Cine-mavericks

Two such new programmes are launching this month—2 Idiots on UTV Bindass and Bollywood Nonsensex on Channel V. Both manage to twist the long cherished formats of Bollywood reporting. Channel V’s Bollywood Nonsensex will take a comical and completely different look at the business of cinema. The show will have stars and new releases being traded like shares on the stock exchange and will include a spoof ticker,stock charts,52-week highs and lows and future outlooks. “While people don’t want to listen to actors say the same thing about their film again and again,they do stop and watch the minute they see something film related on TV,” says Sheetal Sudhir,creative head of the channel. This is repeated by Bindass’s channel head Heather Gupta. Bindass’s first Bollywood-based show,2 Idiots will feature an entertainment reporter,Aaliyah,and her annoying friend Sid,who go out to interview celebrities. Gupta tells us that their questions will be completely unrelated to the actors’ movies. “The kind of questions that they will ask are very random and will probably get them kicked out of most places,” laughs Gupta. So why did a channel that usually comes up with more college-related content decide to go the Bollywood way too? “Everyone wants to see Bollywood but our show is not like every other where you sit and chat with a celebrity. It has the glamour but is still full of our Bindass style,” explains Gupta.

The celebrity interview format is in fact very popular,albeit with a twist. Channel V regular,VJ Lola Kutty hosts a lot of shows that are based on films,such as Lola Sundays,but she always manages to stay away from the usual questions. “People are tired of listening to stars tell them about their role in the next film and their inspirations,so I have to make sure that I give them something different,” says Anuradha Menon,the actress who plays Lola and spends a lot of time having serious discussions with the stars about their coconut water drinking abilities.

Bollywood gossip too takes on more varied forms—ranging from hardboiled gossip to harmless fluff. Zoom has Bollywood related shows all day and its new show Bollywood Case Files,which began last month is an effort to move away from fluffy entertainment. This show will give us investigative stories about real life Bollywood scandals,court battles and rocky relationships in a 12-part series.

At the other end of the spectrum is the nonsensical show Baba’s Cross Connection on Imagine Showbiz. We bet you didn’t know that Mimoh Chakraborty’s mother’s aunt’s husband’s brother’s son is Ranbir Kapoor. India’s original rap artist Baba Sehgal belts out songs where he finds connections between the most unconnected people in Bollywood. You’d think discerning viewers would disregard this show,but that isn’t the case. “People called me and told me that they enjoy these useless details that they never find elsewhere. When we started,I wasn’t sure if it would go beyond a few episodes but we shot 60 episodes,” says the rapper.

Since there’s no escaping Bollywood on TV,we’d rather have it like this—shaken and stirred.