What was supposed to be a great entertaining press conference to announce the launch of Bigg Boss 8 with Salman Khan at the helm of affairs finally turned out to be one long, unimpressive and tepid affair leaving journalists extremely disgruntled. And making matters worse was the sweltering heat inside Jet Airways hangar where Colors decided to host the conference keeping in mind the airline based theme of the show this season.
For starters, the press conference was crowded with more guests than media personnel, the former trooping in to catch a glimpse of Salman Khan. Expectations reached a crescendo when Salman handsomely dressed as a pilot made a dashing entry dancing to the tunes of the uber popular Yaar Na Miley from Kick. All looked hunky dory till Salman took the mike and that’s exactly when the script started going awry. The actor for reasons best known to him decided to kick off proceedings by indulging in an antakshari session which dragged on a bit.
Just when things were starting to turn a bit drab, Salman thankfully signalled his willingness to move on with other games tailor-made to entertain journalists. Unfortunately the games and other acts decided to be played this time only proved to be more yawn inducing than entertaining. While last season’s press conference was high on dance, music, lively games and other entertainment something that kept audience on their toes, this time around Colors really got their script wrong by choosing to stage airline specific acts including giving safety directions in regional language (really why!!!) that didn’t please anybody but the eager beaver participants who were more than happy to share the stage with Salman.
Hosting the show alongside Salman was last year’s contestant VJ Andy who tried his best to liven up things but in vain. Salman, unlike last year, didn’t look to be in his elements and the accompanying atmospheric heat too was certainly not helping the cause. Not to forget the constant din created by flights taking off from the nearby aerodrome which only made matters more unpleasant. Finally, when the press conference took off, a disinterested Salman certainly didn’t seem to be in a mood to oblige the press with good juicy quotes and preferred to stick to monosyllables.
Let’s hope that the actual season which kicks off on 21 September is far more entertaining than yesterday’s press conference.