ITV

Category: Box Populi

  • Drama with dance, a potent combination!

    Finally, there was some real action on Nach Baliye this week. No ordinary
    performance could have matched the tugging of the heartstrings that Shweta Tiwari managed with her dance with choreographer Sagar.





    Hubby Raja Choudhary‘s liver abcess couldn‘t have been more of a blessing in disguise, prevent as it did him from appearing on the show this week. Shweta and Raja couldn‘t really have hoped to last a couple more episodes, considering Raja‘s limited dancing capabilities and Shweta couldn‘t have soldiered on alone, despite avowedly being Saroj Khan‘s favourite. But Monday‘s emotional disqualification ensured Shweta a place in audience hearts for a long time to come, as she swayed and sashayed with trembling lips and eyes moist with tears. What more can a TV actor ask for?

    Drama, with a capital D, is essential in all ‘reality‘ and talent shows, whatever their levels of reality, particularly on Indian television. It‘s this drama that is starkly absent on Zee‘s latest edition of Cinestars ki Khoj. The lacklustre AVs that trace the participants‘ journey thus far, the flat performances, nothing seems to be setting off that spark so far. Even the blunt aggressiveness of judges Pooja Bhatt and Anupam Kher has no bite. As for the third judge,







    Madhur Bhandarkar, he looks clearly uncomfortable having to pass judgment on the anxious-eyed young hopefuls. The show obviously misses the Gajendra Singh touch, which uplifted the other Sa Re Ga Ma Pa talent hunts on the channel all these years. It just shows how a dedicated director, passionate about his shows, can make a big difference to how it finally appears on screen.


    If Cinestars is nothing to hum about, nor is Jeena Isika Naam Hai, which too is appearing in a second, refurbished avatar. Where Farooque Sheikh sparkled with a quiet dignity in the first season, Roshan Abbas is overbearing. Farooque merged with the backgroud, Roshan makes sure of his share in the spotlight. Even the production standards are glaringly different. NDTV‘s handiwork was sophisticated and subtle. Shashi Ranjan‘s idea of playing on motions is to have blaring music every time the guest gets misty eyed about any reminescence.










    NDTV preferred to have Farooque on his feet all the time, moving comfortably around. Roshan, last week, propped himself on the sofa with guest Satish Shah last week and made it sound like just any other interview. And finally, the first Jeena… brought in first rung celebs from the film industry as well as other fields. Why does it seem that this time round, we will have to be content with ho-hum TV celebs?


    Zoom‘s Popkorn, now rechristened as Popkorn Newz, is also back with a fresh edition. It‘s offering the same fluffy Bollywood and tellywood news and ‘masala‘, but with a different anchor. Barkha Bisht, freshly out of work after ‘Pyar Ke Do Naam…‘ wound up on Star Plus, is a refreshing change, with her petite looks and vibrant style. Good choice, Zoom!







    One can‘t resist putting in a bit about Bigg Boss. The third week was as abonimably fascinating as the earlier ones. It showcases neither talent, skills nor does it tell a story. And yet, everyone seems to be watching goggle eyed as Rakhee Sawant goes about breaking glasses and quarreling with Amit Sadh, and Aryan Vaid cosies up with Anupama. Bigg Boss forever verges on the edge of becoming monotonous and tedious with nothing much for the participants to do except live together under one roof.


    But amazingly, it doesn‘t get boring at all! Either it‘s extraordinarily lucky in the excitement it continuously generates, or there is an element of manipulation, unknown to the viewers. But so long as the viewers get their daily dose of voyeurism, who cares?

  • Grace under fire

     confess. I have sat glued through all the episodes of Bigg Boss thus far,
    insufferable as they have all been. In my mind, I curse the ordinariness of the celebs chosen (Amit Sadh, for Gawd‘s sake!!), mutter abuses while cranking up the volume to catch the whispered conversations, and yawn through the Bigg Boss‘ disjointed instructions. But I haven‘t missed a single minute so far, and am dying to know whether it will be Deepak Parashar or Bobby Darling who gets booted out this week.

    Is it the novelty of the show on Indian airwaves? Is it the lack of better alternatives on other channels? Or is it plain voyeurism that wins over all other reasons? You get to see Carol Gracias waking up with no make up on, and where else would you watch Rakhee Sawant roll out chapatis and wring clothes out to dry? Rupali Ganguly‘s frequent crying bouts tug at your heartstrings, and Salil Ankola‘s efforts at chopping firewood, tell you a thing or two about the real brawn of macho men.


    These folks are not top class celebs, but for a nation as awestruck by celebs of any hue as we are, they do just fine.


    The channel has chosen well. The women are the right mix of bitchiness and
    sentimentality, the guys are either flirts or earnest gentlemen, and Bobby
    Darling, is well, Bobby Darling. In the first week itself, participants have
    got down to the serious business of forming groups and pairs, and there have
    been gossip sessions galore. The Bigg Boss‘ tasks could have been more
    creative, and the days at the Big House more structured. But hey, with just
    so many soaps for competition on the other buttons of the remote, who‘s
    complaining?


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    The Roadies are comin‘!


    MTV‘s adventure reality show Roadies, already in its fourth year, is auditioning across cities, and man, do they attract a weird bunch! In Chandigarh this week, scions of wealthy families, designers, students – young and with a desire to do something freaky, floated in for auditioning – and were ripped apart by the three-judge panel.


    Nikhil Chinappa at his acid best, accompanied by someone as acidic called Raghuram, made mincemeat of the perspiring aspirants, while the third judge, singer Mika, lurked in the background, emerging merely to ask an inane question or two. This was judging and selecting at its most brutal, and one wonders if it is sheer youthful bravado that propels the youngsters into the MTV studios, knowing what they are letting themselves in for! “You say you are a misogynist and you don‘t know the meaning of orgasm??!!” fumed Nikhil at one quaking youth. “You are a *beep* fake, man!”


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    Oh horror!


    If you expected Shh! Phir Koi Hai to be in the same class as Darna Mana Hai
    that aired last year on the same channel (Star One), you could qualify for disappointment. DMH plucked real people, real homes and some real spine chilling horror (even if the splitting of the story into four parts killed most of the suspense).


    It‘s latter day sibling is high on extravaganza, high on effects but a little low on plot. The first story told last Friday had a bunch of youngsters holed up in a fort where the legendary Queen Padmavati threw herself into fire to prevent desecration at the hands of the enemy. It was slightly tedious to watch the ghost of the queen single out each member of the group and consign it to fire, only to be outwitted at the end. Not very original, not very scary. Hope the series gets better with time, as it‘s the only one with potential in that genre right now.


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    Entertainment, with a cause


    Star One‘s Office Office took a different route this week when it addressed the issue of AIDS in a novel way, without sounding preachy or condescending.


    The protagonist approaches the charity commissioner‘s office for permissions
    to start an AIDS NGO, but comes up against the usual red tape, which he tackles staunchly but humorously. At the end, it turns out, he is the one who has contracted AIDS, but reminds the officials that it is they suffering
    from a worse malady – RAIDS – Rishwat (corruption) ka AIDS!


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    CNBC eyes the bahu?


    Guess CNBC TV 18 is now targeting the housewives eager to enter the stock market. There‘s a new show called Saas, Bahu and Sensex (how original!!), in which master chef Tarla Dalal was invited this week to share her own forays into investments in shares and stocks. The lady answered questions put to her as gamely as she could, but the ladies anchoring the segment clearly looked out of depth. Perhaps they are better suited to grilling top notch executives and investment bankers than working women who dabble only occasionally in the world of finance!


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    Couch potato‘s femme fatale of the week


    Definitely Rakhee Sawant. She throws her comments around on the Bigg Boss premises as easily as she wields a mop to clean the floor and wash her clothes as well as her friends‘. I am fast revising my opinion of this lady with the famous big mouth.