E-Paper
Talking safe and straight
It’s impossible to make a straight conversation with a condom. VJ Jose and Dipti Gujral discuss sex and a lot more in a quick chat with Rajesh Ahuja.
It’s impossible to make a straight conversation with a condom. But if the one in question is as exuberant as VJ Jose, the going gets a little easier. In the capital recently to further MTV and Body Shop’s new campaign titled ‘Yes, Yes, Yes to Safe Sex’, the ‘rubber man’ and his colleague Dipti Gujral discuss sex and a lot more in a quick chat.
Excerpts:
Do we address you as a condom now?
Jose: (Laughs) Yes, you can. People have been rubbing me from all sides and I’ve been telling them to be careful!
Dipti: It sure is funny to walk with and talk to one! (laughs)
Tell us something about the campaign.
Jose: Since preaching about AIDS doesn’t work with the youth today, we thought of talking to them in their lingo. Hence we’re doing the needful through a ‘condom man’.
Dipti: It’s important to create awareness and be open about such issues. You have to grab attention and that’s what we intended to do with this campaign.
There has been a sudden spurt of veejays on Indian television. But most feel they lack the zing their seniors had. Comment.
Dipti: I did Loveline with Cyrus Sahukar, a show that was popularised by Malaika Arora Khan. It’s unfair to draw comparisons because everyone tries to bring new things to the table. I wanted to shun the ‘unapproachable’ tag that people associated with me (as a model) and that’s why I became a VJ.
Jose: Theirs was a different breed; they introduced audience to the trend of veejaying. But we’re trying our level best to live up to the standards set by them.
Jose, what’s next on the show, What’s Up?
Jose: A colleague and I will dress up like LK Advani and Manmohan Singh respectively, and take the streets to talk to the youth about voting.
You must’ve been inundated with movie offers, Dipti…
Dipti: I have got film offers but most of them have roles that portray me as a ‘hot property’. I don’t want to take on Bollywood with such kind of roles. TV is classier.