Ranbir-Neetu's KBC stint: Stylish, Fun and SO Rehearsed!

There was a certain eagerness to everything Neetu Kapoor did on a special episode on Kaun Banega Crorepati 7, which was offset by Ranbir Kapoor’s relatively effortless, rehearsed demeanour, writes Nishi Tiwari.

It’s when Bollywood stars make an appearance on Amitabh Bachchan’s quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati that the actual game takes a backseat, more so if the star in question is Ranbir Kapoor. 

Even more so, if he’s turned up with his mother Neetu Kapoor.

Until the duo made their first joint appearance with KBC 7 last night (to promote their new film Besharam and win the prize money for a charity), September 22, we’d only heard how devoted Ranbir is to his mother and how Neetu believes her son is just the best person ever.

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The special episode had a lot of dancing, holding of hands, laughing, and exchanging anecdotes from real life and I was pleasantly surprised to note that Neetu was the more forthcoming of the two.

Let me rephrase that. 

It looked like Ranbir, the perfect son that he is, let his mum have her moment as he sank back in his hot seat, looking at her indulgently as she excitedly recounted interesting anecdotes from her films like Yaarana and Amar Akbar Anthony. 

Neetu Kapoor, dressed in a black cocktail number and a stunning neckpiece, inadvertently lets it slip that she’s nervous when they are backstage. 

“I’ve been away from all this for so many years (gestures at the cameras, the sets),” she says.

There’s certain eagerness to everything Neetu does once they arrive on the show, which is offset by Ranbir’s relatively effortless, rehearsed demeanour. 

But his cool collected eyes are constantly on his mother during the show, ready to jump to her rescue should the need arise.

He quietly holds her hand when she fumbles, or smiles indulgently when she laughs a little too hard. It’s easy to see that she’s enjoying the limelight after so many years, especially happy to share it with her son who has become a huge star only recently.

There were some fun moments when Amitabh Bachchan calls up Rishi Kapoor on his phone and Ranbir (in a near-perfect Amitabh Bachchan impression) addresses him as Chintu while Neetu goes wide-eyed with surprise.

She asks him why his phone was engaged earlier in a mock-angry voice and when it kind of backfires, Bachchan jumps in to save the moment.

The trio gets off of their seats at least three times to dance -- Ranbir with his female fans on Badtameez dil, Neetu and Amitabh on Saara zamana from Yaarana and Neetu and Ranbir on Ek main aur ek tu from Khel Khel mein.

There can never exist a scenario where two Indian parents sit down and don’t evaluate (if not size up) how their kids have turned out.

So at one point, we have Neetu telling us how proud she feels when people tell her that her son is down-to-earth and a nice person in general.

Meanwhile, Ranbir looks downwards, like most Indian kids in his position are wont to do.

He’s also extremely respectful to Amitabh and speaks as if only to fill gaps in the conversation.

Another highlight of the episode comes when they call up Rishi Kapoor again for phone-a-friend – they get stuck at a question about Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi’s royal lineage.

And Rishi, who doesn’t know the answer, asks if he should check with Kareena before the time is up.

If only all promotional star appearances on television shows were this candid.