'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7': Ashish Sharma dances away to success

Mumbai: Gruelling shooting schedules, practice sessions and dedication have borne fruit for actor Ashish Sharma, who walked away with the winner's trophy, a prize money and a brand new car, as the winner of dance reality show 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7'.

He danced and jumped with joy upon his victory, which he has credited to his choreographer, Shampa Sonthalia.

For the final episode, Ashish was competing against Karan Tacker, Mouni Roy and Shakti Mohan. There was a tie between Ashish and Karan, but the crew decided to consider only audience votes and Ashish won the trophy.

Ashish was awarded a prize money of Rs.30 lakh and a Mahindra XUV during the finale, which saw the presence of Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and Varun Dhawan as special guests.

The finale was an entertaining affair with judges Madhuri Dixit, Remo D'Souza and Karan Johar performing too. Madhuri, Bollywood's dancing diva, regaled the live as well as TV audiences with an aerial act and grooved to 'Main tenu samjhava', 'Ghaghra' and 'Choli ke peeche'.

Even Karan Johar danced with all four finalists, while Remo stunned the audience with a robotic act.

There were additional performances by comedienne Bharti Singh as well as singers Mika and Shaan. If that wasn't enough, the humour quotient was added by the Gutthi and Dadi, the beloved characters from 'Comedy Nights With Kapil.

The seventh season of the dance show -- where multiple celebrities compete with each other with the help of pre-assigned professional choreographers -- went on air on June 7. It's the Indian version of international show 'Dancing With The Stars'.

With a line-up of 13 celebrities ranging from Kritika Kamra, Mouni Roy, Purab Kohli, Karan Tacker, Sophie Choudry, Pooja Banerjee to VJ Andy, professional dancer Shakti Mohan, singer Sukhwinder Singh, comedian Kiku Sharda as Palak, and cricketer S. Sreesanth, the show offered some "never seen before" action on the stage.

The show was initially hosted by small screen's 'Madhubala' Drashti Dhami and Bollywood actor Ranvir Shorey, but later actor-comedian Manish Paul replaced Drashti.