India's Most Desirable...I want to know who the audience for this show is? (I tried ignoring this show for the past few weeks, but they keep playing repeats and getting in my face!)
The line-up of the "desirables" is made up of fluff bollywood stars who are as green at their job as a toddler at playschool. The host is a yester-year glam doll, who has hitherto been known only for her radical roles in two Rishi Kapoor movies, purrfect diction, flawless whites and uncomfortable, formal tone and style which makes Karan Johar seem endearing in comparison. Yet, she has had a successful run of Rendezvous with some of the biggies of Indian pop culture. So she's not really green. Which is why I expect better from her. The studio audience is filled with teenagers who probably were wetting their nappies when Simiji was hosting that "bare-all" talk show. And it's hosted on a channel that I thought was meant for my kind of entertainment.
Now for the amazing format - a star comes on the show, and Simiji asks our Most Desirable one some well-rehearsed questions. The script has been rehearsed so many times, you can almost hear the pages for the next question turning in their heads. The questions will urge the star to spill some beans on their life - romantic being of foremost importance. The screen behind the two of them will carry loving messages from friends and family, the tarot card reader will appear from behind a turning side-screen and so will a cooktop and oven! So it's not just a chat show you see. Random people from the audience (random, my arse! they all looked like her bodyguards) will show up to sample the cookies baked by out lovely star, or ask embarrassing questions (do they know what embarrassing means?). Of course, our host thinks it's super cool to plug in her show's website as often as possible and an auto rickshaw's horn and a gong are the only way in which the star can answer some really "funny" questions!
It's lame how at every opportunity either the star or the host try to make it seem like they know each other intimately (am sure Simiji knows a lot of these guys intimately, but really, I did expect something better from her than flaunt it on her show). Again, am not sure who will vibe with this since everyone in the studio audience isn't truly aware of Simiji's heydays.
For someone who has seen the Rendezvous series in it's first couple of seasons, I feel really embarrassed by this show. Yes, I am very upset that Star World would want to cater to the MTV generation - don't they already have enough channels dedicated to their whims and fancies? And if you really are competing with the content on those channels, Star World, you're clearly a fish out of water.
The Star World audience is a savvy, urbane lot, they don't care for patched together shows that try to be a little bit of everything. Yes, we love our cinema, but we also pick our cinema. And look at how that has evolved. Why can't TV content rise above the ordinary, take existing formats to the next level or even try to touch a genuine chord? If you can't produce original content that can engage audiences, stick to the tried and tested method - bring us great content from the developed markets. But whatever you do, please, be true to your audience.
Unless you're actually abandoning us and chasing the haloed "youth of India"!
