The first installment of Pawan Kalyan's Unstoppable episode started streaming the other day. At about an hour, the episode is a mega wasted opportunity, to put it very, very mildly.
Knowing Power Star's usual reluctance to open up (he is not interview-savvy), the show's creative team should have approached the episode differently. Things that the 'Bheemla Nayak' actor has spoken in the episode have been in the public domain for years. Since the time he became a star campaigner for Praja Rajyam Party in 2008, he has been repeating the same things over and over.
Fine. If Pawan believes what he shares with the world defines him, so be it. Nobody can have a quarrel with it. But the show's creative team (including and especially BVS Ravi) should have anticipated it and coached Balakrishna to navigate the answers toward interesting follow-up questions. That is what an interview is about. That's what makes it different from a monologue/speech.
Balakrishna's inability or unwillingness to ask follow-up questions has been devastating. It was so glaring even in Prabhas' episode. There is a hell lot of potential if the right follow-up questions are posed. A talk-show host should not be content with listening to what the guest says, especially what a man of very few words like Pawan says.
On his part, the 'Hari Hara Veera Mallu' actor was not at all enthusiastic. His body language was not appealing either. This was pointed out by BVS Ravi himself in a recent interview. Pawan kept his both hands in his upper garment's pockets. Ravi noticed it and gestured to Balayya to ask Pawan to take out his hands. That only goes to show that Pawan was not forthcoming and it was reflected in his body language.
Pawan is a shy speaker and there too, one can't have complaints. It is what it is. But it doesn't mean you have to bring up Sai Dharam Tej and crack marriage jokes to break the ice. After cracking banal marriage jokes in Prabhas' episode and the Sharwanand episode, Balayya did it once again.
When you call your episode 'Baap of all talk shows', you have to make sure that at least 20-30 minutes of content is completely never-heard-before. Only the last 5 minutes featured an interesting stretch where Balayya asked if Pawan is really asking his directors to write age-appropriate roles for him. It's this sort of question that should have been asked from the start. The questions should have touched upon Pawan's recent years and evolution on the acting front.
One hopes the second installment, to be streamed from February 9, will be way better.
