Because Kajol, Twinkle, Aamir and Salman have worked together in the past, their banter has the high spirits of a college reunion, observes Deepa Gahlot.
It could be argued that another Bollywood talk show was not really needed. The stars already share, over various media platforms, what they want to reveal about their lives.
The hosts of this new Bollywood talk show, Two Much With Kajol And Twinkle, say that male hosts don't bring up questions that women really want to ask.
The first episode is a sort of coup, since the show gets Salman Khan and Aamir Khan together, and the two supposedly rival stars bring out so much warmth and humour that one can overlook the gaudy set and Kajol's blinding gold skirt.
Compared to the hosts, the guests are casually dressed, like they just stepped out of home to go to a neighbourhood café.
Because the four have worked together in the past, their banter has the high spirits of a college reunion.
'Do you remember when we first met?' they ask, and the memories flow.
Over the years, if someone read longform interviews in fanzines, then they'd know most of the information, like Salman's habitual late coming and Aamir's perfectionism.
They reminisce about the film they did Andaz Apna Apna, back in 1994, during the shoot of which Salman would wake up just to give his shot while Aamir, who arrived at 7 am for a 9 am shift, had rehearsed for hours and still did 38 retakes.
Later, Salman jokes that he managed all along, with just three expressions.
There are questions about Aamir's marriages ('we live vicariously through you,' say the female stars), and Salman's eternal bachelorhood.
Aamir is candid about not giving enough time to his kids, and his resorting to therapy, while Salman is surprisingly honest about his health issues -- the agoniSing pain he suffered due to a medical condition called trigeminal neuralgia, and the surgery he underwent.
In between the laughter -- does it have to look so forced? -- there are little nuggets, like Salman having to change schools because his father did not pay the fees or Aamir studying till the second standard in a girl's school.
No matter what the gossip says, the two seem to be good friends.
Salman looked after Aamir's son Junaid when he was a kid, and so on.
Salman also said that Kajol's (who used to visit the sets and call him 'uncle') father, the late Shomu Mukherjee, was a friend of the family, and had dropped by for a drink two days before he passed away.
The games during the break in the conversation are a bit unimaginative, and disturb the flow.
Written by Niranjan Iyengar and directed by Arun Sheshkumar, stars to appear in the future episodes (one will drop every Thursday) include Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Kriti Sanon, Chunky Pandey and Govinda ('don't ask my umar or kamar').
There's a verbal bomb casually uttered in the promo -- that Kajol and Twinkle shared an ex -- and that would provide quite the hook for fans.
Two Much With Kajol And Twinkle streams on Amazon Prime Video.
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