Away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai is located a pristine beach front hotel, on Madh Island. But nowadays, this hotel is far from quiet. The reason for this is the ‘too much’ factor of Nach Baliye 7 jodis. The new format show’s contestants this time round, are housed separately. And the lovebirds are allowed to meet only during rehearsals. How do the jodis deal with this separationIJ SRISHTI DUTTA travels to Mumbai and spends time with these jodis to gather that at the end of the day what matters to them is their performance on stage
Reel to Real- Upen & Karishma
Upen Patel and Karishma Tanna’s love story is one for the tabloids. Both met on Bigg Boss 8. It was love at first sight and a relationship developed despite Karishma having a boyfriend then. They came closer after the show. Doing one reality show after another, the couple were tagged as the ‘reality TV couple’. Some even labeled them fake. Both had to deal with all this on Nach Baliye 7, especially with judge Chetan Bhagat quizzing them about it.
Quite unruffled by the tag, Upen says that because their love happened on a reality show, it does not mean it is fake. “It neither gives people the right to judge us, nor do we have to prove our love to everyone. What matters is what we have between us. Our families have met in london, we are happily engaged and looking forward to marriage by the end of this year or early next year,” he adds. Karishma asserts, meanwhile, that neither she nor Upen are in need of TRPs. “Why would we use our relationship to gain TRPsIJ,” she asks.
All this posturing, however does not take away the fact that after their performance on the song Khuda Jaane, Upen proposed to Karishma on stage. She accepted, much to everyone’s joy.
“This was my way of making a romantic gesture for Karishma. There are many videos on YouTube wherein the men propose to their girls in a unique manner. Since we have such a great platform, why not use it for building up good memoriesIJ I Skyped her family and involved them as well,” Upen reveals.
But Karishma concedes there is a negative and positive sides to maintaining a relationship under so much public scrutiny. “There is no personal space. Our relationship is an open book but then that is something which every actor has to deal with,” she adds.
Upen takes a more pragmatic view and tells you that a reality show is the best way to show your real self because you are not given a character to follow and allowed to show who you really are. What about the constant criticism by Chetan Bhagat on the showIJ Karishma says that no one has the right to judge how we are or point a finger at what we do. “If Chetan sir criticises us, we also know how to take criticism and give it back. The ‘too much’ factor of the show makes things very challenging and it becomes hectic at times, but we take it in a good way and move forward,” Karishma says.
Reconnecting through nach- Rashami & Nandish
Rashami Desai and Nandish Sandhu met on the sets of Uttaran and after dating for a bit, got married in February 2012. However, problems cropped up in their relationship in 2013 and they started living separately. Then they thought of giving their relationship a second chance and that is when Nach Baliye 7 happened.
The show has helped them come closer. Nandish says that they were not really sure if they should take up the offer because they had just got back together and their relationship was quite fragile. They were not open to talking about the problems in their personal life.
“But we accepted in the hope that the dance reality show would help put things back on the right track for us. So far the experience has been good, full of ups and downs, difficulties and learning experiences. We just hope that when we leave the show, we take back these experiences and implement them in our lives,” Nandish says.
The show’s “too much factor” entails love challenges which also tests the couple’s compatibility. Rashami and Nandish say that the most memorable one was the confession challenge because one had to open up one’s heart before the public.
The bigger challenge, of course, are the performances themselves. It gets tougher with every passing week and there is also this issue about injuries. “One needs to forget that and focus on connecting to the viewers through dance. As far as the judging goes, I don’t know the marking criteria but we do take the judges’ comments seriously and try to improve on the technicalities of our performance,” Rashami tells you.
The big question is whether Rashami and Nandish’s relationship will get back on trackIJ The show will tell.
Fairytale love story- Aishwarya & Rohit
Aishwarya Sakhuja met Rohit during an audition for a comedy show on Star One. Rohit was already smitten by her when he had spotted her much earlier in a newspaper ad and it soon turned into love at the Miss India finalists’ party. Aishwarya, on the other hand, treated him like any other fan. It was only when Karan Wahi set them up that they became good friends and from there on love happened.
Though Rohit does not fit the tall, dark and handsome quotient that Aishwarya had in mind, she liked being with him. “It was his sense of humour that drew me to him,” she says.
They got married on December 5, 2014 and accepted the Nach Baliye 7 offer “to try out something new.” For Aishwarya, dancing is all about bringing forth your overall personality — from the body language to all else. This is the first time that this couple is working together.
Nach Baliye 7, Rohit says, has brought them closer. “Since all other contestants are initially strangers, your wife is the only person you know so you start sharing your happiness and difficulties with her,” Rohit says.
The show, on the other hand, has taught Aishwarya the true meaning of team work. “I never realised that I would be able to work so well with my husband. It is all due to the show that I have now know that I would love to work with Rohit in future projects, something which I would have never considered before,” she says.
And how do they manage to bring in so much chemistry to their performancesIJ “We have been friends for more than two years. Even before we were married, we had reached a high comfort level with each other,” they say in unison.
Their take on marriageIJ “Go for it! Those who crib that marriage has ‘trapped’ them are idiots,” they tell you.
Will thisjodi reach the finals and winIJ let’s wait and watch.