Love in the elevator

It is a homecoming moment for Cyrus Sahukar who is hosting Elovator Pitch on MTV alongside VJ Gaelyn Mendonca, starting tonight. The quirky and off-beat show is bringing the idea of speed dating, with 10 boys on 10 floors, one beautiful girl in an elevator and vice-versa.
 
When asked about the concept of the show, Cyrus says it is an interesting social experiment. “Towards the end of the episode, the girl has to shortlist three boys out of the lot and come to a decision to choose one of them to go on a date with. The same happens when the girls ‘pitch’ themselves to the boys. Whether the boys and girls are able to successfully pursue each other during this short chase of time in the elevator, will be revealed in the show. It is an interesting fun show on speed dating in a world we live in where everything is just getting faster,” says Cyrus who confesses that both he and Gaelyn enjoyed watching the contestants pitching themselves hard to woo the girl/guy they liked.
  
“All the time that they have on hand is the time between the floors and since that time is limited, they have to talk fast to pitch themselves. The good thing about the show is that it has no irreverence, no aggression and no violence. We have tried to keep it funny and fast. Love and dating are such huge genres, and I think after a long time, MTV is doing something that is easy going and so much fun,” he quips. 

LIFE IN AN ELEVATOR 
We have seen love stories happening in elevators in films and songs. Has he ever been in a situation where he met someone romantically in a lift? Cyrus says that since he is too slow in deciding such things, he never really got into a romantic situation in an elevator. “It takes me so much time to speak a sentence, that I would probably have to go to Burj Khalifa to start dating someone in an elevator. 

Nonetheless, I really like elevators and I think they are an interesting place. On a day-to-day basis, you are in an elevator either at workplace or in your housing society where people from different walks of life, different communities, culture and religion are present in the same space. An elevator is a neutral place where it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. You all share the same space. It is like a moving room and the minute you are locked into this room together, sometimes a certain intimacy develops. I have elevator friends whom I have never met outside the elevator,” says Cyrus. 

Relationship with MTV
Cyrus began his journey with MTV and has since become a part of the channel. From being one of their most-sought-after VJs to being a host on their many popular shows, he has continued his association with the channel. Talking about it, he says, “MTV for me has been much more than a working environment. I won the second MTV VJ hunt when I was mere 18-year-old. It became my home and a place I grew up in and all the people who I’ve worked with on MTV over the years were those who I was brought up by. I inherited MTV fame at a young age because when I joined the channel, it was already a very large and successful youth network. Today, I come, I work and go back home, it is a different relationship but back then, I ate, slept and spent all my time on MTV sets. The memories are very fond. I do believe I was very lucky that I joined in 2000; those 10 years, the formation of a lot of stuff that influenced the Indian pop culture — was created around that time and I grew in that kind of environment,” says Cyrus. 

LIBERTY IN COMEDY
From doing a spoof on Simi Garewal’s show to making a parody of Kaun Banega Crorepati, Cyrus has made fun of everyone on shows that he had done for the channel and yet nobody seemed to feel offended. “I think we got away with a lot of things that we did back then and nobody has any kind of problem with them. So here’s the thing — 90 per cent of the population is absolutely cool with everything that happens or is being said and they absolutely enjoy them. I believe those who overreact and just don’t get the fact that it is just comedy, are just 2 per cent of the population — a bunch of people who overact on everything and don’t understand context. Context in humour is really important,’’ says the Aisha actor. 

According to him an average guy or girl watches everything — international shows, world cinema, all kinds of TV series — and so their mindset is changing, but there is also a bunch of people with regressive mindsets who will always stay regressive. “But I don’t think we should give them that much importance. They are not the entire population and that’s not how the country thinks,” he concludes.