Who’s the best?

I did something I normally never do last night. I watched one of the most popular shows in the recent history of Indian television and, no, it was not Mahabharat or Ramayan. It was Kaun Banega Crorepati. Starring the man who made being the best a fashion statement: Shah Rukh Khan. And I enjoyed it thoroughly, even as a part of me watched dispassionately and found him not just over the top, but over-practiced and rather wooden as well. I even got so wrapped up in the show that I changed channels to avoid watching the chappie in the ‘hot seat’ get eliminated. And I have been, for perhaps the first time in my life, able to discuss a local TV show with some vestige of intelligence and informed awareness.

It started with the wrong channel. Then, after some frantic and argumentative searching, we found the right one. Somewhat appalled, but sure that it would not last, we sat through a really tacky and downright awful music video starring SRK – I read somewhere that it was an introductory sequence only and hoped fervently that that was indeed true. Dreadful! Under-clad women, SRK trying to be a teenybopper, cracks at everyone from Bollywood and beyond, pseudo-hip-hop music…it was a whole package that was, frankly, truly BAD.

But then the show really began. It was clear that SRK was trying very hard to be different, but was astonishingly self-conscious of the fact that he was replacing the icon of Indian showbiz, as he is called, Amitabh Bachchan. There were apologies, wise-ass comments, a pushy almost intrusive friendliness and an attempt at instant bonding – add bonhomie and cheer – that, for an audience with a cultural ethos that mandates some distance, especially with the opposite sex, rather fell on its face. The nervous tic-like reflex the star had of licking his lips – you can see that in a lot of his films and television interviews, apart from live appearances as well – the fumbling for the pen, the self-deprecating comments…it all got too much.

But then the charisma took over. The man was obviously charming his guests, and as they smiled, almost wiggled in their seats in their striving to please him, I did too. My father watched for a while, then went to his room to read, while the small cat did a few somersaults in the planter’s chair and then decided to take a nap. I sat through the entire show, saw one contestant stake all and lose and then the other, less outgoing, slowly thaw out of the ice of his nervousness to respond, beaming, to SRK’s banter.

Did Badshah Khan, as he is popularly known, beat Bachchan at the game? For now, the men and their personalities are so different that it is hard to say who wins. TRPs will tell. So will the way in which the participants work hard to match the host. And, of course, I will tune in at least once a week to make sure that I can keep up with office gossip!