The Sanskaari Babuji of entertainment is set to appear in a new avatar, this time on your mobile and laptop screens. Prakriti Roy catches up with the veteran to bring you more
When one hears the word ‘sanskaari’, the first person that pops up in the mind is Babuji aka Alok Nath. He has been playing the role sanskaari babuji since the 90s — characters that were different and yet pretty much the same, a stereotypical and traditional father of the household. Nath and his sanskaars are so famous that he even became a Twitter trend a couple of years back.
However, he is set to reinvent his image with his latest web series, Sinskaari Babuji. Being released on the Voot platform, this show is a chat show that will see Nath as the host interacting with celebrities and talking about things that one would find very difficult to associate with his image, such as premarital sex and role play.
Nath tells you that when he was offered this show, he was as apprehensive as any one of his viewers who have heard of it now. “I was definitely very suspicious if I can pull this off or not but the producers convinced me to at least give it a try,” says Nath. Sinskaari Babuji is being co-produced by Raghu Ram and Rajiv lakshman ofRoadies fame.
The premise of the show, Nath reveals, is that Babuji has signed the contract for the show thinking it was Sanskaari and not Sinskaari. After that, he is forced to host this chat show with adult content, but all the while he is trying to infuse it with his sanskaars.
He also tells you, “I have shot two episodes as yet – one with Raghu-Rajiv and one with Mandana Karimi. It has been an absolute blast.” Explaining why he chose to experiment at this stage of his career, Nath says that it is almost time for him to drop in his hat. So he thought why not do something new and interesting before going outIJ
Since Sinskaari Babuji will be released on the Voot app and website, it is not something that the viewers can watch on their TV or at theatres. It is also the first time that Nath has ventured onto the web platform. But he says that the audience for this very different medium is also different from the usual audience he caters to. “Raghu and Rajiv have a lot of experience in making shows that are catering to a youthful audience. I am totally in the dark as to how the show will be received but the producers are very excited for it,” he adds.
Previously, Nath has had more than a few controversies on social media when he reportedly said things that were not-so-sanskaari. His venture now onto a web platform is sure to garner a lot of reactions. However, Nath rubbishes all that away saying that it is like other shows out there: “It is a scripted talk show we are doing. It’s not as if anyone is being themselves, we will be playing roles. The best part about a web series is that you can do whatever you want with it – watch, share, like. I won’t be in confrontation with anyone.”