The Big Jhatka
Monday to Friday, 9.00 pm, Imagine
Years ago, there used to be Telematch, a German show where participants would dress in elaborate costumes, face challenges in the form of hurdles and obstacles of various shapes and sizes, trip over each other, generally act goofy and reach the finishing line even as viewers - both adults and children - cheered them and looked forward to the next round and the nextepisode. That was on Doordarshan.
Years later, a kiddie channels aired Takeshi's Castle (it's still on, I guess), a Japanese show where participants had to overcome difficult challenges (getting themselves pushed, shoved, knocked, dunked in mud, water, the works) to reach the Castle! It had a voiceover of funnyman Javed Jaffrey who in his inimitable style would do a running commentary add-ing to the hilarious goings-on.
Recently Shah Rukh Khan promised to give us a zor ka jhatka with a show by the same name on Imagine. First impressions? SRK and the audience definitely deserved better.
So what's the show about? It's a desi take on the international show, Wipeout. It has a mixed bag of contestants (read out-of-work actors, reality show junkies, ex-Miss Indias, there is the Commonwealth Games winning boxer, Manoj Kumar and Everest climber, Krushnaa Patil too) who go through some really tough obstacles (possibly the only interesting aspect of the show) - most of them are knocked from every corner possible when they are not kicked by Ramlal (a standing machine who gives them a GPL or Grand Pichwadepe Laath) straight into the water… the first round is Kamartod qualifier after which six contestants get to participate in the Chakravyuha round and later three of them play the final Wipeout decider. The one, who takes the least time to finish it, gets a direct entry into the finals, plus 10 lakhs as prize money. Boxer Manoj Kumar and choreographer and Pooja Bedi's ex, Hanif Hilal were the winners at the time of writing.
The obstacles are tough and the proceedings funny (that is if watching people get pushed, punched, dunked into water and mud is your idea of entertainment). To SRK's credit, his lines are witty (like once he told co-hostess Saumya Tandon, 'Jaldi se results batao; hum doosre shows jaise nahin hain jahan results batate batate bachche bade ho jaate hain!') and he is cheeky to say the least. That he keeps using the refrain, 'O terri' (just like Aamir Khan does in his films) or thrusts his pelvis one too many times (a la Salman Khan in Bigg Boss) is mildly amusing. He indulges in name calling for every contestant like smiling dulhania Dimpy Mahajan, gussewala Gaurav Chopra, Wonderbrar Mink, cool sky Akashdeep (Saigal), desi Tyson Manoj, so on and so forth.
What is not on is SRK returning to TV with this show! Even a Sajid Khan could have pulled off this one. We would have loved the superstar come back to our drawing rooms with something more interesting, stimulating and engaging. Also to make it worse, why is he not at the place of action? It is so daft to have him in a massive studio (thankfully, there is no paid studio audience or an automated laughter track) while the contestants are sweating it out in far-flung Argentina. We are sure his presence at the actual venue would have made a huge difference. Secondly, we don't think he brings anything unique to the table. And last but not the least, the show itself isn't anything we haven't seen before.
The only silver lining we see is kids might take a liking to it!
Verdict: **1/2
Skip it, the 9 to 10 pm slot has better viewing alternatives. Zor ka jhatka? We hope, the show doesn't get it from the ratings of better, rival shows.
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