Out of all the reality shows that I have seen in my life, Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi remains my most favourite! All the episodes were truly exciting, Akshay Kumar was rocking and the show ended in less than a month!
The concept of the show: The entire season was shot in South Africa. 13 Bollywood bomshells and their partners (officers of the Indian Army) were participants of the show-Nethra Raghuraman, Urvashi Sharma, Aditi Govitrikar, Pooja Bedi, Tupur Chaterjee, Tapur Chaterjee, Anita Hassanandani, Yana Gupta, Anjana Sukhani, Meghna Naidu, Sonali Kulkarni, Dipanita Sharma and Vidya Malwade. Everyday, the contestants have to perform two stunts-one in the morning and the other later in the evening. The host Akshay Kumar explains the stunts to the participants and even gives them useful tips and suggestions as to how the stunts can and should be performed. Those who master or excel in the first stunt are given ‘safety band’ and are exempted from doing the second stunt of the day. The rest have no other choice but to perform the second stunt and needless to say, the second stunt is dangerous than the first one. Those who are not able to perform the second stunt due to fear, phobia or any reason whatsoever will be eliminated. Everyday, one participant leaves the show. The motto of the show is “Jo Darr Gaya Who Ghar Gaya!”
Only those stunts were selected which are interesting both for the participants and the viewers, and which are a bit dangerous. However, all stunts were difficult but none of them were impossible. And lots and lots of adequate safety measures were used so that the contestants could perform the stunt without any fear of losing their lives. Yet, many contestants used to develop cold feet when asked to perform a dangerous stunt! However, there were some stunts like putting your hand in a jar full of cockroaches, and picking plums using the mouth from a tub full of water and snakes! These stunts were very groggy and bizarre!
The best thing about the show is that in the 1 hour episode, they showed only about the stunts-they were not interested in showing about how contestants live, what was their views on fellow contestants or if any in-fighting going on (Roadies-giri I would call it!!). The show was solely concentrated on the stunts and therefore, the show didn’t drag for too long. The show started on July 21, 2008 and ended on August 17, 2008-in less than a month!
The contestants: Yana Gupta was the best of all of them and she deserved to win! She didn’t freak out in a single stunt and gave her best shot to each stunt! Unfortunately, she was not even able to reach the semi-finals. Urvashi Sharma, one of the finalists, was quite interesting and was funny at times! She was also the maximum holder of safety bands!
Tapur and Tupur Chaterjee both were evicted from the show since both of them had vertigo and were unable to do a height stunt. Tupur also had claustrophobia because which contributed to her getting evicted sooner.
Anita Hassanandani would have reached the semi-finals had she not erred in the stunt named ‘Khazane Ki Khoj’. Anjana Sukhani, like Yana, was almost fearless throughout the show. Aditi Govitrikar also performed the best in each stunt and therefore, she was even able to reach the finals. Sonali Kulkarni used to get petrified before most of the stunts because of which she was not able to excel properly and finally got evicted. Dipanita Sharma and Meghna Naidu were good. Vidya Malwade was the most fearful of all contestants. She would tell her partner to do the stunts for her. She got evicted early and was not even called for the ‘wild card entry’ round.
Pooja Bedi and her partner contributed a lot in entertaining the viewers! They were completely funny and the way Akshay used to crack jokes on them was a treat to watch! She was able to reach till the semi-finals!
Lastly, the winner of the show, Nethra Raghuraman, was almost perfect! She also got petrified in many stunts but she had that confidence which helped her. Also, she did a great job in the final six stunts and therefore, she was able to win the season!
However, the show would have been dry without Akshay Kumar! My respect for him has increased manifold after seeing him in Fear Factor, and I have also become one of his big true fan! He entertained the contestants (and also the viewers) with his jokes and made them feel easy and comfortable. His jokes on Pooja Bedi and her partner were very hilarious! Also the joke he cracked on Aditi’s partner Capt. Ajit made me laugh a lot! While he was happy-go-lucky, he also sometimes used to act tough and scold the participants when they get too scared to do a stunt. The episode where he scolded the participants for not being able to do a water stunt since they didn’t knew swimming was memorable. His dialogue “Swimming is not a luxury; it’s a necessity” is worth applauding and must be followed religiously by everyone. His talks, jokes, beliefs reflected his good personality! Great work, Akshay!
The best moment on Fear Factor was when Akshay Kumar himself performed a stunt after all the contestants completed it but failed to do it properly! That was undoubtedly the classic moment of the show!
Kiran Kotrial’s script was powerful and engrossing, so was the direction. Cinematography was absolutely outstanding and the crew and the safety workers need to be applauded for their immense contribution in making the show a success!
The title song of the show (composed by Salim-Sulaiman and penned by Kiran Kotrial) was fantastic. Another poem-like song (“Jab Se Hai Ye Vasant Aaya…!”) which Akshay used to sing in many episodes while selecting a contestant for a stunt was quite funny!
On the whole, Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi is one of the most interesting reality shows to have hit the Indian TV Screens! It was totally unique, fully interesting and thoroughly entertaining! It also gave a strong message that “Fight Your Fears” and “Nothing Is Impossible!” This is one show which I would never forget!