Two power house personalities namely actor -director Sajid Khan and actor-producer Riteish Deshmukh have joined hands together recently to host a celebrity talk show named Yaaron Ki Baraat on Zee TV Channel. The show premiered on 8th Oct, 2016 and it will be telecast in the prime time slotting of 9 pm every Saturday and Sunday. Yaaron Ki Baraat will span 10 weeks of rollercoaster joyride. This unique albeit first of its kind talk show will focus on Bollywood star pairs who are friends. It borders on their friendship over the years. It will be layered with wit and humor including anecdotes from their personal as well as their professional life. Caught up with Ritiesh Deshmukh, to get more info about the show in the Press Conference held at Studio 8 in Filmcity.
How did the idea about the celebrity talk show Yaaron Ki Baarat germinate?
The show Yaaron Ki Baraat has been conceptualized by Esselvision and Sajid (Khan) was roped in before me and it was Sajid who had asked them to contact me and ask me if I was interested in hosting the show along with him and most important if I would be able to spare time for the show amidst all my over busy schedule. But the moment I met them, including Sajid, and heard the concept of the show I was like game for it and gave my instant nod of approval.
Whose idea was it to have Amitabh Bachchan & Shatrughan Sinha as the first long lost Bollywood friends to appear on the show?
Once Sajid and me were up for the show. We had a sort of many joint meetings with Esselvision guys to discuss further about the game plan of the show. It was in one such meetings that both Sajid and me sounded off the idea to have both Amitji and Shatruji on the show and the moment we made this suggestion everyone in the meeting had this zapped up expression on their face and even we both were shit scared and nervous on how are we were going to achieve this impossible feat.
And then?
Then we just cooled down and we both decided to meet Amitji and Shatruji and convince them to be the first ever guests on the show. So I met Amitji and Sajid met Shatruji and narrated the concept of the show to them and once again we were shocked and surprised when they agreed to be the first guest on the show. Later on even Shatruji’s better half Poonam Sinha and his daughter Sonakshi Sinha informed us that Shatruji was too excited to be on the show with Amitji, as it was almost three and a half decades that both of them were appearing together on one platform. Yet we both could not believe that it was possible till their car reached Filmcity Studio, till they settled down in their Vanity Van and till they donned their make up. Finally we heaved a sigh of relief when we actually started shooting with them. Of course we were both nervous thinking that anything could have gone wrong and the shoot may have to be cancelled at the last moment. But thankfully everything went right, just as we had planned it. After the shoot there was appreciation galore even with a snide remarks that perhaps Amitji – Shatruji episode should have been a curtain’s down grand finale episode. But we promise to bring more excitement in the grand finale episode. In fact having both Amitji and Shatruji in the curtain raiser of Yaaron Ki Baraat was our trump card.
Maybe Sajid and you can bring together the jodi of Salman Khan – Shah Rukh Khan for the grande finale episode!
We both can’t promise the viewers on that score but we give our full assurance that we will try our level best to bring them together on the show at least in one of the episodes if not for the grand finale episode.
What exactly is the concept of the show?
We all have a Best Friend in our lives and we celebrities are no exception. Despite constant comparisons, constant cut throat competition, hectic schedules and frequent travels some of the Bollywood star friends have still managed to hold on to their friendship over the years. So for the first time ever on Indian Television, Zee TV Channel brings to the viewers this fun filled chat show Yaaron Ki Baraat.
Please Continue!!!
First of all this show will put celebrity friendships to test through a series of fun challenges and tasks. The guests will also share sepia toned memories including heartwarming anecdotes from their friendship over the years. They will also recreate the magic of their professional as well as personal lives and sometimes even spill the beans on each other. They will sportingly take on dares, parodying the most iconic scenes from their cult films and also reminiscing the good old times with pictures and videos. We will also put their compatibility to test over fun games. In fact they will let their hair down and have a good time. Our idea is to let spontaneity take over and reveal their fun sides to the viewers who will also participate with their rare Q&A sessions.
By the way who christened the show as Yaaron Ki Baraat and why only this name?
The show earlier had another working title but it was not jelling well with the real concept of the show. So on an impulse I suggested the name Yaaron Ki Baraat and it had an instant Bollywood connect with the superhit Bollywood film Yaadon Ki Baraat and the show is also about Bollywood star friends going down the memory lane and also getting nostalgic about it.
What are the exciting line – up of star friends for the show and will you both bring together even female star friends?
We will bring 20 pairs of star friends on the show in the alloted 10 weeks and if the show goes well then we may also have a second season as for now we are having a line – up of Karan Johar – Farah Khan, Sania Mirza – Pariniti Chopra, Harbhajan Singh – Yuvraaj Singh etc etc etc. Maybe we will try to bring even the current Bollywood actors like Ranveer Singh – Arjun Kapoor. We will try to bring other good friends from Business as well as Political arena and of course even other female star friends like we brought together Sania and Pariniti.
Will you also have Bollywood stars who were thick friends earlier and cannot see eye to eye now?
Sorry to say but this is not a reconciliation show. It is very difficult to make them friends again, at least not on the show. But on second thoughts you have sounded off a very good idea. Maybe we can work on it in the second season that is, if there is a second season and if we will still be hosting it. You see there are sometimes a lot of slip between the cup and the lip.
How was your experience of hosting the show?
While I have already hosted award ceremonies, Yaaron Ki Baraat will be my first time as the host of a chat show on a Hindi GEC. So to host a show celebrating friendships with a very close friend like Sajid feels apt. He has a great sense of humor, an impeccable sense of timing and together we hope to create the light hearted kind of atmosphere for the celebrities to open up and share things they have never ever spoken of. We look forward to entertaining audiences and letting them experience the friendships of their favorite stars. As for my personal experience of hosting Yaaron Ki Baraat I would say that both Sajid and me are like two old buddies who just got together for this show and had a lot of fun. In fact to be very frank we both had a real BLAST!!!
