Javed Jaffrey: Now dance shows less about dance

Aug 4, 2013 IANS

Mumbai, Aug 4 (IANS) Actor-comedian-choreographer-producer Javed Jaffrey, whose dance show "Boogie Woogie" was one of the first dance reality shows on the small screen, says nowadays the focus is less on dancing skills and more on other things.

"Now the platform is there, but somewhere it becomes exploitative. They zoom in on, say the eyes of the participant or show the participant's old mother... The shows focuses on the reality part of it more than the ance. There was a lot of respect during our show," Javed told IANS.

Javed judged "Boogie Woogie", which ran for 15 years and became one of longest running dance shows, along with his brother Naved and actor Ravi Behl.

"We had a strong dance background and we knew what it involved and the work it required. It had a lot of soul and had a heart. It was all about giving respect to dancers and enjoying with them," he said.

He says "Boogie Woogie" takes pride in being original.

"When we started, it was an original show. It was not started as a franchise of a foreign show. There is a bias towards foreign shows. We were indigenous and rooted here," he said.

The 49-year-old, who was seen in films like "Meri Jung" and "Salaam Namaste" and produced National Award winning documentaries "Inshallah, Kashmir" and "Inshallah Football", said given a chance he would love to make a show like "Boggie Woogie" again.