THE BIG ONAM SPLASH

which was telecasted in Rosebowl Channel on September 3rd have given me some really negative reviews. Lot of people called me after the telecast to tell me how hilarious it was but at the same time there were people who thought it completely threw of the image of some of the anchors. I wanted to write on this earlier but thought of it as a fun show but now after receiving some shrewd comments I decided to write on this though I am late by a week.

Firstly, this whole 'prankster on the prowl' was not planned! None of us would wantingly throw our dignity to raise the TRP of the channel. None of us need that. Each and every anchor is extremely professional when it comes to their work and we don't need any sort of short term publicity stunts to raise the TRP of our respective shows. So those of you who think it's planned I think I have cleared your doubt. Secondly, I do not know about the rest but I didn't feel good about it . I was absolutely helpless at that point. I don't have the rights to speak about the other gags as I was not present there while those were being taken. I can only speak to you about the gag played on me. I was told that Sudipto (Prankster) was a percussionist who has worked with A.R.Rahman and Himesh Reshammiya. I was also asked to hold a small interactive session with him asking about his experience and his future works. And apparently he was also asked to interact with me so that I can sing few songs and speak about my show, Nine at Night. Once the cameras were rolling he obviously started to speak about fake things to trap me. Now, some of the spectators had a problem with me not responding back and disagreed with me agreeing to all the nonsense spoken by Sudipto. Just look at it from a different angle. I am actually interacting with a percussionist from ARRs den so I need to give him the respect he deserves even if it's utter crap that he is speaking on National TV. In fact many of the celebrity guests in my show speak a lot of things that could work against their image. But since everything is cut off in the editing room you guys never get to watch it uncensored. When the gag was being played all I could think was that I am suppose to diplomatically handle this making sure I do not hurt Sudipto's feelings. So naturally I had to oblige to everything he had to say be it Kumar Sanu raag or Kutra raag or ramdev raag . I don't think I would appreciate any kind of rebelling in front of the camera on such a situation. It's also for the same reasons that I actually sang the different versions of Pardesi. I am a singer who is asked to use my creativity at various unprepared situations... and at that point I did feel that as a singer I proved my creativity even if a bunch of them had a ROFL. No regrets .. all was done to entertain each and everyone of you. But it would be nice if you could also think about the other side.

Once all of us got to know that it was a gag it was way too late to respond. But for that one person who commented against this , please, if you did'nt like it and if you think we lost our image then you may kindly switch the channel and watch something which probably matches your dignity levels. After all man and science have come up with a wonderful electronic invention - the remote. Thank you once again for all the good , bad and very bad reviews :D ... Keep watching Rosebowl and have a wonderful post-onam week.