Malaika loses cool, says men are sore losers

Mumbai: Malaika Arora is shocked by television actor Bhaktyaar Irani's behaviour on the grand finale of reality dance show Zara Nachke Dikha and says he had an "attitude problem from day one".

The male contestants led by Bhaktyaar staged an en masse walkout at the grand finale of STAR One's show last week after they realised they were losing.

The show pitted eight female celebrities against an equal number of guys. While the girls' team had Swini Khara, Narayani Shastri, Jennifer Winget, Delnaz Paul, Karishma Tanna, Maninee De, Mouni Roy and Rupali Ganguli, the boys team consisted of Amey Pandya, Chaitanya Chowdhary, Amit Tandon, Ali Asgar, Bhaktyaar Irani, Gaurav Chopra, Manish Goel and Vikas Sethi.

"Bhaktyaar definitely has a huge chip on his shoulder. I've been on other reality shows, in fact Zara Nach Ke Dikha was my fourth. But never have I encountered such bad behaviour," Malaika, who earlier judged Nach Baliye for the channel, said.

This is the first time the Chaiya chaiya girl lost her cool as a judge.

"I lost my temper and I'm not ashamed of it. The guys really behaved badly, especially Bhaktyaar, who I noticed had an attitude problem from day one. He's a good dancer, but he can't take defeat.

"Since the show was formatted as a men vs women thing it was only natural that either the boys or the girls would win. But Bhaktyaar and the other boys just spoilt three months of the time we all spent together as a family on the show."

Malaika judged Zara Nachke Dikha along with actor Chunkey Pandey.

"Can you believe what sore losers men can be?"

Malaika is still shocked days after the event.

"I've always maintained the male ego is the worst thing in the world. There's no way we women can deal with it. But to come on a reality show, promising to be fair and sporting, then to walk out saying the judges didn't know their jobs was honestly a bit too much to take. I was aghast."

What appalled Malaika even more was the fact that Bhaktyaar actually lashed out at guest judge Saroj Khan on television.

"I couldn't believe what I heard when I saw Bhaktyaar lashing out at Sarojji. Come on, she's a veteran, a legend in her field. Bhaktyaar really needs to put his ego to rest before going to another reality show."

The grand finale was not the only time Malaika had a problem with Bhaktyaar.

"Once earlier I had intervened on behalf of my colleague Chunky Pandey. I wish the boys on Zara Nachke Dikha had displayed more grace and chivalry. They proved Indian men treat women as the weaker sex. Luckily, I've a husband (Arbaz Khan) who treats me as an equal. But who knows how my son will turn out!"

The experience has left a bitter taste in Malaika's mouth. And she may not do another reality show for a while.

"In any case, I like to take a biggish break between two shows," she said.