Roadies creator and TV host Raghu Ram has come up with a new show titled India’s Best Judwaah with his twin brother Rajiv Laxman.
After creating reality shows which test your mental and physical strength like MTV Roadies and Splitsvilla, Raghu Ram is now trying his hands at something very different. This time, he is exploring the world of twins, along with his own twin brother Rajiv Laxman. The popular duo is back with their new show India’s Best Judwaah which is all about testing the connect between real life twins. Raghu is quite attached to Rajiv. In an exclusive chat with indianexpress.com, he says, through the show, he wishes to correct certain beliefs about twins.
“People feel that there is a psychic connection between twins. If you hit one person, the other will feel the pain. I want to show that this doesn’t happen. There is a truth, there is a reality to the world of twins, it’s a very secretive world, it’s very hard to understand but this will be the first time that we will be talking about it,” Raghu said.
India’s Best Judwaa, which premiered on Zee TV last weekend, will have 11 pairs of twins from across India, taking up challenges to prove their strength and connection.
Raghu Ram with his twin brother Rajiv Laxman.
But when it is about reality, does having a twin bind the two separate individuals into one entity, which they find difficult to escape? “I think twins, generally as a rule, thrive when they are together. There is an emotional dependence which can be crippling in many cases. Twins look at themselves as one entity, which is bizarre. You don’t accept anyone else 100 percent truly and completely, unless you have a twin. Because the twin is you. That is what is special about twins,” Raghu added.
Raghu has often being credited for bringing reality television to India. But with the influx of countless non-fiction shows, does he think there has been a saturation of reality TV? He said, “The saturation is never about the number of shows. Saturation is about the similar kind of shows. What happens in India is if one subject works, everyone goes after it. We need to understand the culture that we live in, rewards regression. It will be successful, but it may not be good for society. I wouldn’t pander to regressive tastes. Some channels do that and some shows do that and I wouldn’t want to do that. I would change that.”
Raghu, who is headed for a divorce with his wife Sugandha Garg, had in a recent interview with indianexpress.com said that “Right now there is nothing new to report. When it happens I will make the announcement, in fact we will throw a divorce party.” However, his statement was taken out of context. Speaking on the same, Raghu tried to clear air. He said, “That became such a big problem. I got ambushed. I shouldn’t have said that, because you guys reported it well, you guys came out with saying that they have uncoupled but are still friends, but other publications picked it up as ‘Raghu will throw a party after divorcing his wife’. That is very disrespectful towards my ex-wife, it’s very disrespectful towards my marriage. I have very fond memories of it and I am great friends with Sugandha.”
Raghu has lived with the tag of ‘television’s angriest man’ for years and he has no qualms about it. According to him, he doesn’t wish to change that or be called emotional at all.
“I have realised that it doesn’t matter what I say about myself. There are so many people like Karanvir Bohra, Rannvijay Singha, Nikhil Chinappa, who have said that Rajiv and I are sweet people, but people’s opinions about us don’t change. When it doesn’t matter what I say, when their opinions won’t change, why should I say anything? That’s my point. When you say ‘am I happy about angry man image?’ I truly don’t care, I don’t care to change anyone’s opinion because I have reached a place where it doesn’t matter now. I want to put an end to that topic once and for all and say that I am a bad guy, I have no good side and you should be beware of me.”
