The 4th season of Hassan Sheheryar Yasin’s Tonite with HSY wrapped up last Sunday and the finale hosted Bilal Ashraf and Gohar Rasheed as the last in a string of blockbuster guests that lit up more than just the couch. While this season has been the strongest with its guest list and the fact that our budding celebrities really upped their style game, it all boiled down to whether the show delivered on its entertainment quotient or not? Did it live up to its hype?
As much as we would like to credit HSY for trying to give us good television, the further we got into the season the duller it felt till eventually it drifted into episodes that felt more like white noise and nothing more. One would think that in its fourth season, the network would finally come up with a formula that would wash out Karan Johar’s “Koffee†stains but we regrettably inform you that it did not. We really would not have minded the show following a successfully tried and tested format, had it been achieved. But as much as we would like to imagine HSY and his guests getting #BFF tattoos together, it was evident that the chemistry was not quite there. More than often, the chemistry between HSY and his guests did appear pretentious and unnatural.
Anyone who has followed the show as religiously as we did would agree to the fact that HSY is clearly more comfortable communicating in English and every time we heard the ‘Amrikan Urdu’, it was as uncomfortable for us as it clearly was for Sheru. We wish that the program would have allowed the man to speak and stay within his comfort zone.
Zhalay Sarhadi and Ahmed Ali Akbar
Despite the shortcomings, we first must say that the season did have some shining moments. Osman Khalid Butt and Syra Shehroz came across as real superstars because of their quick wit and effortless candor on the show. Their movies may have crashed at the box office but these two found solace on winning the Tonite hampers and picking up fans on the way. Another favorite of ours was Ahmed Ali Akbar who surprised us with his charm and was definitely not shy, calling out the ensemble cast of Jawani Phir Nahin Ani on their awkward dance moves and Meera jee on out growing her diva years.
This is exactly what the show needed more of and HSY did try but unfortunately there were some lost opportunities on his watch. One drawback was the fact that the episodes were pre-recorded too much in advance and by the time they were aired, the points of discussion had become somewhat obsolete. Case in point: Mahira Khan still being questioned about Raees and working with Shah Rukh Khan. Dude, we’ve kind of been over that for months! We’d rather they talked about Verna and Maula Jutt. Plus, it’s not like SRK is sitting on Koffee with Karan in India and talking about working with Mahira.
If Tonite with HSY is renewed for another season then we sincerely hope that concrete efforts will be made to lose the Koffee format to come up with something more natural and organic. HSY is a showman but he is also a designer and has closer relationships with the fashion fraternity. Perhaps he could bring designers on the show. An episode with Frieha Altaf may be explosive. We agree that film stars guarantee better ratings but then again, some novelty value is needed!
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