Things That Bang

I used to consider TV game shows to be below my dignity. Yeah, add your idol frenzy to it or that damn dance Nach Baliye type of crap till one fine day my husband made me see two bald men take the trip of goonks who had come to audition for MTV Roadies - Hell Down Under. (I woke up to the show on the sixth season; shame on me)

I watched them fuck around with people who could best be classified as losers (of course there were exceptions) with dreams of being the next Roadie in their eyes. Raghu and Rajiv, the two bald twin brothers had this strange synergy between them that only twins apparently have. They picked up each others' conversation as if they knew what the other was thinking and they ripped apart the participants' self esteem within a matter of few minutes and that too in classic Hindi vulgarity that I so love.

Some left with tears in their eyes. Yeah, well, they had been warned. The two brothers weren't there to make social chit chat but to select people who had nerves of steel and sadly the one who truly was Roadie material in my books was voted out in the first episode itself- Sufi.

It was obvious why Sufi had been voted out. The man had the makings of a Bollywood hero. He had camera presence, seemed to be a man of stable character and integrity. When he was voted out he said he wanted to use the money to help build his parent's business. His words seemed genuine and I felt bad watching him go.

But a man like Sufi seems to have the will to make it big and I sure hope to see him make it big in Bollywood.

There are three other people I have taken a liking for - Bobby, Roop and baby faced Sandeep.

Bobby and Roop seem to be the only girls with intelligence in the show and I especially liked the way Roop took Gurmeet's trip.

Gurmeet tried her best to project herself to be a hip girl with a devil may care attitude but she turned out to be a chicken shit babe unable to deal with criticism when it came at her headlong from Roop. At the truth or dare game she tried to put Roop in a spot but when Roop turned tables on her she pulled the - 'I don't want to play this game' shit and had the other contestants guffaw.

The less said about Gurmeet the better. Actually the less she shows of herself the better for the viewers. Her bulky curves in tight t-shirts and thunder thighs in tiny shorts are complete eye sore. But the one person who beats Gurmeet hollow is Paulami.

Paulami thinks she is da bomb! Wait! she thinks she is a Bipasha look alike and thinks she is the best dressed and hottest babe amongst the Roadies. Fact is anyone who meets Paulami would die to ask her if her plastic surgeon had botched her face.

The woman looks like witch out of one those horror Ramsay brother flicks but even witches are allowed to think they are hot- its a matter of self esteem and who am I to disabuse them of these notions.

The women of substance on this show are Roop and Booby. They are witty and can easily take the other women up and shred them into bits and on Roadies cat fights are always hot especially when the air headed 'I am so hot' babes gets slammed by the real street smart goddesses.

The men become insignificant at that point. But the men I am rooting for are Sandeep and for Pradeep.

Pradeep is a street smart surd and knows how to manipulate his way through the game. He understands its better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend. He sidelined Gurmeet when he backed up Roop. Gurmeet, he seemed to have realized was nothing more than a dumb babe with a loud mouth and he didn't want to be seen siding with her. Clever dude.

Sandeep till now has stayed out of controversy but been yakking a lot in front of the camera. I know this baby faced dude with thick Delhi-ite accent would not last on Roadies Down Hell Under but then again it would be fun to see how a gentle giant handles himself amongst poisonous snakes.

The other Roadies wanna be players are insignificant in my mind since they have not done much to get my attention. And for those who want to read up more on them there is stuff about them on the main site but it would do them good to get a bit more in the limelight because the audience doesn't care much for wall flowers no matter how pretty (yeah like Suzanne with her hooked nose) may be.

The behind the scene peek was also fun to watch and Ragu's departure was indeed a loss to the show but these people are weird enough to keep us entertained in Hell Down And Under for an entire season.