I’VE FOUND A NEW LOVE…

…to add to my long list of Bollywood-related loves…it’s ‘Koffee with Karan’… I love this show. I think Karan Johar is a good interviewer – he is not utterly consumed with himself (although he’s a pretty big movie celeb in his own right) and how ‘good’ his questions are, like so many interviewers subconsciously are – he just asks all the ‘right’ questions (i.e. all the stuff we really wanna know) and is delightfully unabashed about bringing up juicy bits of gossip, then dwelling on them and making his guests squirm a little. There’s a nice balance between ‘serious’ career/cinematic stuff and frivolous tabloid stuff in his interviews – there’s definitely more of the latter, and I must admit without shame that I’m ‘cheap’ enough to like that.

I also find Karan quite ‘real’ – he stays polite and tries to be balanced, but you can always tell when he particularly likes his subject (or dislikes them) – and he doesn’t try to sugarcoat stuff too much – he does put a little gloss on issues, but not too much. It’s a lot of fun to watch his body language when he’s talking with someone he doesn’t find particularly stimulating. He makes most of his guests feel at ease… at its best KWK is wonderful to watch, at its worst it’s still pretty interesting. There are a few things about the show, and its format and structure, that I find annoying (like the name), but on the whole, I love the show.

Lately I’ve been so taken with KWK that I’ve gone through quite a few episodes pretty quickly. Last night, however, I watched my fave KWK show so far – he had the sons of Raj Kapoor on – Randhir, Rishi and Rajiv. He also had one of their sisters, Reema, as well as Rishi’s wife Neetu, on the show. There was such a great vibe in the room, there was a real love among all the Kapoors that was really sweet and natural and not the least bit forced… even Karan was loving it. Towards the end, Reema went on and on about how her brothers tease her and won’t let her speak, and I just loved how the brothers all went quiet, leaned their heads to one side and gave her this indulgent look – you could just feel the love – it was so adorable.

The Kapoors were all really relaxed – they teased one another mercilessly, joked endlessly, and just had fun. They were honest and down-to-earth – cheerfully and freely discussing which of Randhir’s daughters (Karisma and Kareena) is a better actress (Rishi says Bebo, Randhir says Bebo has a better voice and has gotten better opportunities, but Rajiv prefers Lolo – I agree with Rajiv – when Kareena is good (‘Asoka’, ‘Omkara’) she is very very good, but when she is bad (‘K3G’, 'Dosti') she’s pretty darned horrid - I find Karisma far more consistent, and she's a much better dancer as well, which always helps in Bollywood); expressing honestly how nervous and scared they are about Ranbir Kapoor’s upcoming debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’; talking frankly about how good or bad some of their work has been.

I think it was just a great show and a lovely representation of an ordinary, real, imperfect, loving, fun, warts-and-all family – ironic that the family also just happens to be the ‘royal family’ of Indian cinema. Another show Karan did with Rishi and Neetu (as a couple) also happens to be an audience favourite – I can see why after viewing this one, and of course I have to see the Rishi/Neetu one soon.

For any interested parties: it was once possible to find and watch full KWK episodes on YouTube, but Star has (quite rightly) taken ownership of their product and it's harder to do that now. You can still view short extracts on YouTube, though. To download full shows (legally – there are of course always those ‘other’ means), go here (and pay just a little money - it's a pretty good deal, I think). Or you can get it on DVD at Play.