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So any predictions, the competition is less than a month away, and I want to see some drama again on this forum!


1) Zor
2) UIUC Fizaa


I still think Zahanat should've got the bid, but whatever...

Bhangra over Bharatnayam.

Placings:

1 - Zor/BSB/Fizaa/Nasha
2 - Zor/BSB/Fizaa/Nasha

One of these 4 teams will win.

First off let me say that this year's Bollywood America is going to be one of the sickest competitions ever. I am incredibly excited given the amount of creativity we have seen this year. It is difficult to predict who will win, but if I had to:

1) UIUC Fizaa
2) UCLA Nashaa

Here is my rationale:

DE Kamaal: I saw you guys in person at both Phillyfest and SAS. This team is in its rebuilding year, but improving with every performance. The improvement from Pfest to SAS was very noticeable, but not enough to place. If the Asian guy's stunts are clean that will help, but the overall performance was not clean (at all). The HIMYM theme was amazingly well done in BWS, but there you have the advantage of retakes. I don't expect you to place, but best of luck at BA and Elite 8.

UA Om Shanti: I was absolutely blown away at TMP. Jaime's dancing and stunts, the dark theme, and the 2 swan leads were fantastic. I'm not concerned that you didn't place at BB (since that's an HFD competition and you are a fusion team) but not placing at JS was odd. BSB, Zor, and Fizaa beat you at JS. I hope you bring out something extra at BA since I became a huge fan after TMP!

UCLA Nashaa: I was blown away by you at Phillyfest, but after watching your video from BB I realized it was the production value of your performance that blew me away and not the dancing. I couldn't help but feel pride when the Indian flag came up, so maybe you got some emotional sway as well. Your dancing is very clean, though not that difficult (beside the b-nat portion). Since you won two weeks in a row (beating BSB, Kamaal, Fizaa, Zor, and Om Shanti in the process) I think you will place at BA, most likely 2nd.

UIUC Fizaa: You deserved to place at Phillyfest, and then you came out and won 1st place two weeks in a row at JS and Tufaan. You are unequivocally the best set of female dancers in the circuit. Your male dancers are very good too, but overshadowed by the grace and cleanliness (and height!) of your girls. Since BA rightfully values dancing the most (which I think explains BSB>Azaad at Pfest last year and then Azaad>everyone at BA) I predict you will win it all!

Broad Street Baadshahz: You guys are so much fun to watch every time. The energy is off the charts. But you got 2nd and 3rd at Pfest and JS respectively for a reason. Choreography and especially cleanliness are areas you struggled with these last couple years. Regardless, y'all will put on an amazing show.

UCI Zamana: You won 1st at Muqabla, but didn't place at BB or JS. Seems like you are better at sprinting than long distance. This is consistent with BU Jalwa last year, which also won Muqabla but did not place at JS or BA.

BU Jalwa: I have only seen your Muqabla performance via UStream, so I don't have a great sense for your team. Furthermore, you have yet to do an 8-min performance this year so we do not know your theme. Regardless, you got revenge for the ATS finals by beating UC Dhadak in the first round and then took out BSB before falling to UCI Zamana. I think it was a pretty tight battle, but I really do not know how this will translate to BA. Based on what happened last year and Zamana this year in 8-min competitions, it will be an uphill battle to place at BA.

UC Dhadak: Great job winning ATS, but based on the aforementioned logic, I don't expect you to place at BA. Of course, if you win BOB tonight that will change everything.

USC Zeher: I haven't seen you perform in person this year, but one 2nd place performance and 2 non-placings suggest you won't place at BA.

UCSD Zor: I haven't seen you perform this year either. However, judging from two 2nd place finishes in which reviewers consistently give compliments, you are one of my dark horse picks. You have an army bit and contemporary dancing, which steps away from the HFD trend in a good way. If you upstage Fizaa and Nashaa, the two teams that have won twice this year, that would be incredible.

Tonight's BOB result between Dhadak, Zor, and Nashaa should give us a preview of who will place at BA. In fact I would go as far as to say that the winner tomorrow will get runner up or 1st place at BA.

In sum, I think this will be a battle between Fizaa vs Nashaa, but Zor could play spoiler.

This is tough since too many of these teams deserve to be recognized. I'll start by saying that Zor, BSB, Nashaa, and Fizaa are proven favorites as stated above, with Om Shanti not too far behind. Teams like Zamana, Zeher, Jalwa, Kamaal, and Dhadak could no doubt play the spoiler, but we'll just have to wait and see. History says that management pick will place second, but this year I'm guessing it'll be easier said than done...we'll see what BSB has in store and if they can continue this.
Zor: great routine, great energy, ok theme, cool choreo, great male leads.
BSB: powerful, rigid, fun to watch, great energy, good theme.
Nashaa, great story, great song choice, good choreo, patriotic, very clean.
Fizaa: great girl unit, great girl lead, fun story but abrupt ending, clean.
Om Shanti: Arguably one of the best stories this year, great girl leads, great guy lead. Please make your routine more like your TMP one.
Zamana: Good choreo, could be cleaner, guys need to be on par with the girls. Girls need to mimic the lead girl and you'd be damn good. Story could use work, possibly throw in a love story?
Zeher: Much improved from comp to comp, can't wait to see what you guys have in store. Gujju gimmick makes no sense. Male lead overpowers everyone else, female lead shouldn't lose energy in the last few songs..it's easily noticeable.
Jalwa/Kamaal: Haven't seen you guys yet.
Dhadak: Heard your BOB performance was great, hopefully it's even better at BA.

If I had to choose:
1) Nashaa unless SD can play spoiler
2) SD/Fizaa unless BSB can play spoiler

This year's BA sees the dominance of coed Filmi-Fusion teams. At this point, I believe our circuit is now only filmi-fusion (notice I didn't say there was a distinction between HFD and Fusion...looking at this year, it's all just filmi fusion now).

This year's been the year of production; every team has brought in CRAZY amounts of production quality. It's mindblowing to watch these performances full of sick costumes, props, gimmicks, dance mixes, backdrops, fog machines, "smoke" machines (the ones Zahanat used), and other performance enhancing tools. If we showed this to the Bollywood Industry, they'd be amazed at how much talent is in the USA, surprisingly at the collegiate scene.

Arizona Om Shanti-With one of the most creative themes to ever hit the DDT scene, they have that flair that isn't your typical HFD. Their choreo is dynamic in its style and they have the production quality of any other team there, and then some. They may just be one of the dark horses if they bring something not seen before.

UCLA Nashaa-On paper, this team can be quickly judged to be BA 2012 champs. They've essentially "hacked" the judging rubric by fine tuning their performance to a complete, award winning Bollywood performance. However, their dancing is not as strong as of the other teams imho. Having already won two BA bids, they have the mentality in them, but I feel as though they'll need something more dance-oriented to help them win over these judges.

UCSD Zor-Their production quality has been amazing. Their routine is one of the most dynamic routines I've seen. Their X-factors lie in their contemporary and male solo. In terms of choreo, they'll have some of the best of the night. If they can pull through with their energy, sync, and grace, they may just have a legit chance of winning it all imho.

UC Dhadak-Not having seen this team's full routine, I don't know what to expect. I saw their NNR routine and it was pretty good. However, they'll need to bring something unique to the table if they want a chance at getting something legit out of this.


UIUC Fizaa-They're in the same boat as UCLA in terms of achievements and confidence. I haven't seen their full routine but from watching snippets at Tufaan, they, just like UCLA are poised on paper to win this.


USC Zeher-With an amazing plot and production quality. They'll definitely put up a performance with their extreme energy and energy.

UC Irvine Zamana-They'll be pretty clean and I'm sure to fun to watch. They have an interesting theme and their choreo is on the better end of the HFD spectrum.

Delaware Kamaal-Winning BWS for the second straight year is BIG. They've improved their choreo from last year and if they replace their Egyptian theme with the HIMYM theme, then it'll surely be a crowd pleaser.

Broad Street Baadshahz- I feel like they have something up their sleeves. These dudes have improved so much from last year. They have a complete performance at this point in time and have the most stage experience. I'm betting they might place but BA is such a crapshoot between 2-4 teams this year.

BU Jalwa-Another team that is more dance oriented. There is so much surprise with this team since they havn't competed since NNR. Like people have said, they have so much variability in the direction they want to take their routine so that will definitely be interesting. Their choreo will definitely be above average relative to the other teams.

Good Luck to ALL the teams at BA this year! Can't wait to see the videos afterwards!

*USC Zeher-With an amazing plot and production quality. They'll definitely put up a performance with their extreme energy and sync.

1 fizaa
2 dhadak
3 bu
4 ucla
5 irvine
6 bsb
7 usc
8 delaware
9 zor
10 u of A