Last weekend, Colors launched two more shows, Chhote Miyan, a talent hunt for child comedians and Dancing Queen to look for the next pair of twinkling toes to fill into the shoes as the next “Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai.”
While Sachin Pilgaonkar and Rahul Mahajan will judge the children for their comic timing, the evergreen jodi of Jeetendra and Hema Malini will scrutinise every move of the dancers.
A sneak peek into the two shows throw up any surprises, though having watched dozens of stand-up comedians across various shows and challenges, it would be refreshing to now see the little ones tickle your funny bones.
As for Dancing Queen, each of the ten mentors (Deepshikha, Shweta Menon, Bruna Abdullah, Sanober Kabir, Anita Hasnandani, Sambhavna Seth, Mink, Barkha Bisht, Ishita Arun and Meghna Naidu) will groom their protegees to fight for the title. While the selection of the mentors is highly debatable especially when you are talking of finding the next Madhuri or Aishwarya, we hope that the two judges will separate the wheat from the chaff.
We caught up with the judges of the two shows. Hema Malini says that since she is a trained and professional dancer it seemed only right to judge Dancing Queen. Besides, it gives her a chance to be with her co-star of many films, “Jeetuji, who has a free style of dancing.” She says that she won’t be asking the mentors to dance in only one form or the other “though, yes, I have been doing classical dance for years now but it’s really up to them to present to me whatever they are comfortable with. Some of them are really good and so are the protégés who come from different walks of life. So the show is an opportunity to them to fulfill their aspirations.”
Both Jeetendra and Hema Malini agree that todays dancers are required to “be more energetic. Even an “item” song can’t be dismissed off easily. Though I wonder if these girls can pull off a show for three and four hours like we do with our stage shows.” Finally, ask them who their dancing queen is and Hema Malini answers for both of them. “Vyjayanthimala. Her poise, her eyes, her dance, everything is mesmerising. Even now, her eyes seem to have a life and dance of their own. She’s timeless and that’s who I think is the real dancing queen who can sustain over the years and remembered even now.”
Coming to Chhote Miyan, Sachin says that while he’s been to the sets of Comedy Circus on Sony as a guest, as a judge this would be the first.
He says they would be looking at the “presentation and the performance as also the fun element in the gags or whatever they present. It’s important to see if they are able to enjoy themselves.” The veteran actor-producer-director says that you cannot take comedy lightly because the day an actor does, it’s the end of the road. His tips to a stand-up comedy actor: “Connect with your audience, make him forget your name and once you do it, keep on entertaining him, there shouldn’t be even a single dull moment.” The people who make him laugh “are Laurel and Hardy, Jerry Lewis, Mehmood bhaijaan, Kishore Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.”
For Rahul Mahajan, it’s “Amit uncle, Aamir and Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. Today every actor seems to have the flair for comedy.” He says the kids have already started “taking my class. They ask me all sorts of personal questions.” Ask him how he got himself into the show and he shoots back, “The channel approached me. I didn’t go to them. I don’t think it would be difficult to judge comedy because with comedy it’s a simple rule, either you laugh or you don’t.”
He claims to have been getting film offers and right now “I’m busy shooting to even comment on the recent political changes in the state”. Finally, he says that comedy and humour is needed in today’s times “because there are always newspapers and news channels to make you depressed. At least shows like Chhote Miyan will bring the much-needed relief in everyone’s lives.”
