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There
she was, the queen of all she sur-weighed. Ladies and gentleman,
Pallavi Joshi… singing the melody 'Choo kar mere man ko' on
Zee's Antakshari. While her co-host Anu Kapoor has turned
progressively skittish on this long-running participative show (last
week, among collegians, Kapoor behaved as though he was pretending
to be high on some unknown drug, and failing miserably) Pallavi
has preserved a dignity of deportment all the way.
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Family
matters
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Minutes
after Antakshari on Friday, I watched the actress do the
housewife's routine with restrained elan on Ekta Kapoor's new and
different soap Kkehna Hai Kuch Mujhko. This isn't the first
time she's playing a disillusioned housewife. But this wife is very
different from the one on Ajai Sinha's Justujoo, more upmarket
and yet very home-bound. House-proud and family-oriented.
From
the opening episode where Rewa (Joshi) stands outside her own home
waiting for the rest of the family to bring the key (an innocuous
occurrence that shall assume an ominous hue in the light of Rewa's
eventual disenchantment), the serial stands out for its mature dialogues
and unstrained performances.
Of
course as in all the soaps about the housewife's spiritual emancipation
the male protagonist ends up looking small caddish and inadequate.
Remember Harsh Chhaya in Justujoo and Varun Bandola in the
more recent Astitva? Now in Kkehna Hai Kuch Mujhko, Kiran
Karmarkar (how lucky by televisionary standards to have two Ks in
his name!) struggles to give shape to that nebulous entity in woman-oriented
serials known as the "Wrongful Husband."
****
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Cruel
Intentions
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Doing
a Jim Carrey: It's hard to be sympathetic and true to a grey
character on television. Aman Varma and Mohnish Behl have turned
into gesticulating contortionists on Sony's Devi. They make
so many faces that you wonder if they're hoping to be noticed by
one of the political parties for electioneering campaigns.
****
The pot calling the kettle black: The name-calling game during
this slippery season at the ballots is becoming hard to bear. On
Friday night NDTV did a story on the brackish back and forth of
'hoarse' trading among the BJP and Congress. It came as a shock
to hear all our illustrious politicians attacking one lady with
such vehemence.
Somehow
the strong woman weathering a storm of vituperatives reminded me
of Pallavi Joshi in Kkehna Hai Kuch Mujhko. Have the news
and fiction channels become interchangeable in perception?
****
Games
the newsmen play: The current-affairs slots are certainly becoming
playful. On BBC's Question Time India after anchor Dilip
Padgaonkar and his guest commentator Vinod Mehta had finished discussing
the importance of the Hurriyat leadership in Kashmir they suddenly
began to discuss which two cricketers India would like to borrow
from Pakistan.
Watching
the politicians trying to answer that sporty poser in the most politically
correct lingo was a relief... at least politicians are capable of
a sense of humour.
****
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Along
came Polly
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Heart
felt: There was a lot of laughter on Zee's Jeena Issi Ka
Naam Hai when Rani Mukherjee, on the night before her birthday,
came to the show with her family friends and colleagues. We were
taken through Rani's journey from childhood through school to adulthood.
One lingering image from the warm tete-a-tete was that of composer
Bappi Lahiri's daughter and Rani dancing as children to a Bappi
Lahiri tune on stage. "The one doing her own thing on stage
is Rani," chortled anchor Farouq Shaikh.
As
usual Karan Johar stole the show. Instead of flattering the star
the way most guests on the show do Karan curled his lips with characteristic
causticity to say that he doesn't accept a single suggestion that
Rani pours on him during shooting and that she should stop being
pally with everyone.
****
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Pakistani
Sufi singer Abida Parveen
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Music
for soul: I feel music can do more to heal the wounds
across the border than sports. It was so good to see the
Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen back on Zee's Sa
Re Ga Ma Pa. Expressing her obvious fondness for Hindi
music she singled out the tune 'Maar daala' from Devdas
as a special favourite. More musical events like Sa Re
Ga Ma Pa and Antakshari bringing the two nations
together on the same platform could do a world of good for
improving relations between the two countries.
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Changing
faces: Kkusum has a new face in the title role. And
the protagonist Aryan (Vikas Bhalla)'s wife who was played by
Sanobar Kabir is replaced by Seema Shetty in Zee's Tum Bin
Jaoon Kahan. The writer was seen going through convulsions
to explain the plastic surgery. The tricky transition, when an
actor leaves, can leave many soaps out of breath. That's what
has happened in Tum Bin Jaaoon Kahan. Last week all the
characters were aligned in one frame looking in the same direction,
like the cops in Santoshi's Khakee to grill the 'two-faced'
Durga.
And I thought, not for the first time, about the things we must
do to engage ourselves in the frisky fracas of sofa-top fiction.
****
Dog
and the bone: Meera Vasudevan who gave such a scrubbed performance
in Parvathi Balagopalan's Rules: Pyar Ka Superhit Formula has
joined the cast of the frisky and frivolous Kyun Hota Hai Pyarrr.
The two protagonists Addy and Kuku now treat her like a glorified
football.
"Woh
meri hai…. nahin nahin woh meri hai…" They pull
and push at the girl, thereby completing the climate of commodification
that surrounds the feminine stereotypes in the popular arts.
****
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Code
Red
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The
name game: Before I go I must tell you I've cracked the mystery
of Star's Kumkum. All along you thought the afternoon soap
was so named after the protagonist. Wrong! Last week when she
escaped captivity Kumkum scattered a train of kumkum (vemillion)
from the window of her car for her husband to follow.
'Red'
anything interesting lately? Our good old Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin
Jassi has walked out on her Prince Charming for a holiday
with her grandma at the seaside. There she meets the solemn bespectacled
single-father played Samir Soni.
About
time she moved on. Armaan treats her like recycled waste material.
(Pic
courtesy: www.hindisong.com, www.starplus.indya.com)
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