Showing posts with label Rendezvous With Simi Garewal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rendezvous With Simi Garewal. Show all posts
How MTV's VJs defined pop culture before the arrival of influencers
9:34 AM
MTV India VJs who became style and cultural icons. (From left, seated: Malaika Arora, Cyrus Broacha, Maria Goretti, Shenaz Treasury, Mini Mathur, (standing) Cyrus Sahukar, with former MTV producers Seher Bedi and Preeta Sukhtankar
In India, the M(usic) had gone out of MTV long ago. Now, the channel is shuttering its music channels in Europe. But its VJs, who had made TV cool, have banded together and are now making everyday life look cool, one reel at a time
Mohua Das (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 16, 2025)
After four decades of shaping youth culture and late night channel surfing, MTV is finally turning down the volume. But while MTV channels abroad — its parent, Paramount Global, announced on Oct 12 that MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live will go off air by the year-end — prepare for their swan song, MTV India remains alive. The catch? Here, the music died a while ago, somewhere between the last CD shop and the first streaming app.
What it left behind was a tribe of OG video jockeys (VJs) who defined pop TV and then outlived it.
Nearly four decades later, the faces that once invented what it meant to be young, loud and slightly ridiculous on Indian television — Cyrus Broacha, Cyrus Sahukar, Shenaz Treasury, Nikhil Chinapa, Malaika Arora, Maria Goretti, Mini Mathur, and others — have regrouped for an encore.
There’s a reason for that. The nostalgia had never really left. Every time a former VJ posts an old clip, comments flood in. “If you grew up in the ’90s, we were part of your life,” says Cyrus Sahukar. That shared history still binds the old gang.
“Everyone’s in touch and hangs out quite a bit. It feels like home,” says Shenaz.
The old MTV crew have remained unusually close now that ‘home’ has a new address: Instagram. Under the banner of Bratpack Studios, the collective they launched in Aug 2024, they’re doing what they’ve always done best — talking, laughing, oversharing, and making everyday life look cool.
The studio serves up weekly drops of music, travel, food and laughter but, more than anything, the nostalgia of everything they once stood for.
Back then, each VJ was a one-person brand before influencer culture even had a name. Its hosts introduced not just songs but a new way to talk, dress and laugh. While Doordarshan gave you discipline and family values, MTV gave you Cyrus Broacha in a short skirt and heels who got himself waxed for a Women’s Day gag.
For Nikhil Chinapa, the architecture graduate who won the VJ Hunt, MTV was never just a channel but an awakening. “I’ve met people from small towns who watched MTV and realized there was a world outside their world.”
One was rapper Raftaar, whose mother pointed at Chinapa on TV and said, “He’s from South India, too, so you can do it.”
“I’m not saying I’m the reason Raftaar became Raftaar,” he grins, “but that’s the kind of permission MTV gave.”
That sense of possibility was infectious. “There was a guy called Vishal from Bihar who stole cable TV from a neighbour’s house to watch MTV and later became its executive producer.”
To Chinapa, that was MTV’s real legacy. “It became an accidental torchbearer for empowerment. Through shows like Roadies, MTV spoke about gender equality, same-sex acceptance, even abuse within families but never in a preachy way.”
Shenaz, the bubbly boho face of MTV Most Wanted, still remembers how it began. A St Xavier’s student, she was spotted through an ad audition.
“I auditioned for Club MTV... Malaika got that, and I became her stylist, and also Broacha’s,” she recalls.
Within months, she had an offer from Singapore Airlines, but her boss convinced her to stay: “He said, ‘Either you see the world or the world sees you’.”
That spontaneity defined the era — a brief, unselfconscious decade. “Most Wanted didn’t have a director telling us what to do. I just did my own thing... I used to shoot 10 shows a day.”
That DIY energy served as training for the creator economy she works in now. “I learned filmmaking through MTV... producing, editing, everything,” she says.
Age Of Irreverence
Broacha — MTV’s original prankster — was the accidental VJ, a theatre kid who nearly joined Channel V in Hong Kong before MTV offered him a reason to stay home.
“In 1996, MTV wanted regular guys. The others were models, too good-looking, strange accents... I looked like a boy with no hope... so I represented a lot of boys with no hope,” he laughs.
Looking back, he shrugs with affection. “Fourteen years at that damn channel, getting paid nothing; of course, it shaped me. Being MTV VJ was a badge of honour. I’m embarrassed to admit it because it’s such a vacuous profession, but for a little while, you turned heads. People treated you with a lot of unnecessary respect.”
Sahukar, barely 18 when he won the VJ Hunt, brought satire to MTV’s scriptless comedy. His Fully Faltoo spoofs like Semi Girebaal — a parody of ‘Rendezvous With Simi Garewal’ — famously outrated its source material. “Can you believe that? It actually did better.”
Could they get away with that kind of humour today? “Dude, I’d be thrashed. I don’t think Simi was too happy with it either,” he concedes. “But back then, people didn’t have an opinion on everything. Outrage existed, but it didn’t have an audience. It was freer. You could be silly without overthinking.”
Broacha agrees. “Before 26/11, we had no problem being on the road dressed as cops, doing almost violent capers. We did end up in the lock-up, explaining we were just doing a silly show and then let off without much noise,” he says about shooting MTV Bakra, India’s first reality show based on candid camera pranks.
That mix of madness and camaraderie became MTV’s signature. “It was egalitarian... There was no star system,” says Broacha.
Sahukar agrees. “It was a golden time. No one cared about algorithms or likes. It was about doing things that were fun and stupid and hoping others found it funny, too.”
That was before the music faded, and the idea of a “music television” dissolved into the endless noise of non-music content.
“MTV became everything except music,” says Shenaz. “And lost its niche in 2003–2005, when they decided, ‘let’s just go mass and do reality TV...’ then it became like every other channel and stopped being cool.”
After MTV, the gang scattered but never really left the spotlight. Chinapa built India’s EDM scene from scratch, Shenaz became an actor and travel vlogger, Mini turned producer and anchor, Malaika a style and fitness icon, Maria a chef and cookbook author, Sahukar an actor and show host, and Broacha, keeps tickling funny bones like no one else can.
Could MTV ever be rebooted? “It would have to be run by the youth again,” says Sahukar. “You can’t have older people deciding what young people want to watch,” Broacha feels. “It could have become some sort of influencer-run OTT platform... but we’re the ‘Last of the Mohicans’.”
And yet, as Sahukar points out, MTV’s DNA never really disappeared, it just moved online. “You could cut what MTV did for 10 years into reels and you’d have a full-fledged network. But you’d still need to build culture. Because that’s what it really was. Pop culture.”
I had given up that dream of Cannes long ago-Simi Garewal
3:50 PM
Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; May 28, 2025)
Simi Garewal recently made her Cannes red carpet debut, more than five decades after shooting Aranyer Din Ratri. The Satyajit Ray classic was restored in 4K and screened at the Cannes Classics section.
“It’s something I never dared to hope for! I gave up that dream long ago and for this to suddenly happen now it’s more than a dream – it’s a gift from the universe,” she says. In a conversation, the veteran actress talks about the film, the roles for women in cinema and more.
‘FROM A MODERN, WESTERNISED GIRL, I TRANSFORMED INTO A RUSTIC, UNINHIBITED ADIVASI’
Simi played Duli, a tribal woman in the Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) – a role that was far from her real-life image. But Satyajit Ray saw something in her. “Manik da, so gentle yet intense, led me to portray a character so different to who I am. I mean here was I, a modern, westernized girl transformed into a rustic, uninhibited adivasi! It doesn’t get more challenging than that,” she says.
She remembers watching the film again, decades later, and being shocked by how fully she had disappeared into Duli. “For an actor, it’s creative fulfillment to ‘become’ another person. When I watched the film I couldn’t see even a jhalak of Simi anywhere. It was Duli.” She adds, “I loved the film, the comedy, the slice of life. It looked so natural, so organic. But that’s Ray’s forte, capturing reality on celluloid.”
‘IT SEEMS CINEMA CATERS PRIMARILY TO MALE AUDIENCES’
Simi says she has not watched too many recent films. “But I will ask – where are the roles for women in cinema?” she questions, adding, “It’s all male-oriented. The female is simply decorative, and always the hero’s sidekick. And that’s not representative of today’s India, where women are strong, independent and achievers in their own right. So, it seems cinema caters primarily to male audiences. The only roles for women are on OTT, and TV, with its serials, caters to women. A gender divide.”
‘AT THE MOMENT, I’M WRITING MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY’
Simi says that she’s currently working on her autobiography. “At the moment, I’m writing my autobiography. I am writing every single word myself. Nobody else has read it, nor looked over my shoulder while I write. It’s between my keyboard and me. It’s very personal. I haven’t held back. I’m on the last few chapters now, presently on Rendezvous With Simi Garewal. You will read everything about my life in my autobiography – from my childhood in London to my joining films (against great family opposition) Every detail about working with Raj Kapoor, Manik da, my films, my private life, my loves, my marriage – my whole life is written in these pages.”
Simi chose to wear her signature white at Cannes too. Talking about its significance in her life, the actress says, “Why white? I feel good when I’m wearing it. Sometimes I put on another colour, yellow or blue, and I immediately take it off because it disturbs my sensibility. White is a happy colour for me,” says Simi.
Her thoughts on walking the red carpet? “I wish Manik da was here to see this...”
Simi Garewal to conduct Rendezvous with Bigg Boss 16 contestants
8:39 AM
Harking back to her much-loved chat show, Simi Garewal to conduct Rendezvous with Bigg Boss 16 contestants; special interview with host Salman on the cards
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; January 11, 2023)
At their core, Rendezvous With Simi Garewal, and Bigg Boss are polar opposites of one another. While the reality show thrives on voyeurism, Garewal’s chat show, which ran between 1997 and 2007, offered a rare and intimate portrait of its subjects. What happens when the two worlds collide? Guess we’ll find out as the veteran actor-host is set to conduct a rendezvous of sorts with the contestants of Bigg Boss 16, in a special episode that will be aired on Thursday. That’s not all — she is also in talks to shoot an episode with Bigg Boss host Salman Khan.
“I will wear my trademark white, and the Bigg Boss team is setting up an all-white space inside the house,” reveals Garewal, who will film the episode today with housemates Tina Datta, Shalin Bhanot, Sajid Khan, and others.
The reality show had not caught Garewal’s interest in the past. However, this season was different. “I had stopped watching after the first season as I didn’t like it at all. This season, I watched a few episodes as Farah’s [Khan] brother Sajid was on it. Surprisingly, I loved the show and didn’t miss a single episode after that.”
She adds that Farah Khan spoke to the channel about the possibility of a special episode. “The [channel officials] asked Farah if I would do a Rendezvous… with the contestants. It sounded like fun, and I gave my nod.”
While she remains tight-lipped about the Bigg Boss interview with Khan, Garewal is keen to host the superstar on her chat show, after it is relaunched. “Salman has not appeared in any of the 150 episodes I have shot for Rendezvous. Now, he has promised to come on the show when I begin it again. When I asked how I should contact him, Salman said, ‘Text me the time, place and date, and I will be there.’ His only request is that it should be the last episode of the season.”
I have my moral reasons to turn down the offer of recreating Jayalalithaa's interview-Simi Garewal
7:13 AM
As makers of web series inspired by Jayalalithaa recreate politician’s 1999 tell-all interview with Simi Garewal, iconic host explains why she refused to reprise her part
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; December 13, 2019)
Ramya Krishnan-starrer Queen — which tells the story of Shakthi Sheshadri, a reluctant actor who goes on to dominate the world of politics — bears striking similarities with the journey of J Jayalalithaa, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu.Now, mid-day has learnt that directors Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan have recreated her tell-all interview on Simi Garewal’s show, Rendezvous With Simi Garewal, for their digital outing. Turns out, the makers initially approached the iconic host to reprise her part for the web series, but she turned down the offer.
Acknowledging that Garewal was his first choice for the role, Menon tells mid-day, “We wanted the interviewer on the show to be able to connect with Shakthi and bring out the most candid aspects of her life. Who better than Simi Garewal to do so? Her ability to empathise with the guests made her the perfect fit. However, it didn’t work out. We eventually cast Lillete Dubey. She makes for a great talk show host.”The charismatic politician’s 1999 interview remains her most significant dialogue, where she candidly spoke about pining for her mother’s attention as a child, being one of the “most criticised” public figures and her tempestuous equation with M G Ramachandran. It was evident that the fiercely private leader had let her guard down when she sang one of her favourite numbers, Aaja sanam (Chori Chori), with the host.
On her part, Garewal cherishes her heartfelt chat with Jayalalithaa and says it felt morally wrong to recreate it. “The makers called my office a few times, but it seemed wrong to enact my interview with a person who is no longer [with us]. It was out of the question because it would look forced, and it would be lowering my standard. I have my moral reasons to turn it down. But it is, in no way, reflective of the quality of the show. I wish the makers success in retelling the story of one of the most indomitable women of our times.”
Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh have promised me their first joint interview-Simi Garewal
8:16 AM
Ready to return with her iconic show, Simi Garewal to open the new season with recently-married DeepVeer
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; July 17, 2019)
Before celebrity chat shows became cookie-cutter in their approach, Sunday evenings, in the late '90s, were reserved for Simi Garewal. The Lady in White would play the perfect host to distinguished personalities from the world of politics, business, sports and entertainment as they gave a peek into their lives on Rendezvous With Simi Garewal.Almost 15 years since its last season aired, Garewal is ready to return with her popular show and she has an ace up her sleeve already. Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are likely to open the season, marking their first joint televised appearance post marriage.
"I have never revealed names till I've shot the episode. But I'll reveal this — Deepika and Ranveer have promised their first interview together for Rendezvous," smiles Garewal, who teases that the new edition will also feature several GenNext stars from Bollywood. The long-running show had seen several celebrities, including Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Hrithik Roshan, Rekha and Kareena Kapoor Khan bare their heart to her.
Ask her if the latest offering will see any change in the format, and Garewal insists that the heart-to-heart conversations are the show's forte. "Why would I change the format [to include] more gossip and games? People resort to games when they cannot make a conversation. It's an easy way out! No research needed! [But] Rendezvous is about getting to 'know' the person. I get many messages from viewers saying they are tired of the present format of talk shows." The show is likely to stream on her YouTube channel.
Simi Garewal to make her TV comeback
7:40 AM
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 25, 2017)
Actress Simi Garewal, who seamlessly transitioned to the role of a talk show host with her eponymous show, Rendezvous, is gearing up for a comeback with a new season being picked up by Colors Infinity. “It’s going to be a brilliant line-up of stars,” promises the 69-year-old veteran star.
Meanwhile, Simi recently reunited with her Karz-director, Subhash Ghai, and co-star Rishi Kapoor for a ‘matinee show’ of the 1980 thriller that never had a premiere ahead of its theatrical release. In Ghai’s office, ahead of the screening, which was part of an endeavour to revive classics at Mumbai’s heritage theatre, New Excelsior, the trio reminisced how Karz had fallen short of a silver jubilee run but had gone on to become a cult film. “Karz has been cloned by many but they never worked since the original remains etched in the audience’s mind,” Simi reveals, recalling how during the recent screening, youngsters ran to the front of the screen, dancing to the film’s songs.
“Chintu and I agreed that we’ve never seen anything like it before!” But Simi contends that the occasion doesn’t qualify as a jog down memory lane as Rishi and she “meet all the time”. “My last episode of Rendezvous was with Chintu and Neetu in Melbourne. They’re the most honest couple, not worried about their image or celebrity-status. Chintu was at his wittiest,” she signs off with a smile.
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