Milind Soman. What a dish, what a letdown

Ok, regulars over the years will know that I am a HUGE fan of the Akshay Kumar-hosted Khatron ke Khiladi, for its mix of daredevilry, daring and beauty. It was a great idea to put a bunch of beauties through the wringer and see who comes on top. In both the installments he hosted, the final winner was a surprise.

There was another reason I watched KKK 1 and 2. I may lack Akshay’s looks and fitness levels, but I do try and keep fit. Eat healthy, live healthy, as the motto goes. Which, at my age, is a huge task. So a show by him got me glued.

Naturally, when his protégée Priyanka Chopra stepped into his shoes, I was a tad disappointed. But consoled myself saying that hey, it’s all for the best. Anyway, change is inevitable, and the idea of one stunner lording it over 13 mean man machines did sound alluring.

So Monday night found me tuning in, and here’s my impression of the first episode.

First off, Priyanka didn’t make a great impression on me. Her opening sequence, in which she tries to partly do some stunts, seemed amateurish. Making it worse was that dress she wore. Whatever it is called, it should be banished from TV screens for eternity! Even her performance, I felt, lacked edge. Comparison with Akshay is inevitable, and to me she came off poorly.

The contestants were an eclectic mix of brawn (Milind Soman, Rahul Dev, Dino Morea, Karan Grover), brain (Rahul Bose), talent (Terence Lewis), sports (Ritwik Bhattacharya), humour (Cyrus Broacha), and things got off to a catastrophic start when the vaunted Milind Soman, yesteryear’s supermodel, swimming champ, marathoner and fitness freak who also acts once in a while, gave up at the first hurdle itself. His reason: the water was too cold. Huh? Dude, but you were the swimming champ!

Into the same water jumped in others and made merry. Ritwik Bhattacharya did the impossible by being the only one to complete the task, most of the others only bettered Milind’s zero record. Rahul Dev, the other brawny guy on the show, too came back empty-handed, but he made it to the next round by virtue of lasting longer than Milind in the water.

So was it disappointing to see Milind exit after the first round? You bet it was. As he walked out of the show and towards India, Milind said maybe he should have tried harder instead of giving up too easily.

And for those of who have followed his career, that could well apply to his life. Gifted with looks that most men only hope for and fitness levels that would put someone half his age to shame, he has been too easygoing about his career, easily satisfied with what he’s got when the world was his for the taking.

So who do I see going the full distance? If I were to hazard a guess based on the first episode, the final three would be Rahul Bose, Ritwik and Terence Lewis.