Season 7 of Koffee with Karan — the chat show hosted by film-maker and producer Karan Johar — started off with a bang with guests Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh. True to the show’s DNA, the two — who also share a great friendship off screen — gave us many memorable moments, whether it was Alia talking about her marriage with Ranbir Kapoor or Ranveer’s spot-on mimicry of his peers and seniors. Since then, we have had two more episodes — Episode 2 had young guns Sara Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor sharing the couch and Episode 3 had the unlikely pair of Akshay Kumar and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. None of the two episodes, frankly, had much spark. Here’s what we think Season 7 hasn’t got it right so far.
Missing context: A lot of the conversation in the Sara-Janhvi episode was pure gibberish. Sure, it was fun to hear the two girls, who are competing for the same spotlight, talk about their tight friendship, but regular mentions of boyfriends we never knew they had (or cared for), an unnecessarily long account of their trip to Kedarnath and Karan butting in with anecdotes that probably made sense in his living room but not in front of an audience of a few million with no context only spelt
B-O-R-I-N-G.
Less bite: It met with a lot of criticism for raking up controversy, but frankly speaking, we all looked forward to the Rapid Fire round. Karan is possibly being cautious this season and that’s translated into questions in this round which lack bite. One can be less catty and yet deliver entertainment. This season has missed that memo. And that bunch of giggly college boys and girls judging the winner doesn’t make the cut.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Akshay Kumar
Thanda vibes: Despite their seductive moves to the Pushpa hit Oo antava, there was zero chemistry between Akshay Kumar and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Akshay is anyway a man of few words and he clammed up even more on the couch, leaving it up to Sam to plug in the silences. To her credit, she tried her best, but there’s only that much she could do. And that attempt to spice things up at the end with Akshay throwing Samantha around like a pillow was plain creepy.
Ad-a-minute: Switching from TV to streaming means no ad breaks. So Season 7 has decided to become an ad itself. Apart from Karan throwing in beauty pageant-inspired questions to appease one sponsor or the other, whose names keep popping up on screen, there is even sponsored mood lighting.
The ho-hum jodis: Apart from Episode 1, we aren’t feeling much love for the pairs this season. Sure, unlikely pairs throw up interesting equations, but that hasn’t been the case this season. We see no reason for Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani to turn up together, given that their film Kabir Singh is already done and dusted.
And then, of course, is an eye on promotions. Close to the release of Liger — incidentally co-produced by Johar — the film’s stars Vijay Deverakonda and Anannya Panday will make a joint appearance.
Well, let’s see if things get better. We live in hope.