When comedian Kapil Sharma said there is nothing new on his show, he meant it as a joke. But it turned out to be the best description for Family Time With Kapil Sharma, which marked Kapil’s comeback to television after almost a year. He was not missing from news as he kept his fans guessing about what he was up to, following it up with a Twitter battle with former co-comedian Sunil Grover.
But Kapil made his official TV comeback on March 25.
Shift to game and prizes, not comedy
Kapil’s claim to fame is comedy, though he has tried to do different roles in his Bollywood ventures. He has hosted shows, including Filmfare Awards, 2013. But he is not just any other presenter, definitely not in a show that bears his name. But Family Time With Kapil Sharma is essentially a game show where families will play with each other and there are lots of prizes, including dinner sets, phones, washing machines and even a car. And to get these, the live audience has to answer some riddles, do some fun activities and that’s all.
While this game is on, Kapil will interact with the families and his guests, and will crack jokes. But the format didn’t go down well with the viewers.
Has the old team taken the charm away?
Kapil Sharma’s success was born out of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge; he was the winner of the show's third season. From there, he went on to do several shows, and in 2013 launched his own Comedy Nights with Kapil, followed by The Kapil Sharma Show. He made a team comprising Sunil Grover, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Kiku Sharda and Chandan Prabhakar. And his behind-the-camera team included sister duo Preeti and Neeti Simoes. The sisters left Kapil Sharma show last year. They are set to start their new show with Sunil and Bigg Boss11 winner Shilpa Shinde.
Body shaming is not comedy
There was a time when Kapil Sharma would body-shame Kiku Sharda, and his audience would find the jibes funny. It definitely does not seem "hilarious" now, yet Sharda continues to be body-shamed on the show. And jokes like “if you don’t bring a cake for your girlfriend on cake day or a rose on rose day, she will celebrate kiss day with someone else” fail to amuse the audience. Thankfully.
Too little time: Too many controversies
Kapil Sharma gets targeted too easily. For example, there were reports that he was throwing star tantrums and cancelled a promotional shoot with Tiger Shroff for the latter's new film Baaghi 2. Kapil had to take to Twitter to clarify that the actor was never supposed to shoot with Kapil.
Tiger was never supposed to shoot for our 2nd episode, so shoot cancel hone ka sawaal hi paida nahi hota.kuch to authenticity rakha karo yaar.Twitter kya ab explanation dene ke liye hi reh gya hai?Best wishes to my brother @iTIGERSHROFF for #baaghi2 see u soon bro.. lots of love
— KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 24, 2018
When tweets are funnier than Kapil's jokes
However, some reactions on Twitter were funnier and more entertaining than Kapil and his show.
Me watching #FamilyTimeWithKapilSharma pic.twitter.com/F3dfxwxk9m
— Bhai_Saheb (@Bhai_Saaheb) March 25, 2018
Disappointing..... this is what we r getting in the name of comedyRT#FamilyTimeWithKapilSharma pic.twitter.com/V4lruDl0fn
— ????????✌£ (@MkeetarP) March 25, 2018
For me watching Bahubali 2 for 6th time is more entertaining than #FamilyTimeWithKapilSharma pic.twitter.com/EaqD12kdqY
— AaKanK$hA ???????? (@aakanksha_seth) March 25, 2018