Tuning in to the Idiot Box

I saw 2 episodes of Khatron ke Khiladi on the new channel Colors. After reading so much about the reality behind Reality shows, I still have my doubts whether the stunts shown are for real. Everyday there is some natak on each and every show. Come on, suddenly everyone started showing their tantrums and arguing on camera.

Coming back to the show, yesterday they showed girls putting their hands in three jars containing some kind of earth worms, cockroaches and frogs respectively. They had to find keys in each jar to open three locks. I had been particularly impressed by Yana Gupta so far considering she did not even wince so far in any of the stunts, whether going up the ladder to as high as 12 floors and moving across the building on an extremely narrow support; or to let 5 crabs hover around her head. She did show hesitation in putting her hand in the jars containing cockroaches, etc, but over all she was commendable.

I read somewhere that Nethra has won this season, but I don’t know how true is that. Anyways, the reality shows are not so alluring any more. There are so many of them and you don’t know which one to watch and all of them have the same TV actors either dancing or enacting something or performing some stunt. Come on, we already get a huge dose of these people in daily soap. Who wants to see them again in rest of the time.

So that is why I choose to watch Star World or Zee Café or any of the English movie channels. I found that they are running Who’s the Boss? on Zee Café. So if I’m home early, I catch up with this childhood favourite on Zee Café. Then it is one hour of FRIENDS - first half hour on Star World then on Zee Café. I really don’t know why I keep watching them when I have seen all of them at least a million times.

Moving on to something completely unrelated. I am shocked to learn that Mahesh Bhatt wants to re-make Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahi with Himesh Reshammiya. I am aghast. I loved that movie. Also, read somewhere that Aamir is planning to produce the re-make of Andaz Apna Apna with Salman Khan. I am game for any Aamir movie. I trust his creative sensibilities. He cannot not make a good movie.

I'll be there for you!!!

Well, as Joey says –How you doin’? I don’t know whether how many of you have been fan of this show but if you have seen it, the chances are you have fallen for it. My own friends would vouch for the fact that I have become obsessed with FRIENDS!

I discovered F*R*I*E*N*D*S quite recently. By the time I saw the first episode of FRIENDS, the curtain had already drawn on the Grand Finale of the Tenth Season; and the lovable cast had moved on with their lives.

By now, I have seen almost all the Seasons, laughed at Chandler’s one-liners, smiled at Ross’ sweetness, empathized with Monica’s idiosyncrasies, stumped by Phoebe’s matter-of-factness and bowled over by the sheer charm of Rachel and Joey. Basically, they are all cute and independently very good. In fact, I loved them so much that I tried looking for bits and pieces beyond the episodes—how this sitcom was put together, how the cast stuck to each other through anonymity to fame, how they created a history of sorts by striking deals as a group; moving from 30,000 $ per episode to 2.5 million $ per episode for each of them. Everything about FRIENDS is now a case study in itself. It is said that after the phenomenal and unexpected success of FRIENDS, many such sitcoms sprung up; but what works for one may not work for others. Look at our own “Ram Gopal Verma ki Sholay / Aag”.

I just bought this Coffee table book on Friends titled “Friends 'Til the End: The Official Celebration of All Ten Years” by David Wild. Yeah, I bought a coffee table book! So what? Haven’t I already established that I am obsessed with all kinds of books! And come on, it was only for 399 bucks. I think it was a great deal. After all, FRIENDS TV show is one among the Hall of Fame now, and one should know about the making of such all time great comedy. It has so many pictures of the moments from all the Seasons and some behind the camera moments that I could not stop myself from having it. I still cannot stop wondering what really does it take to create a genius like that. Of course, the fact that it was taken off air when it was still popular, is part of the reason why we still drool over it. Just look at our band of K-serials and how they keep on having generation leaps and disturbing twists and turns to the original story. Can you imagine, what this lovely Sitcom would have become, had they given in to the popularity of the show? There is definitely a learning from here. Even when something is working, you should know when to stop. Nothing is sacrosanct. If you do not bow out, you would be kicked out. It takes a lot of wisdom to identify the right moment and a lot of heart to take that decision.

I remember, even when I had not heard about Friends, I had known Jennifer Aniston as a Hollywood actress and had vaguely heard about Courtney Cox. But I had no clue about the rest of the cast. Look at me now, I eat and drink Friends now. If I am home, I would either be reading the Friends book or you would catch me watching one of the Seasons. In the FRIENDS book, they talk about when they realize that FRIENDS had become a phenomenon. Look at me, I come from a small place in Jharkhand; and I totally freak out on FRIENDS. Do I need to say any more what popularity this lovable sitcom has achieved?