So SRK has spent a few weeks anchoring KBC. How has he managed so far?
Well, on account of the constraints of the format, it was inevitable that SRK would get compared with AB. I mean, he could not make major changes, so in the bits and pieces, are the comparison points. Which is where we found the irritants.
I mean, why would I want to ‘freeze it’ when I have been comfortable with ‘lock it’??
What is this nonsense about ‘Shah Rukh, mujhe gale lagao’ instead of ‘I want to quit’?
The giving away of the watch by SRK and such extravagances were a bit too much too.
So the early pronouncement was that “its not working with SRK”.
But then the shows went on. And people kept watching patiently. And slowly it seemed like he was getting there. We slowly forgot about the ‘locks’ and the ‘freezes’ were here to stay. Instead of ‘main Amitabh Bacchan bol raha hoon’, we got comfortable with ‘main Shah Rukh bol raha hoon, pehechana mujhe?’!
It is clear that after Amitabh, he was indeed the next best bet. His live programs have shown that he can really relate to an audience, get comfortable with them, get them involved with him, and in short, have them eat out of his hands.
It appears like he is reaching that very stage, in KBC too. The TRPs of yore may never return. But SRK may not be the one to blame for the same. Its the changing times and the changing preferences.
There are fewer people now, who want to sit and watch and Q&A program. In these days of reality shows, people would rather watch song and dance or perhaps a few guys holed up in a house away from everyone else.. ! Who bothers about quizzes? Its for the nerds, it would appear.
For that reason, the TRPs may never return, but the advertisers and the interested audience may yet get their money and time’s worth respectively.
Random Musings 