I miss Shahid Kapoor on 'Jhalak'; Jacqueline is cute and honest: Ganesh Hegde

Mumbai: Ace choreographer Ganesh Hegde misses actor Shahid Kapoor, who was his co-judge on "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa" last season, and feels that his counterpart Jacqueline Fernandez is honest in her work.

Hegde is joined by Karan Johar and Jacqueline in the ninth season of the hit reality show. Last season Shahid was one of the judges who had then replaced Madhuri Dixit Nene.

"I miss Shahid Kapoor a lot as we had evolved a great bond on sets. Jacqueline is a cute and honest girl... We look at technical aspects but she becomes like a fan of the contestant and that is a nice quality," Ganesh told PTI.

However, the choreographer is a fan of Karan Johar.

"He (Karan) is one of the rarest persons that we have today as he directs a film, produces a film, does acting, hosting and judging. I follow him as the way he talks to a contestant is amazing.. His words are larger than life. There is power in his words. I try to learn that from him," Ganesh added.

This time too Ganesh will train and inspire people.

"This season also I will be the same as I will educate the contestants on moving ahead," he added.

Aired on Colors channel the celebrity contestants on season nine include Arjun Bijlani, Shakti Arora, Helly Shah, Surveen Chawla, Karishma Tanna, Salman Yusuff Khan, Shantanu Maheshwari, Nora Fatehi, Chef Harpal Singh, Sidhant Gupta, Gaurav Ghera and dancer duo Poonam and Priyanka.

"The show is about the journey of people through dance. A dancer can dance but a cricketer or a chef or a non dancer...They can't dance. Common people usually are not that good dancers and when they see non-dancers they feel that this person is just like them. This show is tricky," Ganesh said.

According to Ganesh there are quite a few talented contestants on "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa" and its difficult to pick the best dancers.

"There are lot of people who are good but it's difficult to pick one. I am busy looking at non-dancers. It's difficult to name one good person," he added.

Ganesh feels reality shows provide platform to budding artistes to showcase their talent.

"Whatever talent you have one can show that on a reality show. Reality show is usually a platform to show one's talent to the world," Ganesh said.

"It's a good thing as its (reality shows) an opportunity for new talent to come in and for the existing ones to reintroduce themselves. It is not damaging for anyone..It's a win win situation," he added.