Only 1% of our entire population watches films!: Arjun Kapoor on hosting 'Khatron Ke Khiladi'

Only six films old, Arjun Kapoor has now ventured into television hosting a popular action adventure reality show. Despite cynics who call it a risk, Arjun feels that doing TV will benefit him in the long run. In a candid chat, he muses about turning telly host and also the alleged cold war he had with Tanishaa Mukerji during the shoot..

Isn’t it too early in your career to do TV? Did that cross your mind before signing on a reality show?
All that crossed my mind. I mean if you look at it, logically, I am only six films old. I should be really consolidating my position and trying to hone my skills and all that, but what people don’t realise is we have a very box-office oriented, result-driven business. Our films might get appreciation, but if they don’t do box-office business, then it is irrelevant, unfortunately. It’s a very number-driven business. TV allows you to connect with even more people than you can imagine. It will help my films eventually. So when I got the opportunity, I was like, ‘I am sure this is early, but it’s amazing that I am going to build equity with people.’ Maybe, 10 years later, they’d have come to know about me; maybe two or three years later, they would have seen one film of mine on TV and said, ‘Let’s go and watch his movie in the theatre’. To get people out of their house to go to theatres is always impossible. A weekday ticket costs Rs200-300 and if the movie releases on a holiday, forget it. So, you have to connect with the audience. One per cent of the population has gone and seen the biggest hit of the year. Only one per cent! So the pros and cons were all there, but there are actually pros in my case. Because I am so young, I can get away with it.

Did you speak to anyone before signing the show?
The decision was mine. When it was offered to me, there were only two people who I discussed it with, dad and Adi (Chopra). And they also agreed with whatever I was saying. And, if you see the way the channel has done a fantastic job in projecting the show, it is like a summer blockbuster. It has got that scale, that feel, it has got that look and vibe, it’s got energy, it’s got youth. For me, this was always the show that I could imagine hosting. So it fell into my lap.

You are a fun-loving guy. But as a host, did you have to maintain a distance from the contestants?
I did. I wasn’t their best friend off-camera. I wasn’t spending time with them post pack-up and definitely, you do maintain a decorum. I think that’s fair to the game because your personal biases are not important in the game and I didn’t know any of them, so that’s a big advantage. I have met Raghav (Juyal) once with Varun. I know Tanishaa socially. I had no emotional attachment to any contestant, so why should I compromise on that? I am supposed to be the most neutral part of the show, if I start getting biased, it changes the dynamics of the contestants towards me. 

So like you said, there is a decorum maintained. Off course, I had no point wanting them to feel that I am above them and I do not want to indulge with them. So I managed to balance it. I had a lot of fun with them on the show and I always encouraged them and supported them and you can see that we had banter and we were like friends... all of us, but they were also very focussed and clear. They also know what a host’s job is and at what point, he has to stop being close to them also. So, I couldn’t really go and discuss the stunt with them beforehand and I couldn’t be faffing around and fooling around. But they were a very well-behaved bunch of people. All of them were very focussed and very clear about why they had come. They had that burning desire and ambition. So I don’t think they came to be best friends with the host alone, they came to win that show. And that made my job pretty easy. Nobody came with any baggage of any bias towards me. They were only thinking about the show.

There are reports that Tanishaa was upset with you during the show..
When you see the show, I think that’s contrary to what the rumour is because I got along fine with her. We joked around, I yanked her chain quite a lot asking questions and I read somewhere about something to do with the tone of my voice.

Yes, it seems she didn’t like the tone of your voice..
Which is surprising to me but if she feels that way, I have no issue sitting face-to-face and resolving any issue and even apologising, for that matter. If she has been offended, I’d be more than happy to. It is not a big deal, I have no issues with Tanishaa. She was very sweet on the show. I would like to believe it had more to do with factors other than me.

There were also reports that Jay and Mahi had a huge fight and things got really ugly.
I am the last person who can speak on this, because like I said, I maintained the decorum, I kept my distance. I stayed in a separate hotel, too. So I am the last person who can give you any clarity on that.

The movie stunts you’d want to try to pull off.
The opening sequence of Face/Off featuring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, the entire plane sequence. I used to find Face/Off really cool. Of course, Bad Boys the second Bad Boys, the car chases and all. As a kid growing up, these are the two films that definitely stuck with me. And True Lies, the scene with Arnold and the chopper.