I didn’t know the ebullient Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt were ‘sakhis’(female friends) until he told us so on the inaugural episode of the new season of Koffee With Karan. It was a great deal of fun, thanks to Ranveer. Within the span of the first twenty minutes he told us he was best friends with Alia , that was wearing his mother’s diamond ear-rings that he lost Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet to Ranbir Kapoor because at that time Ranveer did not have the stardom to carry off the budget of the film.
Unfiltered and sexually charged, Ranveer was without doubt the life and breadth of the show. The consummate livewire. Alia was surprisingly lackluster, as if the newly-married actress had other things on her mind.She was of course no less than charming as she spoke about what it feels like to be part of the Kapoor family where family get-togethers are a big thing.
Alia joined Ranveer Singh to praise Sanjay Bhansali. He congratulates her for being lately ‘Bhansali-fied’. There was this interesting recollection of the time when Alia was shooting a tough dance for Bhansali when Ranveer dropped in for moral support.
But the best was yet to come. Ranveer’s impersonation of Hrithik Roshan, Varun Dhawan , Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan was so bang-on it was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen on television for a long time.
While the kickstart episode was kickass, what could have been avoided was the preliminary prattle on Bollywood being vilified during the last two years(“I didn’t know if I would ever come back with this show”).The subsequent interlude where Alia Bhatt shared a message of appreciation from Ibrahim Ali Khan after he watched her in Gangubai Kathiawadi could also have been avoided. Considering it was a personal message I thought that was unexpectedly unkind.
That apart the show eschewed overt bitchiness. Karan stuck to generating humour from his own quirkiness rather than hitting out at his adversaries or poking fun at the rest of the industry.
There was an awkward innuendo on a certain part of Ranbir Kapoor anatomy where I could see Alia squirm.She should know Karan Johar wouldn’t be Karan Johar if he didn’t shock you.
