The Bigg Boss Jalota-Jasleen Gimmick that Backfired

Off all the gimmicky ideas that  Bigg Boss has  come up with to attract eyeballs  in the midst of the show’s rapidly dwindling TRPs, the bizarre linkup between  ghazal-bhajan maestro Anup Jalota(65) and  model Jasleen(early 20s) takes  the  bakery.

This planted romance was  not only in bad taste but its also reeked  of desperation to somehow keep  the  viewers interested. It is another matter that viewers were more bored than shocked to see Baby Jasleen slobbering all  over Ustad Jalota.

Exactly why viewers would get all worked over a relationship between a veteran singer and a relatively unknown model is beyond any rational explanation. More bizarre  is  the  question, why  did a renowned  respected  veteran artiste  like Jalotaagree to be linked to a girl young to be his daughter? And that too when he is still grieving for  his wife.

A friend and  colleague  of  Jalota says. “Anup definitely didn’t need  the money  or  the publicity. But he  needed  the excitement  tragically missing in his life. After his wife(Medha Kapoor)’s  premature death Anup has been  very lonely. He  has not been reaching out to  his friend either. He has been  locked away  in his grief.This(Bigg Boss) must have  been like an opportunity to break out of his selfimposed citadel of solitude.”

The world could see Jalota was  not  comfortable in the role of Lolita’s  paternal-lover. Apparently  the mortified musician protested.  But to no avail. The  show’s architects have their own idea of how to  raise TRPs.On Bigg Boss anything goes.

This  time, though, they’ve gone  to far. It will take Anup Jalota a very long time to get over this embarrassment.