Koffee With Karan Season 7: The joys of gossip are unlimited and unfettered

Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in episode 1 of 'Koffee with Karan Season 7', streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

As they say, sofa, so good! Episode One of this snazzy new season dropped at 7pm on July 7 on Disney+Hotstar, and to watch the irrepressible Karan Johar with the effervescent Ranveer Singh with Alia Bhatt was cracking good fun!

But first, I must join my hands and bow down to the gods of design. The ghastly red piano from Season 4 is no more! I hope they dropped it on someone evil! Season 1 of Koffee had odd portholes with the staircase behind the sofa going nowhere. Season 2 had a slimmer Karan walking on a floor that made me wonder if the arcade game Dance Dance Revolution was the inspiration. One season had alien creatures with light bulbs for eyes and every season had the randomest table designs one has ever seen. I could go on and on but every season, Karan Johar’s jackets, and now glasses and shoes, made everything else matter less…

Most movie stars are good at giving interviews, on account of giving so many. But in Koffee With Karan, I realized that the stars were speaking with a friend, and that’s why the camaraderie is so easy and the banter, just pure fun.

Watching the show

Before episode 1 dropped on Thursday, I'd wondered: Will Karan reinvent the show in Season 7? Will he ever stop saying things in the hamper are ‘expensive’? And who will say the next edgy thing that will become a Reddit ‘thing’?

Hopelessly punctual, I groaned several times because Disney+Hotstar ‘ka sabun slow tha'; it felt like forever before it was 7pm for the folks at the streaming service.

Once the show started, Alia just looked uncomfortable. Was it her dress? Or the fact that the two men are just so witty that she looked gobsmacked. I liked the fact that Ranveer Singh could sulk and then forget why he was angry at Alia. I facepalmed at her interpretation of Ranveer’s ‘Deepika has stature’.

But hang on, Ranveer and Alia are friends? They have nicknames for each other - Lulu and Tulu (?!) - and call each other ‘Sakhi’? They support one another during acting crises? And does Ranveer sound more like Dharmendra than Dharam Paaji himself? Or did I get a whiplash hearing Ranveer Singh do a perfect imitation of Hrithik Roshan?

I may not remember that this is a weekly show (unlike the elephantine inner alarm that reminds me of weekly K-dramas) and watch it only because Twitter will be abuzz with details, but I know die-hard fans who will remind me when Shah Rukh or Kareena Kapoor show up! The lineup for the coming weeks includes Anil Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Jhanvi Kapoor, Ram Charan Teja, NTR Jr, Ananya Pandey, Vijay Deverakonda, Karishma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora.

I sort of thought the hamper win was the end of the show, but they have yet another question round (which was patently made to make Alia Bhatt happy), with an invited audience deciding the winner of the game show. That’s a cool way of decimating criticism I thought, and so was Karan Johar’s way of tackling Twitter Trolls. Maybe they will use Twitter (or any social media platform) to get feedback or get the audience to send in questions for the upcoming shows. And another thing. Wear your soothing shades because Karan Johar and Ranveer Singh shone! And I’m now going to figure out the brand of Karan Johar’s red and black trousers (or are they track pants?) and also cross my fingers that the stars will show up wearing wit on their sleeves and not Harry Winston.

Koffee With Karan Season 7 streams on Disney+Hotstar; a new episode drops every week. Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhat appear in Karan Johar’s next film: Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, which could possibly be a hoot to watch. This episode for season 7 may have felt too long to me, but both stars went home with a hamper each. And what we now know about Ranbir Kapoor is between you me and the wildebeests at Masai Mara... Happy watching, dahlings!