Mumbai, July 24 (IANS) Manoj Tiwari, host of reality show “Chak De Bachche”, had a heated argument with the judges - Raveena Tandon and choreographer-director Ganesh Acharya - for not paying attention to the contestants from the team of ‘Desi Dhurandhars’. The incident took place Monday when Manoj told the audience that they should not go by the judges’ verdict and instead apply their common sense while voting for ‘Desi Dhurandhars’ team, said a source.

When contacted, Manoj told IANS: “I was just appealing to the public on camera as we are asked to do so after every performance. I have nothing against Raveenaji or Ganesh ji.

“It is just because I thought that their marks would definitely affect public opinion, I said on camera not to go by their verdict. I never thought that they would react so drastically to it.”

“Besides, as I come from a small town I am deeply attached to ‘Desi Dhurandhars’. We often say, small town people don’t get the proper opportunity to perform. After getting a chance if they lose, it would be a great blow to the 70 percent population living in small towns.”

He further added that the judges might not have paid the desired attention to their performance and, therefore, awarded them low marks.

Reacting to his statement, Ganesh protested and took a serious note of Manoj’s statement. The situation further worsened when Raveena joined Ganesh in the argument and even went on to say that if Manoj thinks that their verdict was not important then they might even leave the show and let Manoj carry it himself alone.

Manoj said: “Judge’s remarks were quite de-motivating for the performers. How can the kids, who have come to the final round, be so bad that the judges passed such remarks on their performance?”

The production team also supported Manoj’s allegation about the judges paying less attention while the performance was going on.

Production sources said: “Judges carry mobile phones with them which they even do not bother to switch off while the shoot is on. Often we have to stop the shoot whenever their mobile rings.

“These have an adverse effect on the performance of the kids and the production team. We can not say anything to them because of their starry tantrums.”

This episode will be telecast Friday at 9 p.m. on 9X channel and the grand finale will be telecast live August 2.

Indian cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and batsman Yuvraj Singh will be present for the grand finale.