Dance like a man

I can do the Bhangra but it’s difficult to dance on the show, says Harbhajan Singh as he gets set for his TV debut, writes Namya Sinha.

He’s known for his aggressive moves on the field, for making batsmen dance to his doosras, but now it’s Harbhajan Singh’s turn to face the music.

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And he’s doing it on the Colors reality dance show Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, on which his haseena is Mona (Jassi) Singh. “I am not a natural dancer,” confesses Bhajji upfront.

“Shaadiyon mein Punjabi gaane bajte hain aur Bhangra achha kar leta hoon, but it is really difficult to dance on the show.”

The cricketer says that choreographers were assigned to help him, but “it was a really difficult task for them because they had to make a non-dancer into an expert.”

So why did he decide to sign up for a reality dance show then? He candidly replies, “I was free after IPL since I was banned. When the producers asked me if I wanted to participate I thought “mere aur bhi dost kar rahein hain, toh I should also participate.”

His friends are also doing movies — is that his next stop? “Not at all,” he exclaims. “After this, you will just see me playing cricket for another eight
to ten years.”

IPL, movies and reality shows… are cricketers the next big thing in the entertainment industry? “Cricketers have always been the greatest entertainers,” he says. “It’s big here, and it’s followed like a religion. I want to be remembered as a cricketer who was an entertainer.”

He isn’t disturbed by Navjot Singh Sidhu’s comment that he ‘turned down such shows because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself’. “Unko aisa lagta hoga but maine aisa nahin socha and it’s a matter of personal choice,” says Bhajji. “I think it’s alright to be in such a show because at the end of the day, what matters is how hard you worked.”