The eighth episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show Season 2 took a non-glam turn by hosting Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy with his wife Sudha Murty, and also Zomato’s founder Deepinder Goyal along with his Mexican-born wife, Gia Goyal/ Grecia Muñoz. The episode was more like a thali — a few dishes hit the sweet spot, while others left you wondering if the chef had gone missing. The guests engaged us with candid conversations, but the show’s format struggled to juggle biz talk with slapstick.
Sudha Murty was the clear MVP of the episode, and her playful banter could’ve carried the show all on its own. From her effortless digs at her husband to making light of her simplicity (‘an economy class ticket will get me to the same destination at the same time, so why get a business class ticket?’) to catching Kapil out. When Kapil tried to wriggle out of Sudha's suggestion that all men should help in the kitchen, his excuse that he had “just washed the dishes this morning” was met with Sudha’s on-the-button, “Show me your hands… you have not washed utensils… Kapil-ji humse panga mat lena!”
Narayana Murthy, the business legend, looked like he was stuck in an elevator between floors — neither here nor there. He was largely silent, occasionally glancing at his watch like he had a flight to catch. You could almost hear him think, “Why am I here? Is this part of my, er, 70-hour work week?”
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal, the king of quick deliveries (think Blinkit), showed that he could also deliver quick laughs. When Kapil asked whether some of those quirky Zomato notifications were actually his messages to Gia, Deepinder quipped, “Absolutely, once or or twice I have typed out a message for Gia and thought, this would make a good notification so let me send it out!”
When Archana Puran Singh asked Gia about her favorite Indian dish, she promptly said, like a true Dilliwali: “Chhole Bhature”. This happened moments after Sudha Murty had said no to fast food like Chhole Bhature, but she was quick to quip, “After all that Chhole Bhature, you’re still so slim!”One wasnt quite sure why Neeraj Goyat, the champion boxer and mixed martial artist, was brought in for a bit, but he did bring some easy banter to the show.
That is definitely not what can be said about the show’s trademark triumvirate of Krushna Abhishek-Kiku Sharda-Sunil Grover (as Doland Drunk-Kim Kong-Dafli). With two business biggies and one of India’s most popular authors in the house, one really had hoped that the so-called The Great Indian Kapil Show would make a greater effort.
