Mumbai, Jun 23 (IANS): Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor will replace veteran actress Madhuri Dixit as a judge on the upcoming eighth season of dance reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa”.

Colors channel CEO Raj Nayak took to Twitter on Monday to announce Shahid’s entry.

“Colors welcomes the King of dance and actor par excellence @shahidkapoor to #JhalakDikhlaJaa Coming soon #YouthIcon,” he tweeted.

The 34-year-old actor, who has starred in films like “Jab We Met”, “Kaminey” and “R…Rajkumar”, started his career as a student of ace choreographer Shiamak Davar. He has shown his dancing skills at different stages -- both in India and abroad.

This will be the first time the “Haider” actor will be seen as a judge on a reality show. The names of his co-judges are yet to be announced.

Earlier, Madhuri, who was associated with the show for last three seasons, announced her departure in a statement saying she opted out of the show “to concentrate on another project” with the channel.

"I have been on 'Jhalak...' for three years now and I am taking a break to focus on other projects. I will be back shortly with probably something even more exciting. I wish 'Jhalak...' the very best for a spectacular season,” she said.

The upcoming eighth season of “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa” -- the Indian version of the internationally-acclaimed reality show "Dancing with the Stars" -- will feature celebrities like Shamita Shetty, Raftaar, Vivian Dsena, Radhika Madan, Kavita Kaushik, Sanaya Irani, Deepika Samson, Ashish Chowdhry, Mohit Malik, Scarlett Mellish Wilson and Faisal Khan.

The show is expected to go on air in July.