NAG-BigB-KBC

Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna has donned a new role as the host of the Telugu version of “Kaun Banega Crorepati” titled “Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu”, which went on air Monday. While Nag is absolutely no match to the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, he seemed to have handled his new role quite well with ease and aplomb. However, he failed to bring forth the exuberance with which Big B has been handling the show in its Hindi version.

His fans may argue that he is great actor, and therefore, is expected to be a great TV show host as well. But controlling the reins of a popular show such as KBC is not as easy as one thinks it is. In the first episode, Nag was as sophisticated as Big B is in the original. He is also as stylish as him but one area where he lagged behind is being as spontaneous as Amitabh. Nag is also not fluent in Telugu as much as Big B is in Hindi. He was laughing unnecessarily at some junctures during the show and it looked extremely artificial to see on the television screen. Most importantly, Nag failed to make a connection with his contestants more an emotional level. He was only portraying himself more as a TV show host than as someone the contestants can feel comfortable with while answering questions thrown at them. It could also be said that Nag might take the feedback from the initial episodes to develop himself in this new role.

Let’s see if Nag can change over the course of the season. We should also not try to be too hard on him as he’s attempting something that’s not his cup of tea. But for a rookie in television, Nag has managed to impress with his anchoring skills. He just needs to polish his command over the language and learn to get along with his contestants more on an emotional level.