Swayamvar - Season 2

Rahul dulhaniya Le Jaayenge - i guess the change in the title of the show is more of a positive affirmation after the fiasco of Season 1. It ended with the Swayamvar - only choosing the spouse. We know how happily-ever-after the first pair turned out to be. And well the after taste still lingers in my mouth, having followed season one closely, despite the evidently manipulated histrionics. It’s no longer this historical and momentous adventure anyone can embark on. Everyone has the right to choose one’s spouse in today’s times, so we don’t need to invoke the whole Swayamvar jingbang. That’s no longer the USP of the show.

One look at the set and the memories come beating back. Not all of them good ones, though. It’s like hey, we’ve seen all this before and all this hullabaloo did not lead to happy ending. We all felt cheated at the end of it!!! In fact even Ram Kapoor has to confirm from Rahul if he will really get married, just for the benefit of the viewers. Well, this is reality TV and anything can happen.

Well, i check out the first episode of Season 2 just to check out what else is different apart from the name. i realise that i can tolerate Rahul, after all, as long as he doesn’t laugh. (my first memory of RM is of his stupid laughter irritatingly punctuating the comic talent of kids in Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan. Keep your mouth away from the microphone, you moron!!). His first shot and i am like uggghhhh... He’s has a whole cake of compact on his face!! Some candidates are really gorgeous but none seem to fit him (just like the last time). They all are confident women who carry themselves in aplomb and he looks agape at them like a shy kid who’s just turned lucky to have so many PYT with him. (i kept thinking about all the designer clothes and jewellery they get deck up in during the show. Who cares about RM anyways!) Episode 1 is crammed with romantic Bollywood numbers before the cat fight starts at the party.

i don’t need to gaze at my crystal ball to know what the future episodes would bring. At the outset, RM is going to be a bad monitor in handing a class of 16 women who are assertive and know what exactly they want. It’s going to have a lot of cat fights and bitching about the other candidates - it happens all the time when reality TV brings women together. (remember Dancing Queen, anyone?). That’s the most masaledaar way to the TRPs.

There were enough roaring complaints in the first episode itself. i lost count of the number of times i heard the ladies say “ab hamen bhi time do”. Some of them launched a protest by singing so loudly to ensure others don’t get to talk to RM. Wondering if there was a better way to handle the crowd of women or was it a deliberate attempt to show that women can’t mind their manners when they are in the presence of an irresistibly sexy man like RM!! It was surely better handled the last time. Maybe Rakhi was better at juggling men or maybe men mind their manners and women tend to get insecure quickly.

Can't they get people who the nation would really like to see married, on these shows? Or probably such people find their soulmates easily on their own. They don't need to get paid to act out a dedicated hunt on National TV. i am not going back to watch the show for sure. The manipulation kills the whole concept and then i am not up for being fooled a second time.