Review of Koffee with Karan: Volume 3

Introduction

"Is it `cos I is brown?" a thought that was quickly dispelled when I realised that the other volumes of this particular reviewer lucky dip were fairly distributed among my fellow reviewers. The fact still remains though that I am ill suited to reviewing this particular title, as my knowledge of, and interest in Indian pop culture is utterly non-existent. I`m what my university friends used to refer to (slightly snobbishly) as a coconut, only brown on the outside. As soon as I could exercise my own free will, I stopped watching Bollywood movies, and listening to the latest `filmi` music. I haven`t seen a Hindi film outside the line of Reviewer duty since the early nineties. Ask me who are the latest idols, and you`d get a blank look. So a chat show featuring Bollywood`s best and brightest is hardly going to excite.

But, I strike it lucky with this third volume of Koffee With Karan, as among the guests on this chat show are Hema Malini, and Rishi Kapoor, both actors from that period of Bollywood that I was subjected to/occasionally enjoyed. Also on this disc is Sanjay Dutt, a notorious current Bollywood bad boy that even I have heard of.

If you are looking for a point of reference, think the Goodness Gracious Me character of Smeeta Smitten: Showbiz Kitten, schmoozing her way through Bollywood for juicy gossip. Karan Johar has real credentials though, son of a Bollywood director, and a director in his own right, he can attract the highest calibre guests for his chat show, with more than a few exclusives.

This disc contains three 47-minute programmes, in which he interviews, Hema Malini and Zeenat Aman, husband and wife Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, and Sushmita Sen and Sanjay Dutt.

Video

A 4:3 regular transfer graces this disc, and it`s clear, sharp and of broadcast quality.

Audio

The same goes for the DD 2.0 soundtrack. It must be noted that while most of the dialogue is in English (lingua franca in a nation of hundreds of local languages and dialects), there is the occasional burst of Hindi. There aren`t any subtitles, which is either an oversight, or a sign that Teleasia have their target audience well defined.

Features

6 minutes of Offtakes, which are just like outtakes, but not as funny, except one point where Sanjay Dutt gets annoyed, and Karan has to do some hasty apologising.

I`m not fond of the menus, where the selected item is dimmed instead of highlighted.

Conclusion

It`s a chat show, so your mileage will depend on how interested in the name guests you are, and how well the interviewer can draw out entertaining anecdotes and candid revelations. On my personal scale, Karan Johar is certainly no Parky or Ross, he`s not even a Wogan. This is strictly daytime TV, a lot of schmoozing and sycophantic mutual admiration. It`s basically Karan getting together with his friends and having a good gossip. It`s fluffy, warm TV for the viewing audiences to see how the other half live, and in that respect it does its job. Incidentally, I would have hated to watch this on TV, with adverts signposted every ten minutes. There would have been four breaks per programme.

While the programmes follow a fairly strict format of interrogation, the different guests give the shows differing dynamics. The opening show with Hema Malini and Zeenat Anam is perhaps the most awkward, with Hema Malini doing a Meg Ryan and clamming up tighter than a limpet. It falls to Zeenat Anam to fill a lot of dead air. On the other hand, the final episode has Sushmita Sen on it, who is bubbly, forthright and verbose. She`s so verbose that Karan and Sanjay barely get a word in edgeways. This is a woman who could conceivably interview herself. The most enjoyable episode is the second with husband and wife Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh. Their dynamic is already established, there`s no awkwardness, and it`s an ideal interview that draws the audience in.

Gossip TV rarely interests me, and I wound up watching most of this on autopilot. If you like hearing about the day-to-day lives of your favourite movie stars, then this show would be ideal for you. I decided to get a more informed opinion, my mum`s. She loved it. Given the current popularity of Bollywood in the UK, these discs ought to do well.