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Take it easy with Ranjini

People love to sit on judgement on anchors. But nothing fazes Ranjini Haridas, who is anchoring Idea Star singer. SHILPA NAIR ANAND just loved her candour

Photo:H.Vibhu

Carefree “I live in the present” : Ranjini Haridas, TV anchor

She has oodles of attitude, the kind of person people love to love and love to hate even more. Ranjini Haridas is quite matter-of-fact, “I don’t care. This is who I am, I am not faking it either. Nothing about me is put on.” Yet she retains a childlike enthusiasm for most things, for instance her new look – straightened hair – she is visibly excited and gushes about how soft her hair feels.

This former Miss Kerala (2000), is anchoring the second edition of ‘Idea Star Singer’ for Asianet. She is undoubtedly a whiff of fresh air, particularly the camaraderie that she manages to establish with the nervous participants of the show.

Although, as anchor she is on the other side of the judging game, Ranjini continues to be judged. Her ‘Manglish’ draws a lot of flak, be it ‘Sahasikante Lokam’ or ‘Idea Star Singer’.

“I can speak colloquial Malayalam, which I speak at home. I am no Malayalam pundit, it is not that I intentionally avoid the language. I respect it. But I cannot speak the kind that is spoken on television. I told Sreekantan (Nair) Sir this when they approached me for the show, he gave me the go ahead. And if people have a problem they should be speaking to the channel,” she says cheekily. In fact, she is open to anchoring in Malayalam, provided she is given a proper script right down to the minutest detail.

A pucca Kochiite, Ranjini was educated at Choice School, later St Teresa’s after which she took a year off at Bangalore and then headed for the UK for her MBA. Television came sometime in between, almost a logical course after the Miss Kerala title. After a year-and-a-half in the UK she was back. “I tried to get a regular job, but the 9-5 thing did not appeal to me. And got back to television, it pays well besides,” she says. A professional to the core, her response to suggestions that she is merely a prop for the show is “So what? I am doing a job that is what I am here for. Besides the exposure will be good for my career, since the show has a wide reach.” A couple of years ago, she used to anchor a show on the music channel Rosebowl.

However she does not see her career taking the celluloid route, she is quite content with hosting shows on television and emceeing stage shows. Post-Miss Kerala, she got a couple of offers to act in films but “I cannot be anything but Ranjini Haridas. And serials? Please, no.” That is not to say she has not had her share of screen tests, she has had some and by her admission “horrible.” But she is not cribbing, she is quite happy with the course her career is taking for now, “I do not know what I will be doing in the future, I live in the present and go with the flow. I just do not make big plans.” Television is not her first love, emceeing stage shows is because there is a lot that one can do within the framework of stage shows, besides it is more fun and involves a certain amount of spontaneity.

No planning, but, with one exception, joining the gym. Tell Ranjini she is weight obsessed and she is the first one to admit it and says she will do almost anything to lose weight. She is excited about the four kilos she has lost in two months; it is another matter that she could easily pass off as a model. Like all weight watchers, however, at times she cheats because she likes food.

“Anything that Mama cooks I like, it can be simple dosa and chutney, I love it. And I love Indian-Chinese, it rocks,” says this self-confessed junk food addict. That her mother is her rock is evident from the way she talks about her. Ranjini lives in Kochi with her mother, brother and grandparents.

It is not just Malayalam channels that are keeping her busy, she briefly anchored a show for Channel V, ‘Why not! When love bites’, where she has been doling out advice or as she puts it, “basically breaking hearts! Telling people dump him, dump her!” She has left the show because she is now committed to ‘Idea Star Singer.’ She is also working with Amrita TV on a show called ‘Good English’, which is a quiz on the English language.

For a person who believes she is perhaps making a fool of herself, Ranjini Haridas is doing okay, more than okay in fact.

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