Rajeev

And if that's true of the soaps, so it is with reality shows. Sony's thrice-revived Deal Ya No Deal, which may now mercifully end its beleaguered run, could cut no ice with viewers despite the lure of third host Rajeev Khandelwal, who's been in the wilderness for a while.

And yet, last Friday's episode, with Aamna Shariff as the celeb participant, gave reason to cheer for die hard fans of the original Sujal-Kashish romance. The usually stiff Rajeev unbent, and how. He charmed Aamna, sang for her, pirouetted with her and gazed soulfully into her eyes, asking her on bent knee, "Dil Ya No Dil?"

By the end of the show, I, for one, couldn't care how much the lady won, as long as she dimpled and said "Deal" to Rajeev. Pity that the anchor should get into form only at the fag end of the season.