The Anupam Kher Show: Shah Rukh spills a few secrets

On Sunday night, a brand new celebrity interview show began – The Anupam Kher Show, with the tagline Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai. The show has Kher, a Bollywood veteran, interviewing other Bollywood stars on a couch. Sounds familiar? Is there a hint of coffee in the air? Not really.

The Anupam Kher show begins with Kher wearing a formal suit, sitting on an armchair, singing a rap song. He raps about life, how “yeh bhi ho sakta hai”, “woh bhi ho sakta hai” and finally, you guessed it, “kuch bhi ho sakta hai”. We get close up shots of dice with the words “Lose” and “Win” emblazoned on them. There’s dim lighting, a shiny pate and much music in the air.

The opening episode was supposed to be the big one. Kher was going to interview Shah Rukh Khan, who’s been interviewed so often, I don’t understand the point of interviewing him. That too, for an hour. But then again, has he ever been interviewed in a set like the one Kher has for his show? I doubt it.

If you had to judge it by its set, The Anupam Kher Show would be less of a talk show and more Macbeth-meets-Game Of Thrones-meets-Gladiator. At the centre of the set sits a gilt-edged maroon vinyl sofa, facing a gilt-edged maroon arm chair. These are placed on a broken cement flooring, which has tufts of grass popping out of it. In the background are Roman pillars interspersed with very modern looking candle stands. In the foreground of the stage is a broken pillar. Did someone forget to pick it up? Are we shooting in a corner of the Parthenon?

The live audience has dark cloudy skies behind them and are sitting on what I think is supposed to be a faux amphitheatre. They have a stand with around a dozen large melting white candles behind them. It’s quite the fire hazard and I expect the three witches to pop out from the background at any moment. But no, only Kher and Khan take the stage.

Kher kicks the show off with a five-minute explanation that the people he’ll be interviewing aren’t guests; they’re friends. But there won’t be gossip and the conversation won’t be superficial. And somewhere in the background you can hear KJo groan.

Now to the good-and-not-so-bizarre parts.

Kher is very at ease with SRK. There’s little pandering and the inside jokes are few, unlike in Johar’s show. There are also no sexual innuendoes, although I, for one, saw nothing wrong with that little detail of Koffee with Karan.

Did I learn anything new about Khan? Much to my surprise I did. Kher is the co-star with whom Khan has acted the most number of times, and Kher uses this familiarity well. Did you know Khan was actually named Abdul Rehman by his grandmother, but his father named him Shah Rukh?

Khan’s love for cinema and acting began before he met theatre actor and teacher, Barry John. His father used to be in-charge of the mess at National School Of Drama and young Khan would watch plays being rehearsed and performed at NSD, while sitting on the laps of directors.

Predictably, there was a little about his love story with his wife, Gauri Khan, who is the first woman he ever dated. We won’t ask anything about whether she’s been the last and whether or not one could hear exotic-sounding groans in the background.

Kher is an engaging interviewer, but was it an earth-shattering, scintillating interview? No. However, it was simply, a pleasant break from the Karan Johar-style of interviewing, with its rapid fire and increasingly boring answers. For Khan and Kher’s fans, the good news is that there’s another hour-long episode, next Sunday, when Kher will continue his chat with Khan. What will Khan speak of for another hour? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he’ll talk about his friendship with Salman Khan and his interest in cricket. Thrilling stuff.

And who knows, maybe the witches will make an appearance.

Disclaimer:  The Anupam Kher Show airs on Colors. The channel is a part of Network18 which also owns Firstpost.