Mr Forthright

Ram is currently on a hiatus from Roadies,the show which shot him to instant fame. It’s being ably handled by his twin—some say his doppelganger—Rajeev,while Ram himself has begun work on a new show called Sitaron Ko Choona Hai. But he insists that he doesn’t like talent hunts. “I believe they’re all eyewash,” he says,“They don’t have any authority on judging talent. The voting ultimately lies in the hands of the viewers who end up voting on the basis of region or language.”

Ram insists that the new show is not a talent hunt. “There are 12 young and talented singers,who’ll be groomed in a music academy,of which I’m the head.” The faculty includes Neha Bhasin of girl band Viva fame and singer Prashant Samadhar,who’ll be the voice coach.

“We won’t just train them to sing well. This is going to be an all-round grooming which will include sessions with a choreographer,stylist and personal grooming instructor,” says Ram. “We don’t have a system where the audience will vote the students out of the academy. If you’re not doing well,you’ll simply be asked to leave by us.” Ram,as head of the academy,will once again play the role of a strict disciplinarian,with the power to punish or reward. “I’ll be the dispassionate observer,” he says,“I won’t be directly involved with the students unlike the faculty,so I can make balanced judgments.”

Despite his reputation of being a tough guy and having an acerbic tongue,Ram has a massive fan following,especially among girls—some of whom auditioned for Roadies simply to meet him. Ram admits that he is quite flummoxed by this reaction. “I feel like I’m so removed from this world,” he says,“I’m still not quite used to how people react to me. I hate to admit this,but there are cities where I actually roam about wearing a mask.”