TV Review : Say Shaava -- To Worst Realit

Sameer Nair's highly ambitious and the most talked about Indian television channel, NDTV Imagine was launched yesterday with much (exaggerated) fanfare. Despite hiring many well-known faces of the (not-so-small-anymore) desi-television Industry, NDTV Imagine never really grabbed my attention. My logic is quite simple – all Hindi channels cater to similar target audiences, therefore a new entrant cannot actually afford to be too different. All they do is present us with old goods, only in new packaging. Quite frankly, I am very much content with investing my spare time in BBC Entertainment – which is in fact a refreshing break from all the American crap we have been subjected to, of late.

However one of the so-called sensational shows on Imagine that caught my eye (during the publicity phase) and happened to be home on time to catch it on the idiot box was, yet again, a reality show named Say Shaava Shaava.

From the looks of it, Say Shaava Shaava had everything going for it.

1. Two of the most famous prime-time television hosts as judges – My darling KJo aka Karan Johar and one time beauty, Simi Girebal Garewal. Now one may not be too fond of his big screen productions but you cannot deny the high-reputation of his (famous) Koffee couch. And even though I can't understand Madam Simi's obsession with 'White' and would have rather preferred the likes of Hema Malini or Rekha but then my sister rightly pointed out – "They wouldn't show such cleavage".

2. And did Simiji show her bosoms or whot!

3. Already TRP hogging contestants in the form of popular tele-stars like Juhi Parmar, Narayani Shastri, Apurva Agnihotri and Aman Varma.

4. The regular Song-n-Dance routine but presented in a wedding theme.

As they say, however, at times even the best intentions attract completely opposite reactions and this is exactly what I think happened with Say Shaava Shaava.

Simi Garewal despite her (very) tight WHITE outfit and extra bouncy low neck line was prancing around not like a diva but instead like some stuffed-up doll. Apna television celebrities were really bad when it came to singing Bollywood numbers and by bad I mean, not only were they out-of-tune; they were as down-right "besuras". As for the Wedding theme, it appeared to be nothing more than just a marketing gimmick.

On the plus side, I can think only of Karan who was his usual smartass filmy self. Though at times even he was unsuccessful in hiding the utter disappointment unfolding in front of him. (On a related note - don't you think KJo's styling has improved a great deal since he has started endorsing heavy international brands.)

Anyway hats off to KJo and Madam Simi and the studio audience who had to sit thru it all.

Final words – This show comes across better if slotted under the "comedy" category; if you thought the folks on Filmy Channel's Bathroom Singer were sad, the contestants on Say Shaava Shaava are a couple of notches higher (worse) on the same scale. Thankfully the show come with an expiry date of just 11 days.

Surprisingly though Karan Johar also happens to be NDTV Imagine's creative consultant; one wonders how he let something so ugly pass by him or maybe he is just interested in counting the cash to finance so many of his, I mean, SRK's dream projects.