Into the V hours

No seriously, we realised that most people want to hear VJs a) bitch about celebs; b) gossip; c) talk about sex; d) all of the above. So now we had a show with a great musical selection and lots of interesting things to talk about. I created sections like the Bitch of the Day where two VJs bitch about everyday things that really irritate all of us, like loudmouthed people, like people who don’t know what deodorant is all about. Another section deals with the most bizarre internet sites like, for instance, ronsangels.com, a site that auctions sperms and eggs of famous models. Yet another section is called Have a Heart, where we tell the Late Night V viewer how he or she can change the world without leaving his home. This section features internet sites that you can visit and everytime you do that a hungry person gets fed (thehungersite.com) or an information site like the Greenpeace site (greenpeace.org).

We also included a daily contest for people to win lots of prizes. Well, everybody loves to win prizes and we love to give them away. So, we said to ourselves that since we are a society consumed with glamourous people, flashy appearances and Hrithik Roshan, we should call in a guest everyday and chat with them about things that other shows don’t chat about. I created a guest list of all the people in India that occupy the mind of the youth. A truly eclectic bunch emerged. One of the first people we interviewed was Shobha De who came on the show to tell us how much she hated the show. I had never met Shobha De before and let me tell you that she is incredibly intelligent and incredibly gorgeous.

Since then we’ve had many many guests. Shekhar Suman surprised me with his immaculate grammar and erudition. Bejan Daruwala was our New Year’s Eve guest — the most energetic human being I have ever met. Since then there have been lots of famous people — Yukta Mookhey, Smita Thackeray, Mink Singh, Ashok Mehta, Bala and Kanika, Rachel Reuben, Satya Saran, Right Said Fred. Now there are interviews. I try and produce really really cool’ interviews. No asking the same run-of-the-mill questions about their life and work. After all, that’s been asked a million times before in the TV history.

We need to surprise our guests sometimes and ask them the one question that nobody else is willing to ask, or simply doesn’t have the presence of mind to ask. I work with the VJs on the show, Ranvir, Nina Manuel, Yudishtir and Uma Chiplunkar well in advance to make chatting terribly exciting for the serials, sops, stand-yp comedy and cable porn audience.

The idea is not to offend or ridicule people. Far from it, the idea is to present the facet of a person that is not usually seen. Like Bally Sagoo telling us about how he likes to look at womens woofers and how women like to feel up his decks, or violinist Dr L Subramaniam telling us how he met his wife Kavita Krishnamurthy, or the stunning Rachel Reuben telling us why she left modelling to get into film-making.

I spend most of my time dealing with people. Famous people, VJ people, the crew I work with, my bosses at Channel V. So, it’s sheer terror when a VJ asks a question to a guest that is bordering on political impropriety. Will the guest smile and be gracious or walk out on us ? Will Ranvir, one of the most talented VJs I know, arrive on time for that all important interview? These are the kind of earth shattering questions that plague my mind every Wednesday when we shoot.

Another of my favourite VJs is Nina Manuel who has etamophosised from TV novice into the consummate interviewer in a short span of time. Ranvir of the late-coming fame has the best comic timing, Yudi is the all-round fun guy with the great body to match. Uma Chiplunkar is a stunning model who has recently joined us on the show. She has a disarming honesty about her which instantly appeals to people. Together we are going to make late night v one of the coolest, hippest shows on TV.

Over the next few months we will make the show even more irreverent, even more risque, more sexy and more informative. To put all of this in the proverbial nutshell, I work with gorgeous women, I get to meet all these famous people that everybody reads about and I get paid to do this. Did I already tell you that Im having a good life ? There’s a medium sized team who works with me to pull of this show day after day, week after week. Two assistant producers, a production assistant and a writer, all of whom I slave drive. There’s also a team of people mysteriously called MARS (Music and Artiste Relations) who work incessantly at pursuing the right kind of guests and convincing them to appear on Late Night V. Finally, there’s a music programming team who selects and schedules all this great music that I keep talking about. Getting back to where I started, if television is chewing gum for the eyes, then Late Night V is food for thought.