Everyone was rather shocked when Shantanu Maheshwari did not end up winning Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9. The teen star had been wowing the judges every week with superb performances. He has a huge fan base and many felt he was the deserving one. However, Shantanu is not upset about not winning the trophy. He says, “No…I am not at all disappointed. Why should I be disappointed when people felt I was deserving enough. I am happy with what I have earned in this journey. I feel it will do good to me.” Shantanu is a world-class hip-hop dancer and has done shows like D3 and MTV’s Girls on TV. However, Jhalak was a totally different experience for him. “Initially, it was little challenging. I had to fit into the set up, which was way too glamorous. JDJ is a great platform that I was offered to showcase my talent before such eminent personalities. I am glad my performances impressed everyone and I emerged as a better performer .I am happy with my growth,” he says.

(Also Read: Shantanu Maheshwari deserved the Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9 trophy, feel fans!)

When we questioned him about what he felt sealed the deal for Teriya Magar at the finale, he said, “I don’t know what worked for her. I have no idea. I am no one to comment. I cannot analyse it. I don’t know what helped Teriya clinch the trophy. It is public voting. Of course, she is a fab dancer and so is her partner, Aryan Patra. Their dance guru Rishikaysh is a dear friend. Somewhere down the line, I am not disheartened. I am happy to be acknowledged as a good performer. Respect is something I die for. I got respect from JDJ.” Shantanu maintains that winning and losing is not everything in life. This year all the three finalists of Jhalak are dancers. The show is projected as the journey of a non-dancer to a dancer but that did not seem the case. He says, “Yes, the show started off with that theme but now it is about a journey. Even last season was won by a dancer. This year we had three finalists who knew dance. Two of them came from reality background and knew how it worked.” He maintains that Salman had a upper hand given his background. “I had my own journey and so did Teriya,” he says.

Shantanu says he would love to do different types of reality shows in the future. He is very happy with the audience’s appreciation and feels reality shows are fun. The young man like others has Bollywood aspirations. He feels that films help an actor grow as they get time to prepare better. “People there really help you learn and get better in films. In TV you give more than hundred percent but you don’t really get to learn so much,” he says. We saw how much Jacqueline Fernandez appreciated Shantanu. “It feels nice especially because she is a big star and such a humble person. It is nice to see that my talent and acts got recognised,” he states. Besides Jackie, Shantanu also made friends with Shakti Arora and Nora Fatehi.

The competition was pretty tough in Jhalak. “I have always maintained that I have no tough competitor, My competition was with myself. People knew me as a dancer and I had to show improvement all through. My competition is with myself,” he says. He further says, “The only surprise was that they kept on getting wildcards (laughs out loud).” Finally, when we asked him about his X-factor that makes him a teen star, he said, “Nahi yaar….I really don’t think I will be able to answer this. I do not think anyone can. Once I find or try to analyse that I will become fake. I won’t be true to myself anymore,” he signs off.