Dance India Dance is set for a makeover with a new panel of judges. Iknoor Kaur asks them about fresh challenges
This is something which surprised even us. DID’s judges — Geeta ma, Remo sir and master Terrence, who had become synonymous to the dance-based reality show, will no more be part of DID’s next edition. Muddasar Khan, Shruti Merchant and Feroz Khan will be the new ‘Masters’ along with ‘Grand Master’ Mithun Chakraborty on the show that starts on October 26 on Zee TV.
With the change in judges, there will also be a change in the judging criteria of the show. While Feroz will be seen paying more attention to detail, Muddasar will put all the dance forms on one platform and judge according to the level of expertise. “I think the main thing is body language, style and the feel-good factor. I am a very detailed person. Contestant may have done brilliant choreography but if his or her dance doesn’t make me feel the way I think the dance should be, it would be an unsatisfactory performance,” said Feroz. Muddasar added, “Every dance form has its own face and style but the connectivity and relation is same. So I will judge the level of performance and not differentiate between the styles.”
The shortlisting of candidates was the most challenging task for all three of them, said Feroz. “We got too attached with every contestant’s feelings and story. We were always contemplating how to say no to people. But at the end of the day the responsibility of the chair was more important and we had to choose the best. We had to draw a line somewhere,” he added.
Both of them have earlier only choreographed with actors. However, Feroz felt that reality shows are easier to choreograph since the dancers are good. He said, “Teaching a contestant on DID is not very difficult. It is only a challenge when they don’t know the form.” Muddasar felt otherwise. He stated, “In DID there is no re-take or second chance. It needs to be perfect in the first go. Additionally, if a kid comes from a rural background and crosses all the hurdles to reach here and I make a mistake in the choreography, that kid would have lost his only shot because of me. It is a big responsibility.”
All the three judges also went through a workshop before judging the show in order to master the maximum number of dance forms. After going through a round of auditions, the judges shortlisted 100 contestants out of which 18 were selected. Nine of them are girls and nine are boys. All the contestants will be divided in three groups which will be under each judge. The show will run webisodes on Internet that are different from the episodes on air and will have an on ground campaign as well.