Strictly Come Dancing is about to make history on Saturday night

One Strictly Come Dancing couple are making history on the BBC One competition this weekend, and it’s a pretty big deal.

The beloved Saturday night show has returned with the likes of Pete Wicks, Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri and DIY SOS star Nick Knowles taking to the ballroom.

Joining them are Morning Live star Dr Punam Krishan, who is partnered with Gorka Marquez.

The Scottish GP, 41, was the last celebrity to be saved from the dance off on Saturday, with Toyah Willcox and her partner Neil Jones managing to keep their place in the competition against Olympic swimmer Tom Dean and his partner Nadiya Bychkova.

And after the close call, Dr Punam is coming back with a bang, and making history as she does so.

For the first time in Strictly’s 20 years, a competing couple will be performing to a Bollywood song.

Aside from a special performance by the pro dancers in 2014, and another commercial Bollywood performance in 2022, the closest Strictly has come to the Indian moviemaking empire was with Will Young and Karen Clifton’s salsa to Jai Ho in 2016.

So it’s a pretty big deal that Dr Punam, whose parents moved from Punjab, India, to Scotland in the 1970s, is breaking the cultural barrier for the first time.

The mum-of-two and Gorka, 34, will be dancing Couple’s Choice to Bole Chudiyan from 2001 movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

The film, which was India’s most expensive at the time, is one of India’s highest rated and won five Filmfare awards and seven IIFA awards.

It starred ‘Kings of Bollywood’ Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, as well asJaya Bachchan, Kajol, Hrithink Roshan and Kareena Kapoor, and marked a huge cultural moment upon its release, partly thanks to its A-list cast and director Karan Johar.

Talking about bringing representation to our screens, Dr Punam said, according to GlasgowTimes: ‘The news is out, Gorka and I have the absolute honour of bringing Bollywood to the Strictly dancefloor.

‘Words cannot express how special that feels. I know that my family is going to be really, really proud. I hope to do it justice.

‘Gorka is embracing Bollywood and it’s going to be magical.’

Replying to one fan gushing over representation on the show, Dr Punam added: ‘Representation matters and this feels huge. My DMs have exploded today – I can feel the joy. Thank you for all the love and support.’

During training, she also shared a glimpse into the glamour of the performance, showing off her colourful bangles and saying: ‘We’re just in training but I’m about to put on all the Indian bangles, we’ve got hundreds of them here because they are part of the dance.

‘This is so exciting, I literally get to bring Indian bling to the dance floor.’

Fans are also unable to hold back their excitement, with @itspavasagoo writing: ‘Bole. Chundiyan. K3G. Every brown person ever is SCREAMING. I am not okay An actual Bollywood song ?! ON STRICTLY. Gag. Gasp. I’m in pain.’

‘OMG THE FIRST EVER BOLLYWOOD/ BHANGRA DANCE ON STRICTLY!!!!’ @RyanTheSoapking said.

‘AND WE ARE GETTING A BOLLYWOOD ROUTINE FOR MOVIE WEEK?!?!?! OH STRICTLY PRODUCERS I LOVE YOU. IGNORE EVERY BAD WORD I’VE SAID TO YOU,’ @ShirleighShirlz wrote.

‘What we’re doing, is for the first time, it’s never been done before,’ Gorka had previously teased during last week’s results show.

Last year, Gorka was partnered with BBC Asian Radio presenter Nikita Kanda, who also shared her plans to bring her South Asian heritage to the dancefloor.

Sadly though, the 29-year-old didn’t have she had the chance to do so, as she was the second celebrity booted out of the competition, but had told before her exit: ‘It would be cool to bring some part of my culture into it as the weeks go on.’

When asked if she and Gorka planned to incorporate any Bollywood into their dances, she had said: ‘We haven’t had any conversations about that, I know there was an amazing Bollywood number they did last year on the show.

‘We’ll see what happens during the competition, but I guess it doesn’t need to be just Bollywood, it could be any incorporation of South Asian culture.’

‘Some Punjabi music,’ Gorka chimed in with.

‘Yeah maybe some Punjabi music… we haven’t really spoken about it, but it would be cool to bring some part of my culture into it as the weeks go on,’ Nikita added.