by Subhash K Jha

Manish Goel and Poonam Nirula

Manish: "Besides the fact that I got to spend so much time with my wife the best part of doing Nach Baliye is that people have stopped calling me by the names of my characters in Bhabhi and the other soaps. I'm finally Manish....and it feels like a culmination of six years of struggle. Yes, I'm hoping to resume my interrupted struggle to become a film actor. But I cannot ignore the reach and impact of television—not after Nach Baliye.

For sure it has been a blessing for me and my wife. We've suddenly become household names. And the fact that we've come so far proves there's fate guiding our hands—or shall I say, our feet? Of course we're proud. Every time Poonam and I went on stage we wondered if this would be our last appearance. All the other participants were so good. Somehow we've managed to come so far.

For someone who has been struggling for a foothold for so many years Nach Baliye is a true triumph....I've finally made my family in Delhi proud . We're a business family and Poonam was my mother's choice to be my wife. My mother insisted that I get married—nahin to Mumbai kha jayega. My mother saw Poonam while we were shooting a serial together. She asked me if I'd like to marry her. It took me three months to decide.

And then it took Poonam another three months to decide. So in just six months we were married. Today I'm proud to see we've danced our way into so many hearts. Am I nervous about the finals tomorrow? My nervousness lasts only until I reach the stage. After that I'm fine.

After what happened to my colleague Varun Bandola (he blanked out on stage) I wondered if that would happen to me tomorrow at the finals. But I cannot afford to slip up now. If I've come this far there has to be a reason for it."

Poonam: "Frankly the high that it gives me to see my husband being suddenly thrown into this recognition cannot compare with what I feel. Though I've been doing serials for some years now, I'm too much into my family—my husband and my little son. I had gained so weight after motherhood, but I didn't care. Now I've lost a lot of the weight doing the strenuous dance movements.

The best part of doing Nach Baliye was that my husband and I got so much time to spend together. Was it difficult for me to cope with the impossible schedules because of my one-year old son? Not really. Even Rohit Roy and Manasi Joshi have a small child.

It's all about time management ...and the desire to do something unexpected and life-making. Nach Baliye has definitely been decisive for me and Manish. Everywhere, kids call out to us by our real names. Even our son who has been seen on the show is now a little star.

I feel good, especially for my husband. Yes, I'm nervous about the finals tomorrow. We've to be on stage for a full twelve minutes...and live. If we win we want to use the prize money of Rs 50 lakhs for PETA, a cause I believe in, and for our beta. But right now we aren't thinking of the money."

Sachin & Supriya Pilgaonkar

Sachin: "We've tried our level-best. We're very nervous, but not for the audiences' vote. No point in worrying about something that isn't in our hands. We want to perform well tomorrow....Considering we aren't much of dancers we're truly amazed at how far we've got. I really enjoyed working with my wife.

On 21 December we complete 20 years of marriage. Other professionals get only a couple of hours with their wife, and an annual holiday to unwind. Through Nach Baliye we've been thrown together in unexpected ways. The show has helped us rediscover each other in the twentieth year of our marriage.

And if a 5-year old kid comes running to us shouting, 'Hi Sachin, Hi Supriya' we couldn't ask for more. ...I'm a Marathi ,and I make Marathi films. Nach Baliye has spurred me to direct a new song-and-dance film Aami Saatpute featuring me and Supriya. I feel very happy when people say she's a better actress and dancer."

Supriya : "Right now we're nervous, yes. I never knew I could dance until Nach Baliye . I've started enjoying dancing. I had never done such formal dancing. Nach Baliye has changed my life...Look at the love we've received from everyone. It' a new beginning for me. I'm basically a housewife . I've taken up acting assignments as and when my family life has allowed me.

I can only work when I'm at peace. And now with my daughter grown up I've enjoyed the dancing immensely. If we win, I want to use the prize money to do something that we'll never forget. I want to do something that will haunt us forever, as Nach Baliye has haunted us...

We've practiced day and night, thought about steps all the time. If we hadn't worked so hard we wouldn't have reached so far. At first we did it to save face. Then it became a question of sustaining our success. The Nach Baliye journey has been very rewarding for us. All the songs that Sachin and I performed were sung by the lead pair in films.

I'm privileged to have sung them with my husband....like Chod do aanchal which is a song for our generation or Chale jaise hawa which is for today's generation ...It was a dream to perform them. My husband has been very encouraging. We're trying our best to live up to audiences' expectations tomorrow. We'll try to give a clean performance for the finals. We've four songs to perform. And we're gathering our stamina together.

Our choreographers have always given us steps according to our age. Tomorrow too synchronization of movements would be our primary concern. That's the rhythm we've followed in twenty of our lives. During the last four months we've spent more time together than we did in twenty years of marriage. We're looking forward to the prize...prize aakhir prize hota hai, chahe 5 rupaiye ka ya 50 lakh ka.