By Ila Sankrityayan
Mumbai, Apr 11 (IANS): Bollywood choreographer Marzi Pestonji never thought of making a career in dance and choreography but he said it just happened without any planning.
"I am getting paid for my hobby," said Marzi while having a conversation with IANS.
He is among the panel of judges on 'Dance Deewane Juniors' which also includes veteran Bollywood actress Neetu Kapoor, actress and dancer Nora Fatehi while Karan Kundrra is the host of the show.
He continued: "My association with dance started when I was 16 years old and went to attend a function where I saw beautiful girls as part of Shiamak Davar's dance team. I asked one of my friends about them and he told me they are part of Shiamak's group. So, I joined Shiamak just for that reason and slowly dance became part of my life. If I had not seen those pretty girls in the performance, I wouldn't be a dancer now. Maybe I would have been an engineer or had opted for something else."
Marzi has been part of a number of dance reality shows such as 'Dance India Dance', 'Nach Baliye' and currently he is seen on 'Super Dancer 3'. Marzi believes that every dance show gives him a new experience and he gets to see fresh faces and talents and dance forms.
"Every time a show comes in, they bring something new to the table, right. Which I feel is good, because dance keeps evolving. So, these shows introduce us to something new that is the best part and I believe the learning process should never end in life."
On the question of what makes this show stand apart from other reality shows, he asserted: "I always believe that no matter how good your judges are, or how good a host is, if your talent is not too good, it's not fantastic, nothing can work. People have the option of seeing other dance reality shows. So, we make sure that that talent is very good. There should be something more than what meets the eye more than what is good. And that's what we were looking for."
Talking about the format of 'Dance Deewane Juniors', he elaborated: "There are solos, duos and groups."
He emphasised what matters most is how contestants can impress the judges and especially Marzi said that among all of them he is the toughest as a judge.
"What hits me most will matter the most. I'm not that easily swayed. I've seen too much so it becomes more difficult for someone like me to easily say, 'Yes, you are good'. It is not easy to impress me for that matter."
Marzi though added that: "Some kids are really gifted and we just need to mould them in the right way to make them perfectionists."
He further shared about his chemistry with the judges and he said: "I just love this panel. Of course, my all time favourite is Farah Khan as she is as mad as I am. She is crazy. She is half Parsi and I am full Parsi so we get along very well. Similarly I am fond of Geeta Kapur also.
"This panel of judges is quite fresh and new for me. Neetu ma'am is humble. She is bindaas. Nora has a completely different avatar on the sets rather than what you see her outside. She is just crazy. Three of us have great chemistry on the sets. We are pulling Neetu maam's legs. I am teasing Nora and Karan. So, overall we enjoy it a lot."
Marzi as a judge to keep himself updated he keeps studying different dance forms.
"Dance is something that you cannot say, 'I've learned enough'. There's always something else you want to learn. Of course, there are limitations that you can't do a particular dance form, like I can't do backflip but I know the theoretical part. So, if somebody is performing I can judge them very well. I can tell that, 'Your technique is right or wrong'. I am trained well and I love to catch mistakes."
Any dance form that is his favourite: "I love to do tapdance. But there are limitations in this country like you don't get to do tap dance much. So, when I go abroad, I do tapdance. But it's very difficult and needs a lot of strength. Though it looks easy from outside but it is quite challenging," he wrapped up.