The Shah Rukh-Big B spat

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Posted: 18 years ago

The Shah Rukh-Big B spat

sight & sound | Amita Malik

It is just a few columns ago that one had made one's first comments about the new anchor of Kaun Banega Crorepati even before it had started. There was a gap of one, if not two generations, and there seemed little need for comparisons. One felt that Shahrukh, with his buoyant nature and fan following would make his own niche in his own way.

But once the programme started, channels started the old media game of starting a controversy where there need not have been one. The two main characters behaved with restraint. Big B said graciously he had not seen the new programme but promised to do so. Shahrukh started by being modest and respectful about Big B.

I commented on the first programme that Shahrukh was jumpy, as he always is, and that he was obviously nervous, but he was doing alright and these were early days and he should be allowed to settle down. Once the channels started setting them against each other, it was left to a wise old lady on the small screen to make what should have been the ultimate comment: That Big B was Big B and Shahrukh was Shahrukh and we should leave it at that.

As the programme progressed, one or two things cropped up where I felt Shahrukh, in his exuberance, was going a little over the top. Too much chatter, some silly jokes and, what raised many eyebrows, his giving a tight hug to departing contestants, including women: while some younger women apparently did not mind, one grim elderly lady said brusquely: "I don't want to be hugged by you," and walked off the set in a huff. And that is when one viewer commented to me: "He should be careful. This is India, meri jaan." and I agreed. We are conservative about these things and Shahrukh should have known better. In fact, I rang up the producers, who are good friends of mine and said: "Ask Shahrukh to go a little slow. There are many sections of society watching."

And luckily, in the last show I have watched, he seems to have become a little careful and he should keep it that way.

But in the middle of all this, and the channels are as much to blame as the two anchors, an ugly note has crept into the scenario. I am amazed that Big B, known for his dignity, should have been provoked into saying things like: "Yes, he is hot and sexy, I am not." And: "Let them compare us when he is 65". On his part, Shahrukh has made dubious statements such as: "He is not old, I am young." I hope the unseemly spat dies down, much as the channels are enjoying every bit of it. I think both Shahrukh and Big B have run into a trap and it is time they stopped these unseemly comments and get on with their respective jobs.

To quote Big B himself: "It is a cold war created by the media". So why fall for it? Cricket Controversies on NDTV is one of my favourite sports programmes, that is, when Sonali Chander is anchoring it. Of late Gaurika Chopra has had a go and I am afraid I am not at all happy about her anchoring. Gaurika always had a grim face on TV, and it positively freezes when she signs off at the end.

Her smiles are rare and never spontaneous. In Cricket Controversies she does all the wrong things for an anchor, whose main job is to let the experts on the panel have their say and also coax members of the audience to chip in with good questions for the experts.

But Gaurika, obviously misinterpreting her role, talks far more than her experts, and she cuts them short frequently to impose her own views, which are neither authoritative nor as welcome to viewers as those of the experts and the audience. Perhaps she should watch Sonali to realise what constitutes good sports anchoring.

I know that many people consider he has too soft a corner for "The Prince of Koolkotah", but I was touched by the comments of Geoffrey Boycott whose love for Shilpa Shetty is not in the same class. He said in an interview: "I hope Greg Chappell now realises what he did to Sourav Ganguly. But instead of retiring to a corner and crying, Sourav came back with his head held high. He should have been captain for the World Cup."

And, indeed, every time we see Dravid stuttering with his "Ers" at a Press conference, and seeing how his splendid batting was suffering because of the load of captaincy, Sourav's charisma and leadership qualities stand out in contrast. No wonder bossy Chappell did not like him. But all the same, I wonder at the silliness of a current TV programme which is getting a man and two page 3 type women who are rating "The Most Sexy Cricketer". They found Rahul Dravid "Too clean" and Sourav "Too scholarly". I am just waiting for Kumble and Laxman to be rated. But what happened to the Dhoni, Yuvraj generation?