/> Though he was an incontestable favourite of all three judges, Mahesh Manjrekar's ouster from Jhalak Dikhla Jaa last week and Shveta Salve's final loss to Mona Singh has left star-judge Sanjay Leela Bhansali unperturbed.

"Why should I take Mahesh's elimination or Shevta's defeat personally? People presumed Mahesh was a favourite because he's a fellow-filmmaker. But it doesn't work that way. Did you see any partiality in the way me and the other judges gave marks to Mahesh?

I'm no great friends with Mahesh, in any case. We have a mutual respect for our work. I'm there to do a job to the best of my abilities. I'm not concerned with the profession of the dancers, only their performances.

And not just me, but Farah Khan and Shilpa Shetty also gave more 10-out-of-10s to Mahesh than probably any other contestant. That's because he was absolutely entertaining, and he never missed a beat."

But as far as skills go Sanjay also ranks Mona Kapoor and Sveta Salve among the best. "Of course I was sad when Shveta didn't win. In fact I think Sveta has all the qualities of a dancing heroine.

The last of the truly great dancing heroines was Madhuri Dixit. But I also love Mona. She's so spontaneous, spunky and all-there. I'm very very happy for her."

As the show drew to a close Sanjay confesses he had the time of his life. "I was very skeptical about doing television. A lot of people felt I was too 'intense' to be on the home medium, and that it'd affect my public image. But I didn't care a damn. I don't have a public image.

If at all, I have one it should be of someone who laughs dances and sings a lot. That's how I am in real life. When I went and did Jhalak.... I enjoyed it immensely. I truly enjoy the company of my co-judges Farah and Shilpa.

I enjoy Archana Puransingh and Parmeet Sethi's anchoring. Now that came to an end I somewhere feel a little sad. Watching the contestants come and go, climb that many steps and then fall ...It was quite an experience."

Sighing Sanjay reveals, "The only bitter experience on the show was Akashdeep Sehgal. But we shall not discuss it."

Farah and Sanjay share a very special bonding. She insists on digging into his wallet each time she wants to reward a contestant.

Laughs Sanjay, "We've shared something special from 1992. We've shared some really mad moments. We've struggled and achieved something in our respective fields. And in spite of our huge differences of opinion along the way we've reached a comfort level where she could dig into my wallet. I wouldn't allow anyone else to do it."

Given a chance would he judge a TV contest again?

"No," comes the terse reply.