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<div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-1_082412105342.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img><p>Statistics are quite vital to her. So are figures. Try chatting her up with some gibberish about how well she can bake a cake and shake a leg and she will give you dollops of Milton Keynes.</p><p>If you persist, she can take you on for an amazing monologue on Malthusian economics. She said no to IIM Ahmedabad when offered admission after coming second in the CAT exam in 1996.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><b>Nafisa Joseph;</b> MTV House Full<br><b>Favourite Line:</b> Life's a roller coaster - one minute up and next second down, only down is faster than up.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Actually Maria Goretti , 26, is quite bizarre and bonkers. This new veejay of MTV <i>Hipshakers</i> loves to hold the reins of her own destiny, never mind if it means traipsing on torrid zones. </p><p>"I wanted the excitement. I could not imagine myself doing a prim and proper nine-to-five job, waiting for some one else to take a decision and credit me for my talents," says Goretti.</p><p>This Goretti logic is becoming an epidemic. Look at the many others who think like her. Suchitra Pillai, the dusky, husky veejay of the popular <i>Simply South</i>, was with a consultancy firm when she was told she'd been hired as a veejay. </p><div class="itemcenter"><amp-iframe height="62" title="" width="320" sandbox="allow-forms allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-top-navigation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" allowfullscreen src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Findiatoday%2Fbanner%2Fpreferred-source-new.html%3Fv%3D1.014%5Cu0026native%3D1" class="mrBt15 preferred-source-banner"> </amp-iframe></div><div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-2_082412105342.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div></p><p>Nafisa Joseph was a law student when, as she says, one day she "woke up looking for a job where I could spend a lot of time with music. So I started sending out feelers to MTV and before I knew what was happening, I had been hired". Rishma Mallik, a marketing executive till a few months back, now finds herself hosting the<i>Indian Top Ten</i>on Channel V. "If Ruby and Kamal could do it, why not me?"</p><table><tbody><tr><td><b>Maria Goretti;</b> MTV Hipshakers<br><b>Favourite Line:</b> Smile even though your two front teeth are missing.<br></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Indeed, why not. For an average of around Rs 20,000, veejaying a show is a steal. The add-ons are more enticing: icon status, jetting around exotic locations and endless partying. </p><p>When the two major music channels started their veejay search last year, there were 5,000 applications for the MTV hunt and around the same number for Channel V's nationwide scouting for talent. This was due to the new mantra being chanted then as the recipe for success: go <i>desi</i>.</p><div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-3_082412105342.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div></p><p>The clipped English accent, the occasional French mannerism, the Caribbean guttural<i>maan</i>, the American twang all this is, well, okay (you won't lose your job for it) but sadly, not in. Know Mumbaiya Hindi?</p><p>Or the simply Madrasi lingo and Rajnikanth quirks which Quick Gun Murugan regaled us with? A bit of brains, a lot of leg and cleavage (they are into cross-dressing these days and the best cleavage on show is Chinappa's), bazaar banter and street slang are the new recipes. </p><table><tbody><tr><td><b>Amrita;</b> MTV Chillout<br><b>Favourite Line:</b> Live your life Queen Size.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Chinappa, who left his job as an architect in Bangalore to host MTV <i>Chillout</i> and MTV <i>Select</i>, is constantly on the road, invading restaurants, pubs and shoving the mike into the froth-smudged lips of beer guzzlers. Goretti's quite hip. Her show is, well, below the belt. Viewers who call in have to list how many times the bust or hip of an actress gyrated in a particular song sequence. And there are big prizes for guessing right.</p><p>Such interaction with the viewers does help but they depend on how far the veejay's quirks carry the show. "We wanted the viewers to look at the veejays and say, 'Hey, I could be there too'," says Sunil Lulla, general manager, MTV. "And so we decided to change our approach on veejays and bring in the boy next door to host the programmes."</p><div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-4_082412105342.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div></p><p>So, is the Danny McGill drugged drone, the Ruby Bhatia Hinglish, Kamal Sidhu Yankee drawl, Sophia drool, all an aberration of the past? Why else would Ira and Maya, sane and stable twins from Pune who were doing client servicing in an ad agency, suddenly be dragged to Mumbai and asked to veejay the<i>Rexona Duo</i>show?</p><p>James Fuller, general manager, Channel V, who spotted the twins at the Pune Roadshow says it was their freshness that forced him to pick them up. "We wanted to confuse the viewer with the twins. When there is confusion, there is excitement and when there is excitement, interest peaks," says Velu Shankar, supervising producer of Channel V.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><b>Nikhil Chinappa;</b> MTV Chillout<br><b>Favourite Line:</b> You live only once, but if you live it right once is enough.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>While screen-testing Ranvir Shourie and Vinay, producer Sonia Chowdhury realised that the spark that could ignite a show was not there. While Ranvir was humorous and funny, Vinay could ad-lib on any topic. Why not lock both of them into the show, Chowdhury wondered. </p><p><i>House Arrest </i>was soon launched with the two appearing as the Men in Black (a spoof on the popular Hollywood film) with the favourite quote, "We are not just the men in black, we are also pink, blue, orange and green."</p><div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-5_082412105342.gif" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div></p><p>At MTV the veejay is the programme and the programme is the veejay. So having brainy and talented ones helped. Towards the end of June, when five veejays, Nikhil, Nafisa, Amrita, Maria and Shenaz, were having rollicking fun in the studio, Maria suddenly yelled, "Why don't we do a spoofy programme on telling the truth?"</p><table><tbody><tr><td><b>Ranvir & Vinay;</b> House Arrest<br><b>Favourite Line:</b> We're not just Men in Black, we're also pink, blue ...</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Punning on the phrase "the truth and nothing but the truth" the five along with programme manager Namrata thought up <i>True Lies</i> in which the buzz phrase would be: "We swear to tell lies and only true lies." </p><p>In the programme, Cyrus Broacha is Mr Tapman Singh giving juicy bits of news which he breaks on his head. Maybe that's what it's all about. Breaking your head to have some fun.</p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Aug 17, 1998</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div></div>

society-and-the-arts

Society & The Arts

<div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-1_082412105342.gif" loading="lazy" /></div><p>Statistics are quite vital to her. So are figures. Try chatting her up with some gibberish about how well she can bake a cake and shake a leg and she will give you dollops of Milton Keynes.</p><p>If you persist, she can take you on for an amazing monologue on Malthusian economics. She said no to IIM Ahmedabad when offered admission after coming second in the CAT exam in 1996.</p><table style="margin-left: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Nafisa Joseph;</b> MTV House Full<br><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Favourite Line:</b> Life's a roller coaster - one minute up and next second down, only down is faster than up.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Actually Maria Goretti , 26, is quite bizarre and bonkers. This new veejay of MTV <i>Hipshakers</i> loves to hold the reins of her own destiny, never mind if it means traipsing on torrid zones. </p><p>"I wanted the excitement. I could not imagine myself doing a prim and proper nine-to-five job, waiting for some one else to take a decision and credit me for my talents," says Goretti.</p><p>This Goretti logic is becoming an epidemic. Look at the many others who think like her. Suchitra Pillai, the dusky, husky veejay of the popular <i>Simply South</i>, was with a consultancy firm when she was told she'd been hired as a veejay. </p><div class="itemcenter"><iframe scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="62" awidth="320" aheight="62" amplayout="fixed" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Findiatoday%2Fbanner%2Fpreferred-source-new.html%3Fv%3D1.014" class="preferred-source-banner" loading="lazy"></iframe></div><style>.preferred-source-banner{  margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}</style><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-2_082412105342.gif" loading="lazy" /></div></div></p><p>Nafisa Joseph was a law student when, as she says, one day she "woke up looking for a job where I could spend a lot of time with music. So I started sending out feelers to MTV and before I knew what was happening, I had been hired". Rishma Mallik, a marketing executive till a few months back, now finds herself hosting the<i>Indian Top Ten</i>on Channel V. "If Ruby and Kamal could do it, why not me?"</p><table style="margin-left: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Maria Goretti;</b> MTV Hipshakers<br><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Favourite Line:</b> Smile even though your two front teeth are missing.<br></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Indeed, why not. For an average of around Rs 20,000, veejaying a show is a steal. The add-ons are more enticing: icon status, jetting around exotic locations and endless partying. </p><p>When the two major music channels started their veejay search last year, there were 5,000 applications for the MTV hunt and around the same number for Channel V's nationwide scouting for talent. This was due to the new mantra being chanted then as the recipe for success: go <i>desi</i>.</p><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-3_082412105342.gif" loading="lazy" /></div></div></p><p>The clipped English accent, the occasional French mannerism, the Caribbean guttural<i>maan</i>, the American twang all this is, well, okay (you won't lose your job for it) but sadly, not in. Know Mumbaiya Hindi?</p><p>Or the simply Madrasi lingo and Rajnikanth quirks which Quick Gun Murugan regaled us with? A bit of brains, a lot of leg and cleavage (they are into cross-dressing these days and the best cleavage on show is Chinappa's), bazaar banter and street slang are the new recipes. </p><table style="margin-left: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Amrita;</b> MTV Chillout<br><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Favourite Line:</b> Live your life Queen Size.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Chinappa, who left his job as an architect in Bangalore to host MTV <i>Chillout</i> and MTV <i>Select</i>, is constantly on the road, invading restaurants, pubs and shoving the mike into the froth-smudged lips of beer guzzlers. Goretti's quite hip. Her show is, well, below the belt. Viewers who call in have to list how many times the bust or hip of an actress gyrated in a particular song sequence. And there are big prizes for guessing right.</p><p>Such interaction with the viewers does help but they depend on how far the veejay's quirks carry the show. "We wanted the viewers to look at the veejays and say, 'Hey, I could be there too'," says Sunil Lulla, general manager, MTV. "And so we decided to change our approach on veejays and bring in the boy next door to host the programmes."</p><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-4_082412105342.gif" loading="lazy" /></div></div></p><p>So, is the Danny McGill drugged drone, the Ruby Bhatia Hinglish, Kamal Sidhu Yankee drawl, Sophia drool, all an aberration of the past? Why else would Ira and Maya, sane and stable twins from Pune who were doing client servicing in an ad agency, suddenly be dragged to Mumbai and asked to veejay the<i>Rexona Duo</i>show?</p><p>James Fuller, general manager, Channel V, who spotted the twins at the Pune Roadshow says it was their freshness that forced him to pick them up. "We wanted to confuse the viewer with the twins. When there is confusion, there is excitement and when there is excitement, interest peaks," says Velu Shankar, supervising producer of Channel V.</p><table style="margin-left: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Nikhil Chinappa;</b> MTV Chillout<br><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Favourite Line:</b> You live only once, but if you live it right once is enough.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>While screen-testing Ranvir Shourie and Vinay, producer Sonia Chowdhury realised that the spark that could ignite a show was not there. While Ranvir was humorous and funny, Vinay could ad-lib on any topic. Why not lock both of them into the show, Chowdhury wondered. </p><p><i>House Arrest </i>was soon launched with the two appearing as the Men in Black (a spoof on the popular Hollywood film) with the favourite quote, "We are not just the men in black, we are also pink, blue, orange and green."</p><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1998August%2Fveejays-5_082412105342.gif" loading="lazy" /></div></div></p><p>At MTV the veejay is the programme and the programme is the veejay. So having brainy and talented ones helped. Towards the end of June, when five veejays, Nikhil, Nafisa, Amrita, Maria and Shenaz, were having rollicking fun in the studio, Maria suddenly yelled, "Why don't we do a spoofy programme on telling the truth?"</p><table style="margin-left: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Ranvir & Vinay;</b> House Arrest<br><b style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Favourite Line:</b> We're not just Men in Black, we're also pink, blue ...</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Punning on the phrase "the truth and nothing but the truth" the five along with programme manager Namrata thought up <i>True Lies</i> in which the buzz phrase would be: "We swear to tell lies and only true lies." </p><p>In the programme, Cyrus Broacha is Mr Tapman Singh giving juicy bits of news which he breaks on his head. Maybe that's what it's all about. Breaking your head to have some fun.</p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Aug 17, 1998</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div></div>

The clutch of new music programme hosts are not just hip. They are intelligent, know their desi lingo well and don't merely talk gibberish.

India Today

Smart, sassy, sexy - India Today

The new clutch of hip and intelligent veejays who know their desi lingo well

Smart, sassy, sexy

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The new clutch of hip and intelligent veejays who know their desi lingo well

The clutch of new music programme hosts are not just hip. They are intelligent, know their desi lingo well and don't merely talk gibberish.

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