Anita Hassanandani takes a deep breath, says Jai Mata Di, and dives from a 12-storey building. Yana Gupta smiles while a creepy crawly walks over her face. Pooja Bedi remembers her children before diving into ice cold water.
In Colors’ new Khatron ke Khiladi (with an average first six-day TRP of 1.53), Akshay Kumar may be the star, wearing a singlet and knee-high trousers, but it’s the women who are walking away with the wows. The role reversal is everywhere.
In Ugly Aur Pagli, a film distinguished by its idea (borrowed from a Korean film) rather than its execution, Ranvir Shorey is a slacker, having outlived his engineering school by four years.
Mallika Sherawat is a woman who snores, swears, slaps and swills several drinks. Whether it’s a dare (will she wear her innerwear as pouterwear) or arm wrestling, Sherawat wins every gender bending battle.
In MTV Splitsvilla (TRP of 0.70), a show where 20 girls ostensibly compete for the attention of two boys, the girls show exactly what it takes to be the empowered new alpha woman. If Bianca Mendonca says the sexiest part of her body is her tongue, then another contestant Minakshi Khanduri thinks nothing of dedicating a poem to herself.
Whether it’s a mud fight between Bosky Bhatia and Prianca Sharma or an expletive-filled exchange between Hannah Sim and Yamini Batra, nothing gets in the way of the girls and their prize-not the man but the opportunity to host a show with him.
Mallika Sherawat and Ranvir Shorey in a scene from Ugly Aur Pagli
Mallika Sherawat and Ranvir Shorey in a scene from Ugly Aur Pagli
“Our women have always been feisty,” says Ashish Patil, general manager, MTV. So explosive are some situations-the format requires the women to exhibit their various talents, among them how to wear a swimsuit as much as how to go on a date-that MTV is unable to air them. The air is so thick with abuse.
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