Shatrughan-Amitabh Bachchan Together Were Dynamite

The inaugural episode of Zee TV’s new talk show Yaaron Ki Baaraat couldn’t have hoped for a more spectacular heads-up.

The two legends Shatrughan Sinha (SS) and Amitabh Bachchan (AB) just decided to unwind and abandon their super-celebrity status for an evening  of boys’ fun.

And the hosts Sajid Khan and Riteish Deshmukh behaved exactly as they are: fan boys of the iconic stars, while the stars behaved like anything but icons. Sportingly AB and SS even played dumb charade with each other  .And SS actually called AB a ‘bandar’(monkey) during this segment.

The duo let out secrets about each other’s old habits.AB’s digs about SS’s infamouslatecoming habits were done with a poker face.However—and here came the the clincher—for the chat show under review it was SS who arrived on time.A full half an  hour before AB, were told by AB.

There was a blaze of bonhomie cutting through the show, taking our attention effortlessly away from the drab décor and  some of the  questions and skits(e.g the pale chai wali skit with a  cup being passed back and forth between the two icons)  that bordered on the juvenile.

The two veteran actors went through all the motions of a talk show sportingly.My favourite SS anecdote was the one where AB spoke about how SS barged into a sequence between AB and Aruna Irnai during Bombay To Goa. And AB revealed that during the shooting of Shaan and Naseeb on two ends of the town, SS disappeared in transit.

Where did SS go? No answer.

The co-hosts even went into sticky territory when SS and AB’s fight during the shooting ofKala Patthar was brought up. Of course the two friends who went through a prolonged period of cold war after working together in Kala Patthar and Dostana swept all past differences aside .

And yes, there were ‘Khamosh’ jokes all across the hour-long chat show.

All in all, a fabulous evening when two legends decided to just have fun.And to hell with past differences.

Rating: ****