Teriya Magar, winner of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9, talks to Sangeeta Yadav about her experience winning the second dance reality show
Teriya Magar, who has also won the third season of Dance India Dance (DID) li’l Masters, takes another trophy home — that of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa season 9 with a cash prize of Rs30 lakh which, she says, she will save and decide later what she wants to do with it. Hailing from Rudrapur, a small village in Nepal, Magar’s family shifted to Mumbai so that she could live her dream.
“I was in Nepal and when I got selected forDID, I shifted my base to Mumbai with my grandfather which was a tough decision for everyone in the family. I owe my success to my family, there sacrifice and some hard work that has brought me to this stage. It was their encouragement that I have managed to be where I am today,” Magar tells you.
Talking about her journey on Jhalak..., Magar says: “My journey was a rollercoaster ride. In the second round, I was eliminated and was totally shattered. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that the show will give me another chance to make a comeback through a wild card entry. That was the biggest turning point on the show for me. I had experienced firsthand how it feels to be eliminated but this time I was determined not to give another chance to the judges to eliminate me again. I worked very hard from there on and here I am standing on the stage with the first prize.”
Having worked on another dance reality show, Magar agrees that she had an added advantage on Jhalak... and helped her to stand next to the tough competitor like Salman Yusuff Khan and Shantanu Maheshwari, who are known dancers in the industry. “I learnt a lot of things in DID which came handy in this reality show like how to perform on stage, facing the camera and learning different dance forms. This helped me to stand in competition from dancers like Yusuff Khan and Maheshwari who are extremely good dancers and have earned name for themselves. Jhalak... helped me to fine tune my dancing skills. I got to polish on genres like hip hop, lyrical hip hop, serial dance, contemporary etc. Winning here is just the beginning. I would like to keep learning as I grow in my profession,” Magar tells you.
Her best performance that is close to her heart is the one performed with Faisal Khan and one dedicated to the Indian Army. “We set the stage on fire when I performed Teen ka tadka with Faisal Khan. If he would not have been in my team, the act would not have been so good. He was a big motivator. We danced on freestyle and the judges complimented us by saying that this was the best act that they had seen in the last two seasons. Another act, on Indian Army, was eye-opener for me as it made me understand how the Army people truly dedicate their lives for others. They struggle and make sacrifices so that the rest of the country can feel safe. I thoroughly enjoyed that act,” Magar tells you.