To be honest, I wasn’t expecting for the latest season of Khatron Ke Khiladi to blow my mind. In fact, I thought Arjun Kapoor’s Instagram account would have more action that what I’ll get to see with him as a TV host. Just when I was wondering if we’ll get to see Arjun facing some of his fears on the show, his Bollywood buddies started sharing secrets of everything under the sun that scares the shit out of him. So Khatron Ke Khiladi: Kabhi Peeda Kabhi Keeda took off with establishing that our very own Baba is a bit of a misfit, when it comes to adventure and adrenalin.
So we’re in the colorful and spunky landscape of Argentina and Arjun Kapoor is hanging in mid air. That’s when I realised that Mr Kapoor is not going to be the mediocre host that I thought he would be. He ain’t no stunt master like the show’s previous hosts Akshay Kumar and Rohit Shetty. But he is refreshingly casual, comfortable and daring. In his attempt to negate the presumptions in our minds, he did try a few stunts in the first episode, but nothing that proved him a Khatron ka Khiladi! But going by everything on his Instagram page, more action is yet to come!
The participants are an interesting mix of faces that we’ve seen on popular TV shows doing the rounds. Tanishaa Mukerji from Big Boss season 7, Tina Dutta from Utrran, Siddharth Shukla from Balika Vadhu and Faisal Khan from Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, to name a few. There’s also Himmanshoo Malhotra, Vivan Bhatena, Aishwarya Sakhuja, Mukti Mohan, Yuvraaj Walmiki, Raghav Juyal, Jai Bhanushali, Mahhi Vij, Sana Saeed and Parvathy Omanakuttan, who are in the race for the big win.
With the Fear Factor brand comes the promise of larger than life stunts and that promise was duly kept. Escaping from hanging cars, eating rifles, crossing under water tunnels and balancing in mid-air made for some great visuals. but would I call this edge-of-the-seat thriling? Not yet for sure. The first episode at least, had some quintessential GEC moments, like Arjun Kapoor’s cheezy love story with an Argentinean crew member. Tanishaa’s signature smirking came right out of Bigg Boss into Khatron Ke Khiladi, when Mukti failed to complete her under water task. Thanks to the makers, there were no sickening build ups and hammering swish pans of the daily soaps.
The most interesting part of the show is that much of the camera work is going to be operated by Arjun himself, much like a selfie. Let’s call it ‘Talk to the hand’ camera. Disappointingly, it hasn’t been put to great use yet but I’m sure things will pick up and the stunts get more intense. Cool idea though.
All in all, Arjun Kapoor owns the show. How much peeda and keeda this show is yet to give us, has us clinging on.
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