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Big effing deal.

There was KBC and KBC 2 with the so-called Big B, and now we have KBC 3 with the so-called King Khan. You can compare the 'gravitas' of Amitabh Bachchan with the chirpiness of Shah Rukh Khan all you want, but frankly, does it matter? KBC3 is not going to change Indian television - unlike the original Kaun Banega Crorepati hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, and so what? I don't think even Shah Rukh has no such ambitions.

I did not think it was worth writing about how they compare to each other, but then when you run a site, sometimes there are things you can't avoid - like writing about a 'topless' Mallika Sherawat or Pamela Anderson's ideal man. So this time too, I resisted it a bit like always do, but then I came across this piece by Raja Sen in Rediff, and thought it was time I came and gave my two bits too on comparing the two KBC hosts.

Which is why we wince a little when watching him fill Amitabh Bachchan's hotseat.

I did not wince. I thought Mr Amitabh Bachchan often looked ridiculous in the faux serious get-up and gravitas, and SRK's over-eagerness looks a bit ridiculous too. But if everytime I watch ridiculousness on TV and wince, I would look like a feverish Prabhu Deva. Who does not look ridiculous on TV? Prannoy Roy looks ridiculous when he interviews a Musharraff or even a Dhoni; Sagarika Ghose looks ridiculous interviewing anyone; Bigg Boss inmates regularly make us want to hide our ears and eyes to avoid contamination; the corniness of Saroj Khan; the overly sweet Nach Baliye couples and Jhalak Dikhla Jaa sentimental moments. Wince?

Bachchan's acting has often been great; and he has his moments too that can make us wince. If I did wince, it was when I saw the Big B wearing some crappy motorcyclist's leather jacket in KBC 2. Screw wincing I say.

So SRK wants to freeze, not lock. It is not computerji, its Compaqda or computergaru. Big fucking deal. (Sorry, sometimes I think saying effing would be enough, and then I decide against it later. Please go ahead and wince.)

Then came the Bangla-butchering. While both Khan and Bachchan are anything but maach-eating natives, Amitabh's sophistication shone through in his near-pristine attempts at any language -- then again, to be fair, he did marry into a very Bangla family.

I say again, big fucking deal. No Indian host is capable of pronouncing every language correctly even with practice. It is considered a friendly gesture to attempt to speak someone else's language, even badly. Most of us smile indulgently and laugh with the speaker when they inevitably screw it up. Amitabh's sophistication shone through? Amitabh and sophistication? You should see Amitabh in an interveiw with Cyrus Broacha and you will know something about his sophistication. He talks like a prick. It is not important in any way at all about how a Bachchan manages to speak Bengali language reasonably well. So it is a big disgrace to him and all Tamilians if Bachchan can't speak Kannada well?

So a Shah Rukh botched it up? Tomorrow Shah Rukh may botch up Tamil, or Malayalam (my language). You know, I will just grin and let it go. The attempt to speak another language is always laudable, and for that you have to think that a language is just a means of communication, not something which God came and shat right into your native tongues.

Raja Sen further writes:

Which brings us to a major issue: Shah Rukh persistently tosses us a smirk we haven't quite deciphered yet. Is this condescension towards these contestants, nervousness, or defiance against the Big B? He started his show trying to get a laugh with overpure Hindi, and occasionally licking his lips in a clear show of nerves. We're used to him being irresistibly cocksure and full of great bluster, and this anxiety to please, nay outdo, isn't quite becoming of him. What say you, Compaq-garu?

You are worried about a smirk, and someone else may be worried about Big B's 'coming down to the common man' airs. Let him lick his lips, maybe its too dry in the studios. Was there anxiety? Maybe. Who wouldn't be nervous, when there are people waiting to see how massively you fail trying to fill Big B's big boots? Do go ahead, Shah Rukh, and feel free to make a fool of yourself. This is TV after all. The Bachchan fans will be dead and gone in a little while, and you will be there talking to a generation who watched DDLJ before they watched Deewar or Don. And they will fawn over you the same way these old fogies fawn over anything Bachchan does, whether in KBC or in the movies.

These TV programmes are meant to be corny, and they will remain corny. This is not BBC's Hard Talk we are talking about here. It is just a matter of your corniness versus my corniness. Sorry, perhaps my irritation at the constant comparisons between Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan is showing through. I am no fan of SRK or Big or small letters from the alphabet.

As far as age is concerned, I think I am at that middle age where SRK and Bachchan both look a little stupid sometimes, and as actors and superstars who have millions of fans, they have every right to look stupid when they choose. But what I know is that the Bachchan-obsessed will all soon vanish as the market demographics speedily take a turn towards the under-25 year olds, and the comparisons soon would become irrelevant. And SRK would rule for a few more decades perhaps, and then someone else would take over. Shah Rukh Khan just needs to wait till the Bachchan fan-writers go senile, which can happen sooner than I expect.

Labels: celebrity

posted by a correspondent @ 6:31 AM

4 Comments:

At 2:43 AM, January 24, 2007, Nazim.k said…

Brilliant post.
I was wanting to review Raja Sen's review, but just wasn't able to articulate. You've said it.
And I think comparing two persons who have contrasting styles (at least in KBC) is ridiculous.
I think the other review at Rediff was better
At 7:18 AM, February 01, 2007, Beg to differ said…

Bril-effing-liant take on things.
(Doffs hat and claps)
At 10:38 PM, February 08, 2007, Anonymous said…

Very easy to criticize somebody when u can't do even half as better. Give some respect to Bachchan !!
At 7:57 AM, May 05, 2008, Anonymous said…

Hi,
I have watched both actors performing on stage. SKR is still climbing the ladder to success whereas ABatchan has already left his fingerprints in the indian cinema as the best actor ever seen in Bollywood. No comparison can be done when it comes to an actor like Batchan. SKR does well but Batchan is the Guru.