Review: Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, Indian Idol, DID are back with a bang!

With the conclusion of the latest IPL season, three big shows -- Indian Idol Junior (Sony), Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa  (Colors) and Dance India Dance Super Moms (Zee) -- premiered last weekend to fill the prime time spots.

Kshama Rao tells us how each one of them fared with their first episodes.

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 6

The grand premiere was like this big star wedding, glitzy and glamorous.

It had all the ingredients of a blockbuster premiere night and more than made up for its lackluster line-up of participants this season.

If you ask us, the judges -- Madhuri Dixit, she of the dazzling smile and a tad too much makeup, the witty and sporting Karan Johar, and the subtly sexy man of few words Remo D'Souza  -- and the two hosts, Manish Paul (absolutely adorable) and Kapil Sharma (mostly obnoxious and partly, wickedly funny) are the main reasons why Jhalak works.

There was Ranbir Kapoor too who, with his sparkling presence, made the proceedings livelier though at one point we forgot whether it was his latest film's premiere or the TV show's!

So the first night -- we loved Sushant Singh Rajput's (who was one of the finalists in the earliest editions of the show) opening act introducing the female participants.

Lauren Gottelieb, the US import and Dancing with the Stars winner (isn't the show about non-dancers?), Bollywood has-been Aarti Chhabria and TV's own Madhubala, the dainty Dhrashti Dhami impressed us immediately; among the boys who were strangely, introduced by Jacqueline Fernandes, Karnvir Bohra, Shaan and Siddharth Shukla seemed to be the ones to look out for.

Funnyman Suresh Menon could be this season's Bharti Singh.

While the first week's performances were nothing extraordinary except Shukla's 3D act, the judges too were generous with compliments.

As usual, there were a couple of performances like Aarti's who drew great praises from the judges but sadly, didn't reflect in the marks.

Though the show for the most part was entertaining, we also thought Kapil overstepped his brief on a few occasions. He could well show some restraint and respect.

Jhalak relies solely on star-power. We saw Pandit Birju Maharaj on the show and some sweet chemistry between Sunny Deol -- who had come to promote his new film Yamla Pagla Deewana -- and Madhuri.

So the glitter and the 'moments' are guaranteed. Now only if we can put aside the riff raff and watch some pure dance in the weeks to come, it will be a ride worth our while.

Rediff Rating: 

The newest edition of Indian Idol returns with a search for talented children. This time, Vishal-Shekhar team up with Shreya Ghoshal to judge the show.

The opening episodes were good and could have been great only if they had spent less time chatting with the children.

I do understand the need for creating those aww-inducing moments and I did enjoy them to an extent but they can be easily cut short.

The Nagpur girl who sang Zara si aahat hoti hai toh dil sochta hai, kahin yeh woh toh nahin, a visually challenged girl who sang another Lata Mangeshkar number; a barely eight or nine-year-old boy singing a classical song with amazing finesse, a Kolkata girl singing Mera kuch saamaan with maturity beyond her a#8805 and another boy who sang Naina thag lenge stood out.

Also a big thumbs up to the chemistry between the three judges especially when they get into these impromptu 'masti' moments, singing, jamming, pulling each other's leg...good fun!

It's nice to see Mandira and co-host Karan Wahi but we do miss Hussain's charm and Mini Mathur's easy demeanour!

Rediff Rating:

All these years, they waited in the wings holding back their tears while their sons and daughters showed off their moves and grooves on the Dance India Dance stage.

This year, grandmaster Mithun Chakraborty decided to bring the moms to the forefront.

It's nice to see women, aged anywhere from 24 to 64 dancing with abandon, some of them even declaring their undying love for Marzi Pentonjee, one of the judges.

That said, the show wasn't without its share of cringewrothy moments where we saw contestants who danced awkwardly, unsure of what they were doing.

The show, however, shows unusual restrain in keeping the melodramatic back-stories of the contestants in check.

The incessant chatter between Farah (Khan) and Marzi can get grating, especially when she keeps making fun of his Hindi. 

We also wish the makers had put some thought into showing the entire audition thing a little differently. After so many seasons and avatars of DID, watching this entire rigmarole once again gets boring after a while.

Rediff Rating: