Popular film actor Srujan Lokesh has equally managed to wow the audience on the small screen with his wit and humour. His latest offering is the TV show called Majaa Talkies. The show which is starting soon is produced and directed by the actor himself. “I love to listen to people and like to talk and interact with as many of them as I can. I like to be mischievous on small screen. Based on my observations and what I have heard from a few people, even the small screen is filled with fights and arguments, especially on reality shows for the sake of competition. Some even feel that the TRP ratings depend on the number of fights in the film. I seriously don’t find any pleasure in making people fight. Majaa Talkies is an honest effort to make people see the lighter side,” he says.
The format of Majaa Talkies is based on Comedy Nights with Kapil Sharma but according to Srujan, it is not a replica of the same and is more like a reference. “You can’t say CCL is IPL. Likewise, even though Majaa Talkies follows the same format, it doesn’t mean that the content will be the same. I don’t have men dressed as women playing characters like Palak and Gutthi in my show. There are two ways of looking at it. If people say I am Karnataka’s Kapil Sharma, then he can also be considered as Hindi television’s Srujan Lokesh. Instead of comparing the programme, I would prefer it if people compared my previous episodes to the upcoming episodes. Also, there is no harm in being inspired by good things done by other people,” says Srujan, adding, “Kapil Sharma might be a huge hit in Bengaluru and is popular among the Mysuru audience, but not further. My show, Majaa Talkies will be formatted and suited to our local context.”
This weekend show will see Srujan interacting with a host of celebrities coming from different walks of life. “The show is on prime time on Saturdays and Sundays between 8 pm and 9 pm. Along with me, there will be Indrajit Lankesh who has his own peculiar style of entertaining people.
The team also consists of Shwetha Chengappa who plays my Coorgi wife, Usha Bhandar as a spirited granny, V Manohar plays Mangaluru batru (cook), along with Dayanand, Vandana and Aparna.
My sister Pooja is doing the costume design for the show. As of now, we have planned 104 episodes. Ultimately, I am not such a knowledgeable person nor of that age, where I can give gyaan to people. I feel I should do what I can do well and that is to make people laugh and thus I will continue doing so,” he says.