Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 15, 2020)

Having worked with John Abraham in Hook Ya Crook, which never released, Krushna Abhishek, who had grown close to the actor during the shoot, thought that he could get away with roasting the senior actor over his career choices and acting skills on a television comedy show in 2016. However, John, who was present as a special guest with Sonakshi Sinha on Comedy Nights Bachao, was offended by the comedian’s jibes and stormed off in the middle of the act, refusing to return to finish the shoot.

On his recent turn on another telly show, Pro Music Countdown, Krushna admitted that after realising the impact of his words, he sent flowers to John. “I also texted and apologised to him. But he just doesn’t respond,” he rued, going on to add, that he would use the platform to extend another apology to John on national television. This time he is hoping to be forgiven.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 19, 2017)

Krushna Abhishek, who ticked off several Bollywood stars on Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza, including John Abraham, Akshay Kumar, Lisa Haydon and Tannishtha Chatterjee, is currently in Dubai performing live shows. “I’m not part of Chhote Miyan but I will return with a good show on Colors or maybe another channel. I don’t want to roast people anymore because how long can you do the same thing? I did it for one-and-a-half years. We featured around 400 actors, if four-five actors felt offended, you can’t do much about it. I don’t want to offend actors anymore. It’s been a big risk for me but we pulled it off for so long. It ended at the right time,” Krushna told Mirror.

Dogged by constant comparisons with TV’s most successful comedian, Kapil Sharma, whose show he had replaced with Bachao, Krushna says he is always ready for competition. “Kapil is doing well but I plan to return with a fresh concept that will give him tough competition. Agar Sultan aayi thi uske baad Dangal bhi aayi. I will bring my Dangal to give competition to Kapil’s Sultan,” he promises. Krushna also believes that Chhote Miyan has big shoes to fill. “Bharti is hosting but taking the slot of Comedy Nights Bachao is not easy. Our show had replaced Comedy Nights with Kapil, and we know what a tough time we had. So they will have to come up with something new to retain the audience. I hear the writer of Comedy Nights with Kapil, Bharat Kukreti, is also writing Chhote Miyan, so that should work for the

Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; December 30, 2016)

This year’s last episode of Bigg Boss will be special for the inmates, as Salman Khan will be entering the house. The actor has something nasty and fun up his sleeve. Salman will be hosting the ‘Razzie Awards’ for the contestants, and he will present awards like Kaanon Ka Khooni, Footage Khau, Jaani Dushman and Bhukkhad. The three-hour New Year special episode will have an integration with Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Comedy Nights Bachao (both the shows are about to end). A source informs, “ The special episode will have former Bigg Boss contestants Vindoo Dara Singh and Ravi Kishan in attendance. In an added twist, Bigg Boss will bring Lokesh Kumari back into the house.”

Krushna Abhishek and Bharti Singh will return as hosts of another comedy show in place of CNBT
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; December 27, 2016)

Krushna Abhishek and Bharti Singh’s Comedy Nights Bachao Tazaa will shut down next month along with the finale of Bigg Boss10. In its place the channel will be bringing a new comedy show. Though details about it are under wraps, the show to start airing in the last week of January will have Krushna and Bharti hosting it.

Says Krushna, “There are a handful of comedians on TV left like Bharti, Maniesh Paul and me. There is nobody better than Bharti and me as co-hosts. We have a very good equation. We understand each other so well, that after just one reading we are ready to go. Also, we are the only two people who don’t need tele-prompters, everything is spontaneous.” Ask him what the new comedy show will be about and he says, nothing has been finalised yet.

“Various ideas are being tossed around, but nothing is concrete. Both Bharti and I have a good association with the channel and we love to work with them,” adds Krushna.

In the meantime, they have just shot a maha episode with Salman Khan on the sets of Bigg Boss 10 where there is an integration between CNBT and BB. To be aired next weekend, the New Year Special will see Krushna and Bharti interacting with the contestants of BB and also performing with Salman. While, Salman will be seen on the sets of CNBT. In fact, every weekend till the finale of BB 10, Krushna and Bharti will be shooting on the sets of BB.

Also, once the new comedy show is over, Krushna will be back with Comedy Nights Bachao with a revamped format after four months.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 20, 2016)

Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur were slated to shoot for Comedy Nights Bachao on Saturday afternoon to promote their upcoming film, OK Jaanu. Unfortunately the actress’s driver suffered a heart attack following which she cancelled all her commitments to help out his family.

A source reveals that the film’s team suggested that Aditya shoot the episode alone but the channel wanted the ‘Aashiqui couple’ together and no solo special appearances.

“So the shoot didn’t take place at all and there’s no word on whether they will film the episode on a later date. The Bachao team will head to Lonavala to shoot with Salman and the reality show episode will be two hours long instead of the usual one hour,” added the source.

The team doesn’t have a bank to fall back on so will be integrating with Bhai’s Bigg Boss this weekend. They appeared on the reality show two weeks ago too. Krushna Abhishek from Bachao said he was shooting in Varanasi and later remained unavailable for comment.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 16, 2016)

Neha Maheshwri Bhagat (BOMBAY TIMES; November 16, 2016)

Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; November 10, 2016)

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; September 30, 2016)

Tannishtha Chatterjee was roasted on Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza and subjected to remarks on her skin colour. Her outrage against the comments has sparked off a debate on this age-old issue once again. Here's what the actress and host Krushna Abhishek had to say about the controversy...
Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; September 30, 2016)

Prem Chopra, also one of the guests on Krushna Abhishek’s comedy show with Tannishtha Chatterjee, advises her to go easy on a joke
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; September 30, 2016)

Two days after Tannishtha Chatterjee slammed Krushna Abhishek’s Comedy Nights Bachao for ‘roasting’ her for her skin colour in an open letter on Facebook, Prem Chopra, who was also one of the guests on the show, has expressed surprise at her sharp reaction.

Like Krushna, the veteran actor also feels that Tannishtha’s angry social media post is a publicity gimmick. “I do not know if Tannishtha has taken up a social cause to prove to the world that dark colour is not a negative thing. As an afterthought, some one must have told her to take advantage of the situation to garner publicity. One has to learn to laugh at oneself. Even Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan make jokes about themselves. There are people who make fun of others, but when it is done to them, they just cannot take it. That’s unfair,” he says.

Chopra says one should not get offended by comedy shows. “One should not complain about what was said or take it seriously as the show’s concept is to make you laugh. It is all in good faith. If you cannot take a joke, you should not go on such a show,” he adds.

He mentions that he too was the butt of several jokes on the show, but he took them in his stride and laughed along. “I do not have hair on my head and cover it (my scalp) with a cap. They told me to remove it and then they cracked some jokes on my baldness. At the same time, I cracked jokes at their expense as well. This show is not about laughing at people, but laughing with them,” he says.

Chopra will receive the Lifetime Achievement award at the  7th Jagran Film Festival tonight.

'Parched' director Leena Yadav owns up for taking Tannishtha Chatterjee to Krushna Abhishek's show 'Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza', where she was allegedly humiliated
Mohar Basu and Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; September 29, 2016)

After Tannishtha Chatterjee spoke up against her roast on Krushna Abhishek's show, 'Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza', director Leena Yadav has said "it isn't one person's fault".

Speaking to hitlist, Leena said, "Clearly, there was nothing else to talk about other than the colour of her skin. Tannishtha can blame Krushna, and he can say she did it for publicity, but I know she is not speaking up for this one issue; she is against the mentality. It is my fault that I took my actors to a show I have never watched before. If our sensibilities were not in sync with that of the show, we shouldn't have gone."

She mentions the problem also rests with film promotions. "It has a set pattern. On one hand, there is such good content and on the other, all we want to do is to fill spaces. It is a trap within a trap and there is no one person to be blamed. It is not as trivial where one man's word is pitted against the other. There is a larger issue. I am terribly disturbed about this," she says.

In her open letter on Facebook, Tannishtha wrote about facing humiliation on the show for her complexion. As it went viral, the channel posted an apology online: "It is rather unfortunate that what you had expected to be a fun and novel experience turned out to be traumatic for you. It was never our intention, nor a practice for us or the makers of the show to offend anyone at all with the jokes. We have taken this up seriously with the creative team and the production house to ensure that the show is produced in line with the vision of the channel. Please accept our apologies for any hurt that was unwittingly caused."

Krushna, however, is not apologetic. "I am shocked. Tannishtha met me first when she entered the venue. Ours is a popular show and we assumed they have seen it before. They shouldn't have come to the show if they weren't familiar with our format," he says.

The stand-up comic adds that Tannishtha's humour is "classy and British", but his is desi. "Yesterday, she didn't object, why is she talking today? She was not enjoying. Radhika Apte and Leena Yadav were enjoying. The ladies danced with me. Hamare idhar yehi chalta hai. You can't expect pasta on Mohammed Ali Road," Krushna says.

Krushna Abhishek reacts to the actress being upset at the remarks made on Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza and storming off the sets
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; September 29, 2016)


We spoke to Krushna Abhishek who is one of the hosts of the show to ask what went wrong. “Tannishtha is going overboard. She is doing this for publicity. We always meet the actors before they come on the show. I had asked her if she had seen the show before and if she was familiar with our (roast) concept. She said she hadn’t seen the show. She hadn’t watched even AIB Roast. If she didn’t know what it was, she shouldn’t have come on the show. But she came with Radhika Apte and Leena Yadav to promote Parched. We gave more importance to Radhika who is a bigger star. That must have been a problem for Tannishtha, who is known for her festival films.”

But didn’t they make comments on her complexion? “I didn’t say anything and I don’t know who said it. In any case, it is a roast format aur hamne wahi masti ki jo hamesha karte hai. In fact, we have toned it down from what it was earlier. Initially, she was enjoying it, but after a while she told us she doesn’t like this kind of mass humour. However, neither Radhika nor Leena had any problems with our comments. In fact, they were laughing and while going both Radhika and Leena hugged me and danced with me.”

As for her walking away from the show, that’s not true, says Krushna. “After three acts, we realised that she was not enjoying the show at all. We thought she will spoil the show, so it was mine and director Nikul Desai’s decision that we will send them because we had finished doing their film’s (Parched) integration with the show.”

Tannishtha Chatterjee responds to an apology issued by Colors TV in the wake of the backlash that followed her walking out of a comedy show
MUMBAI MIRROR (September 29, 2016)\

After she stormed out of a taping of Comedy Nights Bachao Tazaa when the show’s cast let loose a barrage of distasteful jokes about her skin tone on Tuesday afternoon, actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, in an interview (Mirror, September 28) lashed out at the “white hangover” she was subjected to. She followed it up with a Facebook post detailing her ordeal. And while the channel, Colors, swerved into damage control mode with an apology in the wake of the backlash that ensued, show host Krushna Abhishek maintains that the actress is “going overboard for publicity.”

When Mirror contacted Tannishtha a second time on Wednesday, she chose to respond to the channel with this letter:

“Thanks for your letter but you don’t need to apologise to me. This is not about offending me but about propagating a deeply prejudiced mindset. I wish the show had actually ‘roasted’ me. I think this incident makes way for a much bigger debate -- about what popular culture propagates and the responsibilities that people who are at the forefront of that culture need to shoulder. I am glad that your channel has shows that address social prejudices. I expect the same from your comedies. I expect that the people who create the content and the comedians who work with that content go back to the basics of what satire or ‘vyang’ actually means, raise the bar, and make it funny while keeping social prejudices out of it. Understand the nuances of humour – the literary aspects as well as the period in history when they came into being. Try and find humour on those lines. We all want comedies and we all want to be offended but hurting someone’s sentiments is different from reinforcing social injustices. I’m sure you understand what I’m trying to say. I hope, in the future, it’s not about me but the fact that none of these ideas or line of thoughts should get room to thrive.
This is not personal.
Thank you.”

Tannishtha Chatterjee storms out of a comedy show after jibes about her complexion
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 28, 2016)

At 22, Tannishtha Chatterjee’s performance in the 2004 German film, Shadows of Time, put her on a 13-year journey exploring world cinema. Last week, Leena Yadav’s Parched opened in India. Tannishtha went on Comedy Nights Bachao Tazaa on Tuesday as part of the film’s promotions and was appalled by repeated jibes about her complexion. She was described as a “kaali kalooti” and asked if she has been eating jamun (blackberries) since childhood as a result of which “mooh kala hai”. The show is hosted by popular stand-up comedians, Krushna Abhishek, Mona Singh, Ssumier Pasricha, Bharti Singh, Nia Sharma and Sumeet Vyas, who usually manage to raise a laugh with insults but this time they crossed the line. “I had been led to believe that it was going to be a ‘Roast’. In the West they cheer your achievements by making fun of them and I was excited about being ‘roasted’ on a comedy show on a leading national channel,” says the actress, adding that she had been promised that it wouldn’t be as “extreme as in the West”.

Two segments into the show, a shocked Tannishtha walked out, admitting that when she repeated some of the comments, her sister from New York who's currently in Mumbai couldn’t believe her ears. “She questioned the regressive script, the show runners and the audacity of the channel to propagate such racism,” says the actress.

Tannishtha points out that she doesn’t have a ‘white’ hangover and has been to every A-list festival in the world and never felt humiliated. “Even today this is not about me being offended but because a burning issue is being promoted through such shows. It’s as bad as making a joke about a marginalised community. That is not the spirit of Parched or the face of a woman who believes dark is beautiful,” she asserts.

After the first segment, the 35-year-old actress thought the jokes would move from her skin tone to her performances, films and personal life like any insult-comedies, but when the next segment continued to be peppered with “kaali kalooti, baingan looti”, she told her publicist she wanted to leave immediately.

She also made it clear that she did not want to be featured on the episode or be associated with the channel in any manner since no apology was forthcoming. “They did not understand why I was angry and told me that if I was offended by any particular dialogue, they would edit it out and mock something else about my features. When I refused to continue, the best they could come up with was, ‘Madam exit toh shoot kar lo!’”

Tannishtha's part in Sarah Gavron’s British film Brick Lane brought her global acclaim while she was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards alongside stalwarts like Dame Judi Dench and Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway for her contribution to cinema. Referred to by international media as the “India’s Princess of Parallel Cinema”, she sang at London’s Royal Opera House with British composer Jocelyn Pook. In March, she won a special award at BAFTA for her cinematic work. Has she ever felt discriminated against before? She admits that while getting her make-up done in India, she’s often told, “Ek tone light kar lo, it’s a city girl, had your character been a villager it'd be okay."

“Racism is rampant in the Indian film industry and being propagated through films and such crass shows. Once I was asked that since my surname is Chatterjee, I must be a Brahmin, so why wasn’t I faircomplexioned,” she fumes, pointing out that while Indians rave about how “exotic” foreigners find them, they themselves look down on a dark complexion. “Africans are proud of their skin colour, but look at how we treat them in India. We are misguided by a deep-rooted casteism,” she signs off.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 22, 2016)

Mirror (Sept 12) had reported that Sumeet Vyas who featured in the hit web series, Permanent Roommates, has been roped in to inject fresh humour in Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza because Krushna Abhishek and Bharti Singh's gags were no longer working. Now, we hear that Ssumier Pasricha, popularly known as 'Pammi aunty', will also join the show in his avatar as the quintessential Punjabi gossip queen, phone conversations and all.

Confirming the news Ssumier says, "The makers wanted to incorporate a 'Pammi aunty' segment. I won't be 'roasting' the guests, but will irritate host Mona Singh, followed by a fun interaction with the guests. I've been shooting since last Monday."

He admits that his fictional character has become bigger than his real personality but he's happy Pammi aunty is being appreciated. "But I will maintain a fine balance and won't be making a monkey of Pammi aunty by taking her everywhere," he says.

His first episode was with Prabhu Dheva and Sonu Sood who were on the show to promote their film Tutak Tutak Tutiya. Since Sonu is a Punjabi, they mostly conversed in that language even though Prabhu Dheva didn't understand much of it. "Actually, we weren't even following a script, it was mostly impromptu, it's impossible to script such shows," reasons Ssumier.

Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; September 14, 2016)


Ssumier’s videos have been appreciated by the likes of Rishi Kapoor who tweeted about it and Anil Kapoor’s wife Sunita who has been sharing the videos. The actor last seen in Sasural Simar Ka adds that Karan Johar has complimented him and Sidharth Malhotra has messaged him saying his mom likes his videos. The latest is filmmaker Gurinder Chadha who sent him a video from London two days ago, saying she and her friends are enjoying Pammi Aunty videos. “That was overwhelming,” says Ssumier.

Comedy Nights Bachao is undergoing a change in format and will be on the lines of Comedy Circus
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; September 13, 2016)


A bunch of new people like Ssharad Malhotra, Nia Sharma, Aditi Bhatia, Sumeet Vyas and Gujarati stand-up comedian Mayank will be a part of the show now, which they will call CNB Season 2. Says Krushna, “The show will now be completely positive. Some film stars were not comfortable with the earlier format and stayed away. Akshay Kumar did not come on our show to promote Rustom. We want him to come now. Getting Amitabh Bachchan on the show will be a big thing for us.” Ask him why Bharti and he are not hosting CNB 2 and he says, “We have been hosting for a year and wanted a change. Mona and I have co-hosted Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega and we know each other. Besides, she is a good host.”

As for CNL’s shutting down. Krushna says, “Its format was similar to Kapil’s show and he has a mastery over it. He has been doing it for the last two-three years, whereas we are strong in CNB. For one year, we are consistently getting good ratings for the show, so we decided to concentrate on that. Also, doing two shows simultaneously is very difficult, still we managed Live for eight months along with Bachao, which I think is a big feat. But now, we would rather perfect one. Even if Kapil is given two shows at the same time, he will find it difficult.”

The first episode of Bachao 2 will have Prabhu Dheva, Sonu Sood and Hans Raj Hans as guests. They will be promoting their upcoming film Tutak Tutak Tutiya.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 12, 2016)

MUMBAI MIRROR (September 8, 2016)

Since the trailer of Sohail Khan's Freaky Ali released, Nawazuddin Siddiqui's 'chaddi' dialogue from the film has become a rage, especially with the kids. Mirror has now learnt that the 42-year-old actor has a new fan in his director's five-year-old son Yohan.

"Nawaz, along with the entire team, was at Salman Khan's Galaxy apartment on Tuesday for the Ganpati Visarjan. As soon as Yohan spotted him, he confirmed that he was indeed 'chaddi' uncle before requesting him to say his favourite lines from the film. Nawaz happily obliged, four times, before Yohan was satisfied," reveals a source.

Nawaz's chaddi act on Krushna Abhishek's Comedy Nights Bachao also got a thunderous applause.