Mini Mathur quit Indian Idol when they started ‘constructing’ reality, recalls producer telling her to ‘create’ moment between Dharmendra and Hema Malini

Mini continued, “I called it quits only when I realised that now, there is no longer real reality. I did six seasons. After that, it was just a question of making money, but by then, the husband had started making money… But I really didn’t appreciate that reality had become constructed.” Recalling anecdotes about the dubious demands that would be made of her, Mini said that she was once told that a contestant would act surprised at seeing their relative, even though they knew that the relative would be coming on the show.

She added, “Our producers would walk up to me and say, ‘Abhi woh Dharam ji aur Hema aa rahe hain, unka moment karna hai‘. I said, ‘Moment karte hain ke hota hai? Can you leave it to my experience to create something which will move them, maybe?’ This is not something I’m going to do, and of course, it wasn’t just Idol, I did a lot of stuff after that. And it all had the same chhaapa (stamp).”

Mini rose to fame as an MTV VJ, and later went on to host several high-profile reality shows such as Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao. Most recently, she starred in the Prime Video series Mind the Malhotras.