There is no cure for the travel bug. If it has bitten you once, there is no turning back” said Gaurav Kapoor, VJ, turned- actor-turned- IPl host.
The latest stop on his artistic itinerary ,was to look for a traveler who would be a willing expert on the sojourns of the freaky kinds. Gaurav was entrusted with the job of finding the perfect host for the show, Freaky Traveller, which is a 13 part series showcasing on Fox.
Did we all just do a double take? Come again? Freaky?
“It’s a show that will take traveling to new heights of crazy. The places are the same, for India is the same, but the way is new and yes freaky at best,” explained Gaurav.
With people becoming experts at travelling from the comforts of their couch and the remote, it seemed like a novel way, to revisit familiar places. Armed with glasses of a different colour. For such travels you need that perfect mate, the host of the travel show, who would be your lone companion and guide to the world of the travels of the freaky kind.
The selection process involved people going online and posting videos and photos of their travel-tales. They were shortlisted and called for auditions.
From what Gaurav shared, it was a tough process to get the apt host.
“It was a long trial, but a happy one. We had many people applying and it choosing the right person was tough. People were more than willing to go an extra mile. But we are satisfied with our find — Brij Bhakta.”
He is a stand-up comedian back from the USA after completing a degree in business administration.
And from the looks of it, he fits the bill completely.
Gaurav agreed. He said, “Brij is charged up for anything. I think he will have to be institutionalised after the show is over, for nothing that he did on the show will be termed as normal.”
Gaurav personally groomed and trained Brij. He continued, “Brij hasn’t grown up in India and that’s an advantage. He merely had an idea of the places we all usually take for granted. And he is so calm in the most turbulent of situations, it’s insane. He was racing with a camel in Rajasthan, and that's not even the freaky bit.”
The show travels to places like AP, where Brij takes part in a war and ends up being a prince for a day. In Punjab Brij gatecrashes a wedding, trains pigeons and spends a day at a sprawling farm house in true Punjabi style.
Gaurav is sure this show will be liked by people, for it takes a new spin to the old traditional sense of traveling.
But when asked if he would be willing to be part of such escapades, he laughingly responded, “No yaar. I can’t do that. I love to travel, but not this way. I am only willing to travel to places where I have a coffee shop in near vicinity.”
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