,” said a college goer in her tweet. Others call him Ultron from the Avengers series. Sadly, Bhagat doesn’t look or behave like a judge at all. Instead he looks uncomfortable doing what he does.
From lOl to Yawn
This dance reality show, unlike its peers, was all about fun and lots of dancing. But in season 7, it is very difficult to let out the laughs. While Zinta and Marzi Pestonji are trying hard to improvise and say funny things, Bhagat is on his own trip — ‘let’s get the knowledge banks out’ is his mantra after every performance. Sometimes, he compares a performance to his book, at other times, he draws a philosophical parallel with a poem. Contestants meanwhile are just waiting to run away and catch a few naps.
“Guys, put him on mute. He makes sense that way,” said a funny meme on a social networking site. The meme showed Bhagat with a cane in his hand while everyone else was fast asleep. This and many more funny cartoons talking about his speeches are all over the Internet.
High on Drama!
Not all is lost for the maverick author. Some people have appreciated Bhagat for his drama skills. They feel he has outdone a Sakshi Tanwar (who played Parvati in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki on Star Plus) and Smriti Irani (who epitomised the eternal Indian bahu on the small screen) with his antics. But fans say, they would much rather watch him in a daily show rather than a celebrity dance reality series.
It is not just the aam janata that has a problem with his judging style, Bollywood celebs have also indirectly launched an attack on the author. It started with ‘funny bones’ Twinkle Khanna who said on her tweet; “He gets to judge Nach Baliye and I get to judge if that gross thing on my floor is dog puke or poop”.
Although, there was a small spat that ensued the author got the last laugh, saying his role was exactly to be terse and intense! Interestingly, the audience doesn’t think he does a good job at that too. Here’s the proof — Rahul Nanda sums up Chetan Bhagat’s stint at Nach Baliye thus: “His judging Nach Baliye is like One Night At The lol Centre.”