They are known as "Radio Ke Virus". For me, they were my daily addictions en route to college. I have been listening to them since I don't know when. So, some five years back, when the year 2006 was about to close, I got an opportunity to interview the two of them, for a very special edition of Times Of India-NIE. I could choose anyone- writers, politicians, socialites, artists- but the fifteen year old girl in me preferred to make arrangements for an interview with the masters of mad talk- Anant and Saurabh. While TOI promised to facilitate conversations with the management of Radio Mirchi for this particular interview, what I distinctly remember is the wonderful treatment, and insanely prompt replies I got from both- Anant-Saurabh, and the people I had to go through in order to reach them.
This interview, edited, was published in TOI-NIE edition dated 8th February, 2007. I found it again while rummaging through some old mails, precisely in the hope of re-igniting some lost nostalgia. Now that I read it again, a lot of it does not seem all that hilarious as it did when I was small. My teachers were proud I pulled this through. For me, the achievement was that an interview with these two adorable-crazy-awesome chatterboxes was the closest I have ever gotten to anyone I have ever claimed being a fan of. And till date, they both are the most amazing RJs I miss listening to, given my habit of sleeping late, getting up later. The are the craziest partners on air, but also gave me my daily doze of local updates, along with unconventional, humorous, and sometimes serious opinions. Recently, when they won an award for their programme on Human Trafficking at an international forum, I felt a personal pride, and promised myself to search for this interview again. Forgot. Here it is now! I did this as a fifteen year old, and from the perspective of a school student. Most questions hence are about school life.
(Their full names- Saurabh Bhramar and Anant Jha)
This interview, edited, was published in TOI-NIE edition dated 8th February, 2007. I found it again while rummaging through some old mails, precisely in the hope of re-igniting some lost nostalgia. Now that I read it again, a lot of it does not seem all that hilarious as it did when I was small. My teachers were proud I pulled this through. For me, the achievement was that an interview with these two adorable-crazy-awesome chatterboxes was the closest I have ever gotten to anyone I have ever claimed being a fan of. And till date, they both are the most amazing RJs I miss listening to, given my habit of sleeping late, getting up later. The are the craziest partners on air, but also gave me my daily doze of local updates, along with unconventional, humorous, and sometimes serious opinions. Recently, when they won an award for their programme on Human Trafficking at an international forum, I felt a personal pride, and promised myself to search for this interview again. Forgot. Here it is now! I did this as a fifteen year old, and from the perspective of a school student. Most questions hence are about school life.
(Their full names- Saurabh Bhramar and Anant Jha)
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| A pic I received from Radio Mirchi 6 years back to be published along with the interview |
They are hilarious, they are famous, they are the cool dudes of the city & they come with a statutory warning- “Kuchh bhi karna, par in ko mat sun-na.” No peanuts for guessing, they are ANANT and SAURABH, the RJs whose voice acts as the morning alarm for most of the ardent radio listeners of Delhi. The Dilliwalas are absolutely in love with their antics, which help start their day on a bright note. While the listeners almost guffaw in response to the hilarious conversation between the two of them, Saumya Kulshrestha, a student of LPS, thought of taking a very serious interview of the two of them. The interview follows.....
GENERAL INTERVIEW
Q:1) We as school students would like to know that how important is school life in shaping a person’s future?A:1)We believe that school life is very important in determining one’s future as you get to know the subjects that you hate and wouldn’t want to work in any of those fields. The things which a student learns between classes and in their interaction with other students is more useful than what they learn from the textbooks.
Q:2) Tell us what aspect of school life charmed you the most?
A:2)Summer and winter vacations. All companies should also follow the same routine.
Q:3) Was RJ-ing always a dream or you stumbled upon it?
A:3)Totally stumbled upon it. If somebody could pay us to talk, it couldn’t be that bad.
Q:4) Radio or rather FM is an important mode of dissemination of substance based information. How far do you agree with the statement?
A:4)We totally agree with the statement although we can’t agree on what it means. Wasn’t “dissemination” a biological term???
Q:5) You usually play new songs on your show. If you were to present a show fully dedicated to old classics, what kind of songs would come out of your song box?
A:5)We would love to play songs by Britney Knowles, Beyonce Spears, Shakira Bano, Materazzi and Mohd. Barfi. We love their songs.
Q:6) We & all your listeners are complete fan of your antics. Tell us are you as hilarious in your real life too? How do your kith and kins react to your funny comments spoken out on a citywide forum?
A:6)We are very serious people and take everything in life very seriously, if people don’t take us seriously then there is something wrong with them. Our kith and kin (body parts???) think that we work in a call centre.
Q:7) Is witty conversation between you premeditated or spontaneous?
A:7)We meditate before we speak so I guess it is premeditated and since we don’t know what we are saying, all of it is spontaneous.
Q:8) If you were given a chance to direct a movie tomorrow, what would be the subject & who would be the leading people of the movie?
A:8)It would be a film based on wildlife in the film industry narrated from the perspective of a couch. According to our cinematic adviser, Guru Rai Bahadur Mahesh Butt sahib it would be Angelina Jolie as the couch, and the man with animal instincts, Shoaib Akhtar as the wildlife.
Q:9) A VJ or a television anchor gets a lot of importance because they are recognized by the general public by their face. Do you feel being an RJ somewhere deprives you of that fame & glamour?
A:9)No. we have the perfect faces for radio. Not doing television has been a conscious choice but eventually when we stop talking we will be doing silent films.
RAPID FIRE- one sentence answers please (as brief as possible)
Q:1) Your take on these technical terms from various subjects, probably taught to you also in school.
a) Catenation (Chemistry): When the entire nation is run over & governed by cats it is known as cat-e-nation.
b) Disaster Management (Geography): People who make disasters happen on a large scale.
c) Polynomial (Maths): A polynomial is an equation that has more than two variables and lots of answers.
d) Capital Punishment (Civics): When a student is given the arduous task of learning the name of every country’s capital in the world it is known as capital punishment.
e) Oxidation (Chemistry): When humans start dating oxen!!!
Q:2) What if not an RJ?
Ladies tailor at Lajpat Nagar.
Q:3) Three words that define an RJ.
Licensed to talk.
Q:4) Indian bolly stars who have the maximum potential to be an RJ(except Preity Zinta & Vidya Balan).
Tusshar Kapoor in Golmaal and Rani Mukherjee in Black.
Q:5) Best thing about each other.
We love dating each other’s girlfriends and spending their money.
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| Anant and Saurabh- with their award at the New York Festival |
PS- Sincere thanks to Kriti Arora and Sonam Sharma for all their help with this.
for a 15 year old,u certainly asked a whole lot of mature and intelligent questions..hmmm....i have found you to be an interesting person starting from the very first post of urs that i read.....the one before the IAS exams....and this interview post....it clinches it...for me u re an IAS officer already...Indian Awesomeness Services...:-D
ReplyDeleteI remember when you got this opportunity to Interview these Radio Creatures!
ReplyDeleteThey are just awesome. And yes they are licensed to talk only.
Anant & Saurabh- Made for each other.
@Rahul
ReplyDeleteThe questions were deliberately made to sound mature and intelligent, so that the whole layout of the interview could be made for interesting. I am really happy for having received such a comment from you. From a person who does not know me much, these words of appreciation definitely mean a lot.
A more meaningful thank you for being so regular in letting me know your opinion of each post of mine :)
@Mayank
ReplyDeleteI am sure you remember most of the stuff which happened during our TOI experience. I also re-read the article I supposedly wrote with you :P. Have you ever heard the two of them?? If not, please do. They are my favorite! After ANIL, of course, whom I do not get to hear anymore :(