A celebrity chat show with Twinkle Khanna and Kajol was a great idea on paper. These two ladies are chatty and sassy and promised a fun-filled and entertaining insight into showbiz. In the first episode, two of Bollywood’s biggest superstars, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, came over. It all sounded inviting, but alas, who would have thought the result would deliver zero bite and worse, even feel stretched? That is what I felt while watching the first episode of the show Two Much, now available to stream on Prime Video.

A boring start

The opening of the show felt too structured and inorganic to me. A giant food platter for the guests to be fed before they were grilled seemed to be the memo, but it did not seem to work well for the first two guests. Salman looked put off with so much food kept in front of him, and only Aamir started to dig in. Plus, Kajol’s orange juice recipe did not interest Bhai at all.

After this forced opening, the show finally took off. Twinkle and Kajol started off by asking how Salman and Aamir first met, and how their friendship began. The conversation often stopped, paused, and digressed, as is the case with close friends, but Twinkle and Kajol did not know which direction to take it forward at several places. The chat was devoid of insight and was too sanitised to hold on to any intrigue. Whatever insight Aamir had to give about his (failed) relationships, (successful) marketing techniques were not new. He has already spoken about it in a dozen other interviews recently, while heavily promoting Sitaare Zameen Par.

Salman opens up

Salman opening up about the horrors of trigeminal neuralgia was perhaps the only bit where I sat up and took notice- here was a star talking vividly about living with pain. It was also an affirmation of how we as people behave when we are placed in a new setting- once we know we are surrounded by our friends and it’s all okay, we open up gradually. Salman seemed exactly like that; in the beginning, he spoke less, but as the conversation grew, he shared his unvarnished opinions, filling the room with some much-needed character and grandeur. It is so characteristically Salman- he possesses that mix of aura and intimidation that is hard to replicate. Aamir did not mind being less opinionated and seemed to listen more, rather than speak.

Unfortunately, Two Much does not really do much to highlight the distinct personalities of the two hosts. Twinkle sporadically makes a sassy comment or two, and that does not elicit any reaction from her two superstar friends. Even Kajol, whose unapologetically loud presence fills any room she is in, seemed more intent on listening rather than navigating the conversation.

But I also wonder, is it really their problem if the guests refuse to come to the point? Kajol tactfully argues that the older male stars work with younger heroines, but the opposite never works, and Twinkle hits it back when she says it is the man’s world and the woman never gets her due for all the work she does in order to maintain it. Salman and Aamir heard these and chose to make their point instead. The result? Not much of a dialogue, but rather mansplaining.

My patience was running out by the end of it. Neither of the two games clicked. Too Much is never too much; it is rather too little, too safe, and too manicured. It seemed like that was exactly what Salman and Aamir were aiming for; with ‘twinkle, twinkle little stars!’ the apt strategy for the first episode of the show.