With Bathroom Singer set for a frothy start this Sunday night, anchor Ravi Kishen is bubbling with enthusiasm. “The show will be an extension of Ravi Kishen after Big Boss. People will get to deal with a superstar on a one-to-one basis,” he says over phone. Kishen lays stress on the “responsibility” he has “to the country” of not being harsh on the contestants. “I will not hurt or insult or demoralise somebody so that he does not have the strength to do anything in future. In the other shows, it is terrible to see how participants are being treated like schoolkids. Do budhhu judges jhagar rahe hain, beech mein murgi ka bachcha jaise ek khada ro raha hai! We have grown up listening to their poetry, their sound, their songs. But the way they are turning these shows into battles of ego, it shows they think of nothing beyond paisa and power,” Kishen fumes.

What has added fuel to the fire are comments by the judges of other shows dismissing Bathroom Singer as a quest for comedy, not talent and one even exclaiming “eeks” at the mere mention of the show. The Bhojpuri Bachchan would describe Bathroom Singer not as a singing talent hunt but as an original reality show. “Unlike Indian Idol, it is not copied from any foreign format. All singers start in the bathroom. I am giving a chance to people jinko koi dobara mud kar bhi nahin dekhta. I will be dealing with human emotions.”

The first episode, featuring some of the auditions, has a number of oddball characters — like a man who came crowned with royalty and a tuneless rap on his lips. But the most remarkable was an 87-year-old from Ahmedabad. Narendra Kapadia, who “lives for music”, sang a K.L. Saigal number to earn his ticket to the Mumbai finals. “We are looking for jhaag in a person. It could be a will to fight, stubbornness, entertaining power. In the elderly man’s case, it was his desire to live life.”

Fifty-five people have made it to the finals for whom a royal bathroom is being built in Filmistan Studio, Mumbai. What they do inside it will decide whether the jhaagwala show will be a bubble bath or a dunk in cold water. The Calcutta audition is slated to air next Sunday, 9pm.