VJ and model Archana Vijaya may have been evicted from Jhalak Dikhlaja, but she only has nice things to say about the hugely popular dance reality show. “The show introduced me to so many new styles of dancing. I enjoyed performing contemporary and ballet the most though. In fact, it was not not just me, even my parents could not believe that I could dance that way. As young girls all of us at some point would have wished to wear a tutu and perform a ballet. This dream of mine came true on the show,” she says recalling her experience fondly.
Once on the show, she also found dance to be a very good stressbuster, as she adds. “Dance was an entirely new thing for me and when I was approached to be a part of the show, I just followed my instinct and said yes to it and today I am glad for having done so! Dancing is not only a fun activity but also relieves you of stress. It is a good form of workout, as well. Having realised its advantages, I now plan to enroll myself into a dance class,” she says revealing her new found love for dance.
The other thing that made her Jhalak experience memorable was judge and actor Madhuri Dixit, she says continuing to talk about the show. “She is a doll. Her criticisms and those of the other judges are very constructive, as well. I think that’s what makes this a very happy show. Before I came on board Jhalak… I made it clear that fights, tears and drama were not for me. But by the time my stint there ended, I had cried twice! That’s how emotionally overwhelming the show was.” And now that the show is over what’s next in store for her, we ask? “I am a free spirit and always like doing things that are out of my comfort zone. Having anchored several cricket centric shows and travel shows that centered around cricketers such as Tour Diary, I now want to host a talk show that will feature sportspersons. But right now I want to take off on a holiday. The past few days have been hectic and I just want to unwind a bit before starting something new,” she says. We are surprised Bollywood doesn’t find a mention in her list of must do’s and she says, “At one point may be I did consider films as a career but now I am not all that keen. But given the unpredictable person that I am, I might just give films a try, if approached.”
As the conversation draws to a close, we tell her it’s surely just not her stunning looks (due to which she naturally emerged the winner of Get Gorgeous, a model hunt) that is taking her places and she agrees saying, “There are millions of goodlooking people out there. But what really matters is the confidence. It is also important to believe in yourself and most importantly to just be yourself!”
