Indian Idol 4: Gala

Bollywood's fastest rising power kutumb - the Akhtars - showed up on Indian Idol last week.

And here are the things that annoyed me: the director of Luck By Chance Zoya Akhtar is sitting right there and host Hussain asks Farhan instead to introduce the movie. No one sings anything from the fantastic Luck By Chance soundtrack. Farhan is asked to headbang to Rock On!! instead of shake a leg to Baawre. Clearly this was all intentional to promote just how hatke the movie might be. Otherwise, I can't explain it.

The guests were regaled to some tremendously shaky singing all around. Kapil Thappa did his imitation of a young, reckless Kumar Sanu. He charmed everyone's pants off by doing a jig with Saurabhi - who probably looks closest to being a real Idol. Later, the judges and invited parents bust into spontaneous match making for the two. This both the kids seemed to handle with much grace.

In any reality show, all you can do as a producer and writer is create a situation. And then you have to let the personalities take over. On this count, Indian Idol is making some progress on the entertainment front.

Take the whole 'lets surprise the staff' bit in which the family members of the judges and host were invited to film short clips. Hussain's lissome wife Tina took everyone into Hussain's bathroom and tried to show everyone what a slob he was by pointing to a carelessly tossed lens holder. Wow, if that's messy what would we call Pritam? But later propelled by Tina's complaint that Hussain never wears his shaadi ki nishani in public, Hussain was forced to wear his wedding ring on national TV. This embarrassed Hussain no end. "Nahi, aisi koi baat nahi" he spluttered. Major points!

In another video clip, Goldie Behl delivered a rather sweet message to his wife Sonali. "And don't worry" he concluded "your hair is looking great!" Chuckles!

Can I just say how grateful I am that the funeral march-like elimination episode was spruced up by the lively presence of Kunal Khemu. Kunal created a very amusing self-referential drama around II's train wreck of the season - Remo Ghosh. All of this put me in enough of a good mood that even the usual elimination whining followed by Anu Malik's trademark desk thumping out of indignation hardly made a dent on me.

Finally since I'm such a style icon myself, I'd like to hand out some Phaltu Drift advice to a couple of women on last week's show.

Soha Ali, pleasure to see you on II. Crossed legs when standing are cute but project a lack of confidence. Avoid.

And Saurabhi, looking good. But please find heels that fit you.