Sandip Soparrkar came in light when he choreographed the pop-divas of west, Madonna, Shakira and Britney Spears and is presently having a great time judging the kids on Dance India Dance, along side Farah Khan. Very few know that he is also the first Indian to have been certified by the ‘Ballroom Dance Teachers Training School’ in Bonn, Germany In an interview, he spoke highly of Indian kids in to dancing and also shares surprises he has got on the show. So, are you enjoying judging DID?
Yes, it has been fabulously beautiful experience from the first day of auditions to wild card, it has been amazing. These kids are just not the good dancers but they are also very well behaved.
Have these kids surprise you?
Many kids have surprised us on the show by their dancing. At times it is so unbelievable to see that a five year old could dance better than 25year old. Kolkata kids were so good with classicals, and they were also passionately promoting the various classical dance forms on the show. One thing that I was not expecting from Delhi that many fathers would come to support their daughters during the auditions. I was expecting other way round, that mothers would come along with their daughter. In fact, I don’t remember in which city, mostly Jaipur, there was a kid whose 52 family members had come along to cheer for their child.
When talking of surprises, how it feels to have received countless roses from a family member of one of the contestants?
It was quiet embarrassing but at the same time it was fun. The roses kept coming on and on. I have done reality shows in past so these kinds of surprises you expect, people tell you that they like you and ask you to marry and all, but on a kid show I was least expecting.
You said you were least expecting from Delhi fathers to support their kids for dancing, so are you talking from you personal experience?
I come from an army background so my father always wanted me to join the service but, I was always in to dancing, so when I spoke to him about my penchant for dancing and also for the enrollment in a dance academy, his first reaction was that we’ll buy a flat in the amount of your fees. Later, he agreed when he recognized my passion for dancing.
Do you empathize with any of these kids on the show?
Yes, there is one boy, his name is Adhar. He is only 11 but is as tall as any 15-16 year would be and is also broad in size. I also use to be taller than the people of my age when I was young. You feel out of place when you are competing with kids who are your age but look half your age. Always there will be a kind of confusion when you are dancing. You are 11 year old and look grown-up, then people says itna bada hoke bhi bachchon jaisa dance kar raha hai…and at the same time you cannot count yourself in grown-ups also.
Coming back to the show, who'll do you see in top five?
It is too early to judge, may be in a weeks time I will be able to tell you. As of now, we have just got done with wild card round. Once when we get our top ten contestants and the votings begin, we’ll get to know who all the popular contestants are in the show.
How much do you personally approve of voting system?
It is good concept. Like, I have been following the voting system of DID’s last two seasons and I think they are quiet transparent. Sad part of voting system is that if the contestant is from south he might not get good number of votes because Zee is more popular in north than south. That ways there could be a partiality but after all it’s a game.
Even after having worked in Kites with the stars like Hrithik Roshan and Kangna, you recently stated that Hollywood actor are more professional than Bollywood actors and also you said, you find Bollywood dancing “weird”.
No I didn’t mean that, I was misinterpreted. All I meant saying that Indian actors’ working pattern is different from that of Hollywood actors. It was nothing on anyone’s professionalism. About Bollywood dancing I said that since it is mix of all the kinds of dance forms ranging from hip hop, salsa, waltz, cha cha cha etc…it is hard to explain, thus it is weird for me.
Farah is queen of Bollywood and you have your expertise in Ballroom dancing, so how do you’ll judge the contestants.
We both respect each other’s space and judgments. There has been time when she has liked someone’s performance and I didn’t, but we don’t doubt each other’s judgment. We judge the show from our respective point of view. I judge the contestants for techniques and she looks at the entire presentation.
Which was the toughest judgment on the show so far?
Last time when we had to declare Anuraag’s ouster from the competition, we both were in tears. We cannot be partial, and so were torn between the good dancers and our favourite contestant.
