Thoughts on the show: Bollywood Hero

I watched the pilot for Bollywood Hero this afternoon on IFC. I held onto it for a couple of days because I wasn't sure I wanted to watch Chris Kattan bumble around India.

Yeah that's not what this is. I was pleasantly surprised.

This show stars Chris Kattan as himself in search of a leading man role - the kind Keanu Reeves gets - but all he can land is a role as an alien on a shitty cable sitcom.

One day he meets an Indian guy named Monty Kapur who simply must have Chris as his leading man in his latest film. So in the face of his agent's sneers and Maya Rudolph's disdain, he high tails it to India to become a Bollywood actor.

I like the idea of Chris Kattan desperately trying to get out of the rut Mr. Peepers put him into, but at first I wasn't sure. It starts sloooooow. We all know Chris will go to India, but for some reason the episode drags his decision out for a really long time while we twiddle our thumbs until he figures out what we already know.

I did enjoy the hell out of Keanu Reeves playing himself. I already kind of loved Keanu Reeves. Now I just want to sit and watch him talk for like three hours. That must be one of the most laid back, easy to love people in this town.

Anyway, once Chris gets to India you can see the potential. The Indians can't get Keanu Reeves so they settle for Chris, who thinks they genuinely see him as leading man potential. Chris plays it straight - no goofy bumbling. He does everything he can to avoid the goofy bumbling by just being his own amiable self, but everyone else he meets wants to keep him in that box of Corky Romano. Any comedy is tempered by the fact that he's not trying to be funny.

I find that a really interesting way to go about the story. Our comedian is trying desperately not to be funny but everybody wants him to be funny. In fact, the scenes where the show tries to be funny are the least enjoyable because they seem contrived. I feel too sorry for Chris' situation to laugh when his credit card is canceled. I did laugh when the surly old grandma teaches him to dance in Hindi because she's cute.

It's kind of like the anti-Entourage. This is a place with a huge film industry that most of us know nothing about, and every now and then people break into song and dance, which is super awesome (It's a show about Bollywood - of course they dance and sing). It's pretty clear Chris isn't the one singing, but he's definitely dancing, and doing an unexpectedly good job of it. He'll never be Rico Suave, but he rocked it out.

In other words, I really liked it. I didn't think I would. I started out bored. But once the show kicked into gear I was sold. I'm setting my DVR to record the other episodes right now.