Shweta Tiwari News

MUMBAI: Star One’s Nach Baliye 2, the exciting new show featuring 10 of the celebrity couples on Indian Television, enters its second week on 2 October 2006 at 8.30 pm. The 10 couples will swivel to ‘village numbers’ from Bollywood.

Watch the sensuous Shweta Tiwari pirouette on ‘Radha Kaise Na Jale’ from Lagaan and Hiten romance Gauri in Mela’s ‘Kamariya Lachke Re’.

Will Shweta and Raja recreate magic of their previous performance? Will the mavericks of Western Dancing- Tanaaz and Bakhtyaar cope up with Indian dance terms? Will anyone get a perfect score and Saroj Khan’s coveted ’seeti’? This week’s show kicks off with a performance by Rohit and Mansi Roy grooving to Amitabh and Jaya Pradha’s super-hit ‘Gori Hai Kalaiyan’ from Aaj Ka Arjun.

Will it be couple no.one- Narayani Shastri and Gaurav Chopraa…or the energetic and talented couple no. two- Gauri and Yash Tonk? Will Ketaki and Rasik be voted out or will it be Hiten and Gauri that bid adieu. Watch the excitement unfold as India votes for their favourite Nach Baliye 2 couple!!!

Judged by an eminent panel of that includes the hugely talented choreographer Saroj Khan, the gorgeous dance sensation Malaika Arora Khan and ace director Kunal Kohli, Nach Baliye 2 returns with yet another exciting season of the show that made a phenomenal entry into Indian households last year, capturing the hearts of millions of viewers.

The performance episode of Nach Baliye 2 will air every Monday at 8:30 pm, showcasing the exciting competition between the 10 celebrity jodis. The reality episodes, which will air every Friday at 8:00 pm, will provide a sneak-peak of the rehearsals and other aspects of the lives of the celebrities. A new addition to the Nach Baliye this year is the voting special, which airs every Tuesday at 8:00 pm.

Tune-in to Star One on Monday, 2 October at 8:30 pm … Pick your favourite Jodi… Vote… and join in all the madness and masti of Nach Baliye 2!

If you have been wondering why at least 15 actors across different soaps are looking tired and puffy eyed on their shows, blame it on Star One. The channel’s second season of Nach Baliye, hinged on hope and tinged with glitz, started this week.

Not much has changed since the first season, except for the lavish sets and a different judge (Farhan Akhtar gives way to Kunal Kohli). What rankles though is the lack of novelty value the first season breathed of. Now we know just how much cleavage Malaika will show, we know Saroj Khan’s going to whistle and bless her favourite couples with currency notes. In fact, even the participants come loaded with expectations.

“I wanted to have a seeti from Saroj-ji so badly!” chirped at least a few of the
contestants at the end of their performances. And true to expectation, some got it, some didn’t. Shweta Tiwari and her husband even made it to the currency note stage. In the last season, Varun Badola and Rajeshwari had to wait till the fifth round to get similar honours. Now, apparently, the message to judges and contestants is clear – keep the hype up.

Tanaaz Currim and beau Bakhtyar Irani must have taken the message too seriously. Their exultation on the reading of scores was so alarmingly loud, one wondered if the channel keeps a team of paramedics ready to handle emergencies. As for the rest of the couples, they just look happy to have made it to the final 10 of the second season, if not the first.

Anchors Sachin and Supriya are charming by themselves. But did they have to revert to Marathi every five minutes just to stand apart? Or did they forget they were catering to a national audience?

Ok, so Monday night saw the inaugural episode of the second season of Nach Baliye. Did it live up to the hype? Well, to quite an extent. HT Style gives its first impression of the show by giving its own set of awards. The most uninspiring set award goes to the dance floor. The pink and orange coloured backdrop for the performances was unimaginative. The most staged act award goes to last year’s winners Supriya (she needed to go easy on her eye make up and her track-suit-like shiny pants) and Sachin Pilgaonkar. They looked a wee bit nervous. The most missed hosts award goes to last year’s hosts Shabbir Ahluwalia and Sangita Ghosh. We missed Shabbir’s raw sex appeal and Sangita’s spunk. The most enjoyable performance award goes to Bakhtiyar Irani and Tanaaz Lal. They truly rocked!

The most rocking bahu award goes to Shweta Tiwari for putting in a sizzling performance with minimal support from her husband Raja, scoring full points from the jury and weeping inconsolably at the sight of her mother and daughter.

The most sporting participant award goes to Shweta Kawaatra. After getting an earful on her ‘unladylike’ moves by judge Saroj Khan, any weak hearted person would have howled on national television, but not ‘Pallavi’. The most disappointing jodi award goes to Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan. They looked great but couldn’t burn up the dance floor. The what-do-I-make-of-him award goes to Rasik Dave. Rasikbhai, hit the gym fast and tame those unruly locks. Dancing may not be your forte, but you can at least look presentable. he most lovable husband award goes to Manav Gohil for silently supporting Shweta Kawaatra as the jury tore her to shreds he three smooth talking devils award goes to Malaika Arora Khan, Kunal Kohli and Saroj Khan for giving two hoots to the ‘feelings’ of the participants even as they harshly criticized each undeserving participant and lauded the good ones.

Nach Baliye 2 was aired on Monday night. Did it live up to expectations? Was it better than season one? How was director Kunal Kohli, who replaced the oh-so-articulate Farhan Akhtar? Who got the ceetees from Saroj Khan? What did the contestants wear? More importantly, what did Malaika wear? Read on for the HiTLIST review…

The judges

We missed Farhan Akhtar and his keen analyses. Kunal Kohli needs to add more words to his vocabulary besides ‘energy’ and ‘chemistry’.

Malaika sizzled. She looked drop dead gorgeous and her outfit deserved a ceetee. Saroj Khan was honest and to-the-point. She clapped, she whistled and dove into her purse and came out with two 100 rupees notes for Shweta Tiwari and Raja and Bakhtyaar Irani and Tanaz Lal.

The hosts

Sachin and Supriya were dressed tackily. The clothes suited neither their personalities nor their body. Agreed, they were not being judged in the second season, but there’s no excuse for ghastly garbs.

Sachinji, it’s bad enough we have to put up with your toupee, but now you’ve gone and gotten your eyebrows threaded too? Next time you want to try something new, try Botox. Supriya’s outfit made her look like Huma Khan. But as a hostess, she was just perfect.

The contestants

Though the couples wore synchronised outfits, it looked like they were screaming for attention. Malaika may have loved the colours on Arjun Punjj and Gurdip Kohli’s costumes, but most looked like they were pulled out from the closet of a film’ s extra — the kind that even the extra wouldn’t wear!

Supporters

The inseparables, Riva Bubber and Rakshanda Khan. We assume they were cheering for good friends Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan. Rakshanda couldn’t stop clapping when the duo arrived and their poor scores surely dampened her enthusiasm.

The moments

We liked Narayani Shastri and Gaurav Chopra’s reaction to their high scores. There was none of that over-enthusiastic screaming and yelling. Stoic indeed. Tanaz and Bakhtyaar, please take note. Shweta Tiwari began crying as soon as her act was over. Kasautii hangover?

She’s so used to crying all the time on the show, but the tears flowed relentlessly on this show too. It’s about dance baby, not drama. Tattlers may accuse her of trying to garner sympathy votes, but it all looked genuine. And she did rock. Gurdip Kohli rocked too. But like Saroj Khan pointed out, she overdid the mouth movements a bit.

Shweta Kawaatra, we look forward to seeing a feminine performance the second time around. Yash Tonkk was looking for his better half in the crowd when she was dancing right next to
him. Manav and Arjun too were guilty of the same.

By: Vickey Lalwani

Without his wife Shweta Tiwari around, Raja Chaudhary was a picture of neglect at the Nach Baliye 2 party held at a suburban hotspot last week. For the most part, Raja stood alone in a corner and few people interacted with him. Says a guest present at the party, “Maybe a few people did speak to him, but all they asked was why his wife was missing from the party.”

New assignment

So while Raja was being snubbed, where was his better half? We discovered that the actress had stayed away from the get-together because of a new assignment. Shweta has signed up with Reliance Radio as a radio jockey, and was recording that night. She will be doing a show titled Saher.

Confirming this, Shweta said, “The show will be on bhakti, yoga, feng shui and other related things. It will be broadcast every morning. I have worked with Tarun Katiyal (he’s now heading Reliance Radio) for Yatra, and this show is similar to that. I got a call from his office fifteen days back, and everything was finalised quickly.”

How will she adjust her Kasautii… schedule? Shweta said, “That will not be a problem. For Reliance Radio, I have to record only four days a month.”

Coffee woes

As for poor, lonely Raja, his night of woes didn’t end there. After the party the contestants headed for Taj Land’s End for some late-night coffee. But Raja didn’t know his way around Bandra and was once again left out of the clique. Raja confessed, “I’m not very familiar with Bandra. So I spoke to Hussain and Tina, and followed them in my car.”

But Raja denied that he was upset with the behaviour of the other contestants. He said, “If you are happening and working with certain people, then people will talk to you. If you are not in the limelight, you are not given any importance.”

By: Vickey Lalwani

Shweta Tiwari
Why our jodi should win: Our chemistry is the best.
If we don’t win, who might: Phir kya farak padta hai?
My dancing skills: 3/10.
My favourite couple from Nach Baliye 1: Varun and Rajeshwari.
My favourite Bollywood dancer: Hrithik Roshan.
One song I’d love to dance to: Are Ja Re Hat Nathkat (Navrang).
My dancing style: Main steps mein nahin bandh sakti. My syle is free style!
Saroj Khan or Farah Khan: It’s a tie!
Who is Shiamak Davar? A choreographer.

Raja Chaudhary
Why our jodi should win: Because Shweta is jhelofying me and we are sacrificing the time we should have spent with our daughter!
If we don’t win, who might: Nobody at all.
My dancing skills: 5/10.
My favourite couple from Nach Baliye 1: Rajiv-Delnaaz.
My favourite Bollywood dancer: Shahid Kapoor.
One song I’d love to dance to: Main Jat Yamla (Pratigya).
My dancing style: Just like Salman Khan.
Saroj Khan or Farah Khan: Saroj Khan.
Who is Shiamak Davar? Great dancer and choreographer.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group’s (ADAG) Adlabs Films Limited Monday launched a nationwide FM (frequency modulation) radio channel where leading television celebrities will play the role of RJ (radio-jockey) for some of its programmes.

While Shweta Tiwari (Prerna of ‘Kasautii Zindagi Ki’ fame) will host a programme of spiritualism and devotion early morning, Mona ‘Jassi’ Singh along with her best-buddy (onscreen) Gaurav ‘Nandu’ Gera will play some hit numbers to liven up the spirits of listeners during breakfast hour.

BIG 92.7 FM, the channel, with leading Bollywood hero Abhishek Bachchan as its brand ambassador, has also teamed up with Sunil Pal of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge to add the humour quotient.

The channel will be rolled out in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.

With a phase-wise investment of Rs.4 billion, the channel plans to open up 54 radio stations all across the country by April next year with alliance partners.

Launching the channel here at a press conference, the channel’s chief operating officer Tarun Katial said: ‘We are aiming to touch the lives of 200 million listeners, that is, every fifth Indian in the country, every third Indian in the cities and every eighth Indian in the villages.’

Said Katial, claiming to create pan-Indian presence: ‘Our FM will reach 45 cities, 1,000 towns and 50,000 villages as a reliable medium of the information.

‘We are going to be the only channel having multiple frequency.’

BIG 92.7 FM now joins the race with Radio City (91 FM), Radio Mirchi (98.3 FM), Red FM (93.5), Rainbow and many other such hit radio channels.

The craze of FM channels began in the mid-nineties when private players in the four metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai – started getting FM slots.

Gradually it started spreading all across big cities and today it has turned into a war of megahertz with each one of them claiming to be ‘different’.

By A. L. Chougule

These days Shweta Tiwari is literally living on her toes, juggling the day between her soap Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Nach Baliye 2 and her daughter Palak. “I have been getting cramps in my legs and my back, neck and joints are paining,” says Shweta who hits the dance floor after midnight for a four-hour practice session and sleeps for a few hours before heading to shoot for Kasauti at 11 am. The actress says although she did have her share of stress and exhaustion while shooting for Kasauti, the past few weeks have been insane. Even her daughter is missing her terribly now. But Shweta is taking everything in her stride as she shoots for her show during the day and practises dance at night.

Even though the actress is a good dancer who has done several shows in the past, she feels Nach Baliye 2 is a different ball game all together. I am used to freestyle dancing and the problem with me is that I easily forget steps. What I learn today is gone tomorrow. And on top of that Raja (her husband) is a weak dancer though he practises for six to eight hours and is improving everyday. I don’t think we are going to last long in the competition because there are some good dancers like Narayani and Gaurav, Hussain, Bakhtiyaar and Yash,” she candidly admits.

The actress might not win Nach Baliye, but she has won over the other Balaji bahus Tulsi and Parvati in the age game. Unlike the other two she continues to look young and sensuous even though she is playing a mother to grown up children on screen. “That’s because I am younger to Smriti and Sakshi by three years. Or maybe with age I have started looking better,” laughs Shweta who started her career at 19, got married the same year and became mother the following year.

A few months down the line Kasauti happened and changed her life for good. “It’s been a great experience playing a character who goes from an innocent teenage girl who falls in love, gets pregnant with Anurag’s child, marries Mr Bajaj, becomes a mother, mother-in-law and finally a business- woman. The character has gone through a number of changes,” she says with pride. If playing Prerna has been an amazing experience it has however, not been without its share of gossip, alleged affairs, arguments and fights with co-actors. “No, that’s not entirely true,” she says. “I have had problems with only Cezzane (Khan) and I am quite open about it. Maybe he is nice with others but with me he is not a nice guy. We don’t get along well at all,” she reveals.

“In fact, I don’t like guys who act very friendly with girls and try to hug and kiss them. I come from a cultured middle class family. I am not a filmi girl and kissing and hugging is just not fine with me. That’s what I told Ronit (Roy) when he tried to act extra friendly. He agreed and since then we are friends. We shake hands, talk, laugh and work and that’s the end of it. I am like that with my other co-actors as well.” As for Cezzane, Shweta says he is not a good person and doesn’t know how to behave with ladies. “I have maintained a distance with him and though we shoot together everyday we don’t even try to talk to each other,” says Shweta firmly.

The credit for the success of Kasauti Zindagi Kay definitely goes to its lead protagonist Shweta Tiwari aka Prerna. Not just Ekta Kapoor, but even viewers glued to the serial for four long years vouch for her on-screen histrionics and acting abilities.

Shweta’s co-stars reveal that the actor has two sides to her personality. On the one hand she’s a thorough professional and will go to any extent to perfect her scenes. And this irrespective of her personal equations with a certain Mr Khan or Mr Roy on the sets, which are very strained most of the time. But this is only one part of the story.

On the personal level, it seems the actor has very strong likes and dislikes as far as people go. So, while Shweta talks to very few of them on the sets, she loves to gossip with her pals. Often times while she’s in her make up van she jabbers away about all things under the sun.

So next time you walk in on the sets of Kasauti, you know what Shweta will be up to! And you will know where she will be if there is no shot being taken!

Shweta Tiwari and her husband Raja Tiwari might look great together as a couple off-screen but as far as their on-screen chemistry is concerned, it isn’t sizzling enough. The Nach Baliye 2 choreographers assigned for them have apparently rated the couple five on hundred for their poor on-screen chemistry. While Shweta is a fantastic dancer and has danced in a couple of music videos (remember her dancing in one of Daler Mehendi videos) her husband has never danced in his life and has to start right from scratch.
Considering the dance show is all about a couple’s on-screen and off screen chemistry, Shweta is upset as she herself is a graceful dancer and enjoys dancing and her husband is quite the opposite (they have been married for seven years now)

Will someone please tell the talented actor not to get upset as practise always makes a man perfect!