"Why Should I Be Bothered About The Fact That I Can't Look 'Romantically Cute' With Jay Bhanushali?"
With the influx of mediocre shows one is subjected to on our television channels, it's not surprising that most channels and production houses have bowed down to the level of resorting to despicable and underhand tactics just to rake in those extra TRPs. It could be just about anything.
Creating phony fights between contestants or judges, faking crushes between hosts, contestants or judges; oh, the list is myriad! The more creative and novel the idea, the better the response and chance of its acceptance. Today the final outcome of every reality show is just one – Manipulation.
There is yet another show which joins this never-ending list of reality shows vying to do anything to get the desired public response. Recently there were reports in the media how Dance India Dance unceremoniously replaced Tarana Raja Kapoor as their host with Soumya Tandon, after just six episodes. But that's not it. Once Tarana made her way out, someone started leaking false information that led to much mudslinging.
After the hasty change of hosts, a certain established newspaper came out with reports about how Tarana was looking too tired and old to co-host with Jay Bhanushali and many other malicious things written about her. They wrote things like how the producers realized their casting faux pas and they came to the conclusion that she needed to be booted since she wasn't looking young and jazzy enough! It was as if someone was deliberately starting a negative campaign against her. Was the channel responsible?
I believe Tarana is one host, who doesn't need to resort to cheap tactics to gain TRPs for her show. She is one of the most spontaneous that we have, a far cry from the spoon fed, dummy hosts and anchors that we tolerate 24x7 on our idiot boxes. So then what was this whole controversy about?
I meet Tarana to get the dope behind the whole controversy. Was she shown the door by the channel because of her 'old and tired' looks or did she willingly leave the show owing to creative differences? "I got a call from the creative head of Zee, sometime in November 2008. He asked me if I danced. I told him I had done 12 years of Kathak and nine years of professional dancing with Shiamak Davar.
He said that he had a perfect show for me since I am a talker and I can dance. He told me about Dance India Dance and said he would like his host to talk, bond with everybody and dance, if the need be. I went and auditioned too, but he said I really didn't need to audition; it was just to show the others. And that's how I got signed on."
She takes a breath and continues, "A little down the line, they said, 'You know what, its too much work for just one person, so we are going to get a co-host for you, and we are going to go with Jay Bhanushali.' We did six episodes together. Zee usually has male hosts like Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Aditya Narayan, who are the typical, cute-looking, chocolate boy heroes, with a boyish appeal. I was basically brought in for the fact that I can talk and dance," she explains.
But within a matter of time, things changed. "As we started shooting, the producers realized that they had fabulous dancers (contestants) on the show. So to make the hosts also dance would be just too much. It was a bit disappointing because I took up Dance India Dance, as I really wanted to dance. Secondly, they went into a study with their group and decided if people see two hosts it would be nice, especially if they had some romantic chemistry happening between them."
Perhaps that's when the problems arose. "They realized that Jay and I looked a little strange together and I agreed with them. Because we both are really poles apart. Jay is 24 but he looks 17. If he is a chocolate boy, I don't think I am cute from any angle. I am a fun, real and sensible kind of a person and would appeal to a different kind of audience.
So the two of us together, especially having a romantic chemistry together was going to be really strange." I ask her if she left because she was married and didn't want to get into something like this. "It was their call. As an actor, yes, you can always do romantic scenes. But I think people know me anyway and would not accept the two of us flirting with each other. I think the channel understood that too."
She agreed to this and decided she had to leave. "I was disappointed because they decided all this post our shooting together. It was going to look bad on me that I was being thrown out of the show. They told me no, obviously not, nobody will think that we are throwing you out because you are not good. When I said it was possible, they said that they were really sorry and that they would make up for it.
They assured me that they would have better shows for me. Dance India Dance was meant to appeal to the ladies and kids. We parted amicably enough. So it was okay. I don't run the channel, I don't run the show. If the job profile changes, the person who suits it best should do it."
In any case, Tarana didn't have much of an option. "Either Jay would have to leave or I would have to. In this case, they wanted to stick to a cute, chocolate boy type of anchor. They said for whatever reasons, we are very sorry to do this to you because we do like you as an anchor and we think you are the far better orator between the two, but we still need to replace you.
They told me they would make sure they would do a better show with me, which is perfect for me. I said it's all right; shit happens in life, it's after all a channel. Nobody would have even cared (about the ouster) or known about it, till someone deliberately went and leaked it".
As if losing out on the show wasn't enough, the malicious rumours started to creep in. Speculations were made about Tarana's exit. It is evident that some notorious element was intentionally going out of his/her way to malign her image. She throws light on that, "Somebody started calling up different reporters and said very vicious and horrible things about me. That person said things like 'Oh she is looking old, she looks jaded and tired!'
No matter what, I have never looked tired. I have too much energy to look tired. They spread stuff like she looks so much older than Jay. I am sure I look older than him because I am older," she says exasperatedly. "I am not playing a teenager, who is running around in school and anyways the channel didn't have an issue with that. I don't know who has called so many journalists."
It was that one call that led to bigger repercussions and Tarana was unaware till she got to know of it from the media. "A lot of journalists called me. I asked them if it was true. Luckily a lot of people from Mumbai listen to me on the radio.
They would call and complain saying 'how can they speak like that about you?' Many journalists didn't write anything bad, except for that one journalist, who didn't bother to call and ask me if it was true. He didn't even call the channel and ask them if it was really the reason for my ouster," she rues.
She doesn't blame Zee for the rumours though. "When I spoke to the channel, they told me 'Why would we want negative publicity for our show?' I think that week they had Salman Khan on the show. Wouldn't it be better to promote the fact that Salman is going to come on the show, as opposed to an old, tired looking person who is not? It's damn strange," she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Yet these days any publicity, be it positive or negative, is good. Maybe someone from the production house has done it, I suggest. She replies cautiously, "I don't know which source it is, perhaps somebody from the production house. Journalists always protect their sources. I read the article and it was a very bad day for me.
It was very mean. It was a lie and you can't print something and leave it permanent like this. I was hurt and angry, but I don't want people to feel sorry for me. What is there to feel sorry? There were many people who wanted to do articles like 'Does talent mean nothing? What has age got to do with talent, etc?' I don't think I was ever hired for any of the things that I have done because of being so 'cute' or typical 'saas-bahu' material.
No, I am not like that. I get hired because of what I can do. For purely my skill and talent and that's not going to change. The kind of roles I will be offered will change. I won't be playing a school or college going person but I don't even want to because I am not that age."
She continues, "It is disappointing that someone would write such rubbish. You don't have to write malicious things like 'No miracle could be performed on her, as the usual make-up artists charge Rs 5000 but we paid hers Rs 20,000.' For the record, my make-up artist is not paid 20,000. I don't have a make-up man. It's just insane. Why would anyone write such horrible stuff?
Maybe the guy doesn't like me," she says and then adds. "But I think the only people in this industry who couldn't like me are the actors and actresses, because we make sure that we call a spade a spade on air. But even then, they know that there is nothing malicious when we say, bad film or bad performance. Because when they put up a good performance, we praise them with equal vehemence," says Tarana in her capacity as a radio jockey.
I still insist on knowing if not the production house, then who else is her jaani dushman, who is hell bent on destroying her reputation. Surely she must be having some clue. "I really don't know. I did not want to know. I did not want to speak to the reporter, but I spoke to the editor of the paper and asked him why? He said that they were very sorry as they were on leave and didn't cross check.
It's really strange. But they did print a clarification the day after, telling the truth. I told them, I am not going to tell you why I am not doing the show. I just asked them to speak to the creative heads of the show and asked them to write whatever they said as they truth. Because they are the people who decided it. But all this was just unnecessary stress for no rhyme or reason."
Stressful it may have been but being the optimist that she is Tarana has decided to move on, leaving the unfortunate incident behind. "I saw the positive in all this because so many people called me. I can't believe I am important enough for somebody to bitch about. My listeners have sent very bad e-mails to the editor. The whole next day I kept getting messages at regular intervals at my radio station supporting me.
That idiot (journalist) had given his e-mail id in the article, so people wrote to him. It was all very sweet. I do what I like and people also like me for what I do. Why should I be upset about something I can't do? Why should I be bothered about the fact that I can't look 'romantically cute' with Jay Bhanushali? I can talk, present and enough people who I care about like me," she says confidently.
She talks about herself further, "I am quite muhphat and very direct. Even while shooting, I am very organized and extremely particular. I like doing everything on time. So maybe I have rubbed someone the wrong way and must have come across as high-handed, which I really don't know about. Still people don't need to go out of their way. Maybe someone on the sets must have been disturbed.
But everybody who works with me regularly, like my stylist, make-up artist or even the creative head of Dance India Dance, was someone with whom I have worked earlier and he repeated me. He knew exactly what I was capable of, my talent etc, but the need for that particular character was not required anymore. So then why? Anyways, if you want to choose a love-dovey couple, then I am really not it."
Will she be game for anchoring another show after this bitter incident? Even before I finish the question, Tarana has her answer ready. "Why not? I am somebody who inherently trusts people and everyone is good till the time they screw with me! But even if they do, I think ki nahin nahin, usne aisa nahin kiya hoga.
They (Zee) have given me their word, and they have clarified the situation for me very nicely. I have enough faith in myself. If there is something that excites me, I will do it. I am just disappointed that they did not know earlier that they wanted to do this romantic thingy. If they would have told me before, I myself would not have agreed.
But it was a sudden thing. Why else would you take somebody (they signed a contract with me for two years). I even asked them why for two years, what if you change your minds, and they assured me that they really liked me. I know that they weren't lying.
But they did change their minds and I wished it hadn't happened. But such things happen in life. Tomorrow is always a better day and for me the next hour is always a better hour. The maximum amount of time I will spend brooding over something is an hour. I can get upset and angry but I have enough positive people in my life who will say, 'Babes, don't be silly, nobody is going to believe this rubbish.'"
As her closing statement, she ponders aloud, "It could be far worse. I could be an actor who never ever got a chance. I don't know anybody in this film industry, I don't have a manager, a secretary, an agent, coordinator or a PR getting me work. Anyone who wants to work with me has pretty much called and done it himself. If I was pushier, maybe I would be doing a lot more work. I genuinely believe that if I am not doing Dance India Dance, it's because I am going to be doing something much better." True, you can't let anything be a major setback in life, life is too short for grudges and grievances and the best way is to move on. Right, Tarana?
**By Purvaja Sawant
http://www.magnamags.com/index.php/200903313851/showtime/features/why-tarana-kapoor-won%92t-take-things-lying-down.html
Arjun
