Following his triumphant stint on television, when actor-comedian Kapil Sharma announced his collaboration with the global streaming giant Netflix, it kindled a sense of great anticipation in viewers, this writer included. However, The Great Indian Kapil Show, which premiered on Netflix on March 30, feels strikingly similar to Kapil’s earlier shows, with familiar gags, guests and gupshup.
Here are the hits and misses from the first episode of The (not-so) Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix – landing a couple of years after his underwhelming stand-up debut on Netflix, I Am Not Done Yet.
Tete-a-tete with the Kapoors
The premiere episode features the Kapoor family — Ranbir Kapoor with his mother Neetu and sister Riddhima Kapoor Sahani. While their anecdotes are engaging, they largely rehash stories already known to fans, leaving little room for novelty.
Ranbir Kapoor's familial escapades, including stealing his mother and sister's belongings for his girlfriends, are tales we’ve heard before. Similarly, anecdotes about Rishi Kapoor that they share have been recounted in several reality shows in the past.
That being said, the conversation became interesting when it turned to Ranbir and Alia Bhatt’s daughter Raha. Neetu and Riddhima not only praised Ranbir as a doting father but also highlighted the transformative effect fatherhood has had on him. They shared anecdotes of how Ranbir's otherwise poker face comes alive when Raha enters the room. Ranbir humorously claimed expertise in burping, thanks to his daughter. He also made a promise to soon bring his daughter onto Kapil's show.
Old wine in a new bottle
Despite featuring A-list guests for the inaugural episode, The Great Indian Kapil Show struggles to elicit laughter as Kapil Sharma sticks to his usual repertoire of jokes, including his typical husband-wife banter, fat-shaming Kiku Sharda's character, and engaging in stale banter with Archana Puran Singh.
What worked for us was Krushna Abhishek's portrayal of Abrar from Animal and his impersonation of Bobby Deol's dance in Gupt.
And our woman of the match award for the first episode goes to Kapil Sharma's wife Ginni Chatrath in the audience. She left her husband at a loss for words with her playful banter, humorously alluding to his role in their frequent parenthood ventures. Kapil, taken aback, hastily requested the microphone to be taken away from her.
Return of Sunil Grover
The show's coup, however, lies in the return of Sunil Grover, complete with his/her playful jabs at Kapil with references to their past spats. It was symbolic that their reunion occurred on a set fashioned as an airport, considering their infamous mid-air altercation in 2017 that led to Grover’s stormy exit from Kapil’s previous show.
Like Gutthi, on The Great Indian Kapil Show, Grover once again plays a female character. Named Dafli, he engaged in a flirtatious exchange with Ranbir Kapoor, dubbing himself/herself Bhabhi No. 2 (alluding to Ranbir’s blockbuster Animal). Their playful interaction included a dance to Pehle Bhi Main, culminating, er, behind the curtains.
Rocking the charts
Despite the lack of novelty in content, The Great Indian Kapil Show has become a trending sensation in 14 countries since its debut — India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, Maldives, Oman, Sri Lanka, UAE, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Qatar — and occupies the third spot worldwide on this week's Global Top 10 series list by Netflix. As members of the audience, we can only hope that the jokes will land better in the upcoming episodes.
