Nach Baliye season 6 - Needs to focus more on dance!

Nach Baliye season 6

Saturday - Sunday 9 pm on Star Plus

The much popular celebrity dance reality show Nach Baliye is back... this time the sixth season will see 11 new jodis and with the theme of romance and passion.

The first episode saw dance performances by the anchors - Gautam Rode & Karan Wahi along with the two judges - Shilpa Shetty & Terence Lewis while the third judge Sajid Khan preferred a comic entry.

The 11 couples made their entries with song and dance numbers which were spread over two days, on Saturday & Sunday.

The first act of the actor duo Gurmeet Choudhary & Debina Bonnerjee Choudhary was a truly a Bollywood number and they impressed the judges who almost declared them the winner on the spot. This was followed by actors Asha Negi & Rithvik Dhanjani in a romantic number with Asha jokingly complained about Rithvik's high energy levels, the much entertaining dance number was by Raju Shrivastav with his homemaker wife Shikha as they performed the Lungi dance. Last year's contestant Neelu Vaghela came in to introduce her on screen bahu Kanica Maheshwari who danced on a disco number with her businessman husband Ankur.

Introduced by judge Sajid himself were the couple Vinod and Raksha, a couple who's love story will inspire many when they see them performing. Despite being born without legs, Vinod has been a dancer and is now supported totally by his wife Raksha. Their flawless performance was moving and almost got everyone in tears.

The vamp on screen Amrapalli Gupta was seen with her actor husband Yash who danced on the beautiful number Main rang sharbaton ka...'. The comic actor Kiku Sharda supported by his wife Priyanka gave a high energy performance which

Brazilain actress Bruna Abdalah with her partner Omar danced their way into the judge's heart on the fast number 'Subah hone na de' while the Masterchef judges Vikas Khanna and Chef Kunal Kapur introduced the next contestant which was the winner of the Masterchef series Ripu Daman Handa and his wife Shivangi who did a stunt based dance number and was appaluaded by all.

One of Indian Television's much loved actress Hina Khan introduced the next couple - Sanjeev Seth & Lata Sabharwal Seth who play her on screen parents in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. The much in love couple who are parents to a new born baby danced on a romantic number and had an unusual entry dancing in a water fountain.

The last entry was on the sizzling couple RaQesh Vashisth & Riddhi Dogra Vashisth who performed on an out and out sizzling romantic number.

On both the days we saw quite a few comic acts too in between what with the presence of three comedians on the show - Raju Srivastav, Kiku Sharda and Sajid Khan.

What works -

The grand set and the couples (even though some names are new) make for interesting viewing. The selection of the songs, the performances and the overall acts were great viewing despite this being just the first episode. The preparation that had gone on in each act was noticeable.

What doesn't work -

The comedy by the hosts is a little over the top with sometimes they being termed as a couple, sometimes Gautam trying to find a bride, etc. The shirtless act by the anchors and Terence too made one cringe more so because Terence managed to go shirtless more than once and with his hair, moustache and tattoed six packs seemed to be trying to give competition to Ranveer Singh who has a similar look in the upcoming flick Ramleela.

Shilpa Shetty who has come back to her original slim avatar was quite liberal in giving the suuppper se oooper comment to most.

The theme this year being romance was much too obvious in the launch episode and it will be seen more in the next episodes too but it should be kept a bit controlled and subtle instead of having it in your face! Sometimes the romantic overtures look forced and funny too!

There was also lots of rona-dhona with almost every other baliye crying - like Kanica shedding tears because she and her husband have a long distance marriage and stay in different cities, while Amrapalli could not stop crying as she thanked God for giving her a husband like Yash and Kiku Sharda's wife Priyanka cried since her husband doesn't have much time for the family and so on!

The angle of bringing in the husband and wife together to spend some quality time by being a part of Nach Baliye 6 was very much obvious.

Our take -

Even though this was the opening of the show, it managed to keep upto the interest. The gags and comedy sequence were okay for the launch episodes but from here on the focus should be more on dance instead of just romance or fun between the hosts too!

With each new episode we are sure the jodis will gear up and with dedicated practice and rehearsals come up with exciting acts to keep the viewers hooked on to the show.

Seema Khot Mattoo