In a chat with Sangeeta Yadav, singer-dancer and choreographer Ganesh Hegde talks about his experience as a mentor on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’s semi-final round and the fun he had on the sets
How was your experience on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (JDJ)IJ
It was a lot of fun mentoring the top 5 contestants. They are all very good. I was not following the show until I got this offer. The channel wanted a special episode featuring me. It was then that I watched all the episodes of this season. I observed their weaknesses and strengths. That helped me prepare different concepts for the contestants to dance to.
What is the new thing you’ve introduced in the showIJ
I thought of doing something which has not been done or seen before on JDJ. The focus was not to follow any particular dance form. For example, to break Mouni Roy’s soft dancing style, I gave her a bold and sensual act to do. Ashish Sharma is very shy, so I gave him an MJ style dance form which is a complete opposite of his style. Karan is very good with his technique so I made it more challenging for him by giving difficult steps.
How did the judges treat youIJ
They are full-on entertainment. When you see Madhuri, Remo and Karan on the screen, they look very serious. But when I got to spend time with them on the show, I found them funfilled and child like. We played tic-tac-toe; Karan and Manish come up with one-liners in a second. If this was not enough, we all danced to the Balam Pichkari song with Karan leading us. I had a great time.
Will we get to see you performIJ
How could I ever miss the opportunity of performing on the Jhalak stageIJ But I didn’t get much time to prepare and everything happened very quickly. I danced on a mix of many songs from my album let’s Party and other Bollywood numbers which have been choreographed by me.
Who, according to you, will lift the JDJ trophyIJ
Everyone is a winner. Each contestant will be taking home good memories. More than dancing, JDJ is a stage where the performers learn valuable lessons.
What is keeping you busy these daysIJ
At present, I am working on two movie scripts and might also act in them as a lead.