Is 'Jhalak' season 5 really bigger and better?

New Delhi: Indian version of television show ‘Dancing with the Stars’, ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’ is back with its fifth season. Actress Madhuri Dixit, director Karan Johar and choreographer Remo D’Souza have been chosen to judge the contestants this time.

There are 13 contestants on the show which includes, Darsheel Safary, Archana Vijaya, Isha Sharvani, Sanath Jayasuriya, Gurmeet Choudhary, Talat Aziz, Shibani Dandekar, Ravi Kishan, Jayati Bhatia, Pratyusha Banerjee, Bharti Singh, Gia Manek and Sushil Kumar.

Before becoming a judge on ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4’, Madhuri was seen hosting a TV show titled ‘Kahina Kahi Koi Hai’ in 2002. Her television comeback helped ‘Jhalak’ in grabbing more eyeballs last year. However, this time only Madhuri’s presence won’t help the show.

The opening episode of season five looked no less than an award function. With a huge set and an impressive lineage of celebrities, viewers were bound to be hooked to the show. Stars like Sonu Sood, Ayushmann Khurrana, Malaika Arora Khan and others were invited to introduce the contestants. However, the two-hour, star-studded show left many confused about who were actually the contestants.

The second episode of the show started with an electrifying performance by Madhuri Dixit and Remo D’Souza. It seems Karan Johar was forced to dance as he looked hardly interested. And then, it was the celebrity contestants and their choreographers who tried to impress the audiences with their moves.

Without any doubts, Talat Aziz turned out to be the worst performer on the show. No wonder he was at the bottom of the score card. To garner some votes for the singer, Madhuri requested him to sing. ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 5’ is little disappointing when it comes to variety. Out of the 13 contestants, four are small screen actors and two hardly known anchors. After watching Ravi Kishan for almost three months during ‘Bigg Boss’, probably viewers are not too excited with his presence on the show. And, if the production house really wanted to bring a common man on the show, organising a talent hunt would have been a better idea. ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ winner Sushil Kumar is no less than a celeb now.

Stand-up comedian Bharti Singh turned out to be one of the most entertaining celebrities. Apart from a good performance, she tried to woo viewers with her funny one-liners too. Sanath Jayasuriya who doesn't even understand Hindi, showcased some impressive Bollywood moves. Let’s see for how long he can survive on the show.

The biggest problem with celebrity reality shows is that they fall short of interesting contestants after a few seasons. No wonder we see the same people on different reality shows. Do you think ‘Jhalak’ will pass this test or will sink like ‘Nach Baliye’?

‘Jhalak’ should probably experiment with some new choreographers now. Its little boring to see the same faces year after year. It’s tough to sit through a two-hour television show, so the duration can be another disadvantage for ‘Jhalak’. Let’s wait and watch what the future episodes have in store for us.