They are all the same – and this is not about our perennially predictable daily soaps. It’s about film based interviews and its interviewers. Hosting is an art in itself. But from ‘Koffee with DD’ on Vijay to several such programmes on various channels, hosts are rarely different. When the tone is obsequious and saccharine, it tends to get sickly after a point, even for the guests on the show. Constraints are understandable – celebrity guests wouldn’t appreciate anything even mildly intimidating, the purpose of the show is to promote their films, and so on. But why do most hosts strike such a sycophantic stance that makes the guest uneasy, and the viewer frown?
The promotion for Vikram’s ‘I’ on Jaya TV, a couple of years ago, which had two hosts, Vaishali and Sai Rakesh, is a case in point. We are used to questions that are clichéd, but even the body language bordered on overt admiration and awe for the ‘I’ team, and thus impeded spontaneity. Director Shankar looked staid as he went through the motions with a façade of interest. The posers were a tad insipid and as the ennui-filled queries were never-ending, the guests and the viewer seemed to lose interest.
Simply put, the hosts seemed self-conscious and rather ill-prepared.
Recently, Divyadarshini’s chat with Vijay Sethupathi, on Vijay TV, was disenchanting. Chuckling constantly, treading cautiously and going the extra mile to please the guest with puerile queries, she went on. A damp squib for both impatient youngsters and screen binge-ing elders.
NDTV’s fairly recent ‘Spotlight’ on Saturdays aroused expectation. Every week the ambience is different. If the chat with Shah Rukh Khan was amidst alluring greenery, Sidharth Malhotra’s segment was shot at Olive Bar & Kitchen in Bandra, Aditya Roy and Shraddha Kapoor were seen seated at a Star Hotel beach side, and Saif Ali Khan at Monkey Bar.
‘Spotlight’ has a whole group of youngsters gathered around the actors, in quite an informal manner, and they get a chance to interact with the guests.
The concept is engaging and so are the guests, who appear casual and candid.
Remember Aneesha Baig of the channel’s ‘Will Travel for Food’ show? As the gourmet who went around tasting delicious dishes at roadside eateries, chewing succulent sweet kachoris and out-of-the-world lassis in Rajasthan and masala dosa in Mysuru, and surfacing at Star set ups with equal passion, she made the show interesting.
Yet, now as the host of ‘Spotlight,’ when week after week she toes the line of the many presenters you watch on our channels, disappointment sets in. Can’t they all tone down their almost palpable admiration for their guests?
