Shah Rukh khan, Farah khan, Karisma kapoor, Arjun rampal with the winners of Nach Baliye 4, Daljeet kaur and Shaleen bhanot

The verdict is out. The hit jodi of Shaleen Bhanot and Daljeet Kaur were crowned Nach Baliye 4 champions on Sunday night in a star-studded finale which was jazzed up by the presence of Shah Rukh Khan and Lara Dutta. t2 caught up with SHALEEN of the number 11 jodi, the morning after the win…

Has the winning feeling sunk in? It has to some extent. No it hasn’t actually. We are still gulping down glasses of water to make the feeling sink in (laughs). But honestly, both Daljeet and I are in a kind of trance. We have to keep pinching ourselves to reassure ourselves that we are the Nach Baliye champions. We are very happy.

What was going on in your mind when Shah Rukh Khan was about to announce the name of the winner?

We were so scared that there was no scope to think about anything else (laughs). Those were probably the longest two minutes of my life. Three months of hard work was completely hinged on those two minutes. That moment is not something that I would like to repeat too often. It was agonising.

The Shaleen-Daljeet pair have been a favourite from day one. But when did the two of you realise that you could actually make it?

All along we knew that we were putting in good performances and should make it to the finals. But we took each episode at a time and didn’t keep our hopes too high because every Saturday we would witness good dancers being eliminated. We just did our best and left the rest to God.

Was there a strategy that the two of you followed?

We didn’t follow any strategy. The only thing that we wrote down was a list of our bones and ligaments and after each episode we would try and calculate how many we had injured and how many were still intact! (laughs)

With so many other great dancers on the show, what do you think worked in your jodi’s favour?

This may sound very cliched, but I have to say that it has to be the wholehearted support of the audience. Our work is to entertain people and when the audience is behind you all the way, it becomes all the more rewarding. If the audience is with you, then no one can stop you.

What, in your opinion, was the turning point for your jodi on Nach Baliye?

As performers, we were always appreciated. But I think everyone started looking at us in a different light after the shadow dance episode. We got a standing ovation for that act and after that the perfect scores started coming in almost every episode.

Besides the winning moment, which has been your most memorable moment on Nach Baliye?

Every moment on the show has been special because we have learnt so much from every moment. Before entering the show I never thought that I would get the opportunity to shadow dance or dance on skates or even dress up as female dancer! The experience that each episode has given us is remarkable.

And which judge among Arjun Rampal, Karisma Kapoor and Farah Khan was your favourite?

All of them are darlings. Each of them gave us invaluable advice and mentored us through these three months. Arjun is a rockstar, Karisma is all about tremendous elegance and Farah is Farah. She has a wealth of knowledge about dance. She may scold you often, but at the end of the day you know she means well.

And how is the Shaleen-Daljeet jodi planning to celebrating the win?

By doing everything else but dance. We have done too much of it in these three months. People achieve and then dance. We have danced and achieved. But no more dancing for me for some time now!

Do you think the Shaleen-Daljeet jodi deserved to win Nach Baliye 4?
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