Bigg Boss Saath 7: Apurva Agnihotri and his homeland

By Aditi Mittal Shilpa Agnihotri has been eliminated. This I know because she is now suddenly on every media channel giving exit interviews, kind of like the ones an HR department compels you to sit through while pretending to give a hoot about your opinion. Shilpa and her husband Apurva Agnihotri were probably the only two people in this season of Bigg Boss that were in love BEFORE the show started. In the wake of her various PR junkets, Shilpa has left behind her other half, who is still in the house, still depriving the Bigg Boss production team of hours of actual content because he has to spend that time gelling his Mohawk. [caption id=“attachment_1195547” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Courtesy: ibn live[/caption] Apurva Agnihotri first came into the lime light with his debut film, Pardes. On paper, Pardes was the ideal choice for a chikna newcomer. It had Shah Rukh Khan, riding the wave of his success of Koyla in which he’s roped in the ladies for Amrish Puri, Yes Boss in which he roped in the ladies for Aditya Pancholi and then Pardes, in which he was roping in the ladies for Apurva Agnihotri. The other famous couple in Pardes was Alok Nath and Amrish Puri, destined to play ladke ke pita vs ladki ke pita in many films after that. Mahima Chaudhry, Subhash Ghai’s “muse” made her debut in this film. This meant soft focus every time she was on camera, turning her from a human into a blurry, bright looking blob that blushes and sings songs at regular intervals. Agnihotri, played a second generation Indian-American man, whose father (Puri) imagines his own son cannot convince a woman to marry him. So Puri Cyrano De Bergeracs in Shah Rukh Khan to do so on his behalf. This is not surprising since none of Puri’s characters ever trusted their children to find their own spouses. Pardes’ main protagonists however, as its title suggests, are India and its counter, “Western Culture”, emobodied by Apurva Agnihotiri who drinks (HAW), smokes (DOUBLE HAW), has had sex (MAIN ISS DIN KE AANE SE PEHELE MAR KYOON NAHIN GAYI), but personally is guilty of nothing other than unreasonably long bangs and terrible dance moves ( Watch here). So unlikable was he in his portrayal of the NRI that Subhash Ghai chose to insert this hilarious sequence where Mahima Chaudhry beats him when he insults her. That’s a scary villain if I ever saw one. This fight sequence then turns into an embarrassingly choreographed rape sequence where he quivers hopelessly on top of Chaudhry, who was punching the living daylights out of him a second ago but is now in tears. Also, note the dramatic lights, it’s like there’s a short circuit in America every time Agnihotri gets even remotely turned on. ( Watch the scene here) Needless to say Pardes ended with Agnihotri getting beaten up and disowned, just the way Bollywood did to him. With Pardes, he was officially declared a pardesi in Bollywood. Fortunately or unfortunately, Lokhandwood, the home of television production houses, was there as refuge. Agnihotri had a successful run as Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin’s Armaan Sir, on Sony Television and now, with Bigg Boss Saath 7, he’s back in his real desh — television. Aditi Mittal is a stand-up comedian, actress and teacher. She’s on twitter as @awryaditi and she blogs at http://doesmybloglookbiginthis.wordpress.com