Indiantelevision.com > Box Populi by Subhash K Jha

so that’s that. It’s finally official. Kareena Kapoor is sexier. But Rani Mukherjee is a better actress. Kareena has the better—quote—butt—unquote. But Rani has the better roles. Rani gets Yash Chopra….Kareena got Karan’s gift hamper at the end of the show.

I am of course talking about Star World’s Koffee With Karan which this week brought together Rani Mukherjee and Kareena Kapoor. In terms of the crack-and-hiss of two neck-to-neck actresses colliding at the turnstiles this episode was far more adventurous than the Shah Rukh-Kajol episode last week.

The earlier pair was mutually compatible and therefore not a threat to each other. Rani and Kareena were woman enough to admit they are rivals, though they also admitted they have their own separate genres to function within.

I have to agree with Kareena when she accused Karan Johar of badgering her constantly. Also I agreed with her when she said John Abraham’s completely pro-Rani views were biased, though obviously Rani didn’t agree. Karan Johar did seem to take a gleeful pleasure in chiding Kareena. But then this guest had the edge. She looked stunning and spoke from her heart.

A true star if ever there was one. Rani on the other hand conveyed a more wholesome family appeal. Or as Fardeen Khan quipped on the video monitor. “Rani is the girl you take home. Kareena is the one you take to the Maldives.”

Advertisement

Ha ha. What took me by surprise was the level of maturity displayed by the stunning Kareena Kapoor. Even when provoked to comment on her favourite bete noire like Kal Ho Na Ho Kareena admitted meekly that she lost the role because she got greedy.

And though there’s no love lost between Preity Zinta and Kareena , it was Rani who spoke out against Zinta. “She has an opinion on everything. She speaks too much.”

****

Er, Rani? Sounds like verbosity is an epidemic. Look at the soaps and how they go from bak to verse. The new-age serials like Sahara One’s Kuch Love Kuch Masti, Zee’s Kabhi Han Kabhi Na and MTV’s Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi openly discuss sex and other related topics. The small-town heroine in MTV’s first fictional serial seems to have got herself in trouble. She’s in love with a guy whose sister tells her to…well, just vanish from the face of the earth. “I must say you’re a real sleazy character,” the sis spat out.

Famous blast words? Arrey bhai, haven’t we bahen there before?! Even Kabhi Han Kabhi Na has a domineering sis. Soaps about love’s lustrous hurdles are hardly big turn-ons. The one that has really grabbed my attention is Zee’s Kabhi Han Kabhi Na. Quite conspicuously inspired by Farhan Akhtar’s trendsetting feature film Dil Chahta Hai, this new ribtickler has an excellent performance by model Kushal Punjabi in the role that Aamir Khan patented in the film.

It’s been a while since I saw a performance so confident. The cocky character could easily have toppled over under the wright of his inflated selfworth. Punjabi holds the character’s immodest in-your-face flamboyance in place. He flirts, fornicates, fumes frets and flaps his phoney wings all over this exuberant celebration of youthful pains and pleasures.

Advertisement

TV veteran Vishal Singh is also excellent as the overweight sister-dominated Deepankar. The manner in which the serial digs into areas of man-woman relationships to create a comic canvas for the episodes is admirable.

Put Kabhi Han on your always han-han list. I’m not too impressed by MTV’s Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi. Last week there was this supposedly funny scene where a flirty uncertain girl dithered between two boys, only to discover the two boys have “discovered” each other.

Gay jokes are now an integral part of the home-viewing experience. So too artificial insemination, if you please! On Star One’s excellent Siddhanth, the politician’s childless wife wants to go for it. Politician husband makes a face. She makes more faces and runs to old flame, presumable to do away with the artifical part of insemination.

All this is highly welcome as a backlash to the over-sweetened serials about guys and girls and their joint-family cistern --flush with fungus-- which seem to wallow in thundering triteness.

I’m afraid Kareena Kareena is becoming too much to take. This entire week was devoted to a function in Kareena’s boss’ home. With a pace that cripples the plot the serial can’t but fall flat on its face.

****

Nowadays on Star Utsav we see Deepti Bhatnagar (remember her?) taking us to various parts of the word in Musafir Ho Yaaron. She has a pleasant enough personality and her zest for life is infectious. But her pronunciation of English words….puhleeze! I mean, ‘comfort-table’(stress on the table) makes viewers really uncomfortable. Also, Mauritius, Switzerland or Sri Lanka, why is Deepti always seen trying out Indian cuisine? A real daal-chawal gal,huh?

****

I am beginning to fall in love with Sahara One’s weekend telefilms. Last weekend’s Phir Se was surely a step forward for telefilms. A dancer (Rajeshwari Sachdeva) only wants to dance. But her staid husband (Akshay Anand) wants her to be a good wife. She leaves, meets another man (Varun Badola). Has a live-in relationships. But wants to return to her old life.

Familiar territory of human relationships sharply redefined by very competent principal performances… I was quite amused to know that Sachdeva and Badola fell in love during the making of Phir Se and got married this week.

More marriages are made on the soaps than in heaven these days.

(The views expressed here are those of the author and indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)