Koffee with Karan: Rakhi Snubbed

By Subhash K Jha

In what could be deemed a shocking display of snobbery none of Karan Johar's potential guests agreed to come on his popular talk show with Rakhi Sawant.

Says a source, "Karan tried to convince a number of guests but no one from the A or B list from Bollywood is willing to share screen space with her. He finally failed. And had no choice but to request two of Rakhi's colleagues from Big Brother, Carol Gracias and Rahul Roy to join her."

The 'fun' episode isn't the only instalment of Koffee With Karan that the host has been shooting. In the last two weeks Karan has shot some of the most difficult combination of guests, trying to beat the deadline even while attending the preliminaries to the Ash-Abhishek wedding.

The toughest job was bringing all the Kapoors together. Says a source, "Karan got the three Kapoor brothers Randhir, Rishi and Rajiv, sister Reema and Neetu Singh together on the same show. Only Raj Kapoor's elder daughter Ritu Nanda (Shweta Bachchan's mother-in-law) was missing."

In another episode tv tycoon Ekta Kapoor comes on with three of her favourite blue-eyed boys from Balajee telefilms, namely Ronit Roy, Hiten Tejwani and Ram Kapoor.

Then in what promises to be one of Karan's favourite tete-a-tete he chats up Madhuri Dixit. "Everyone knows Karan is a huge Madhuri fan. He in fact was a kind of assistant during Dil To Pagal Hai. And adores Madhuri since then. At the end of Madhuri's show Karan calls Rani Mukherjee on. Rani herself is a huge Madhuri fan."

The last episode for the season was recorded a few days ago. It brings together Shilpa and her sister Shamita and even ropes in their mother at the end.

That brings the curtain down on this season of Koffee With Karan. It's unlikely that Karan will be back with a third season since he's now part of NDTV's new entertainment channel.

Says a source, "Though the brand Koffee With Karan remains with Star, what's the brand worth without Karan?"