Mini Mathur was asked to ‘create a moment’ between Dharmendra-Hema Malini on Indian Idol

Mini Mathur opened up about the reasons she left the show Indian Idol as a host after six seasons. She shared that reality on the show had become constructed.

Mini Mathur has been a host and presenter on television for quite a while. She was a VJ on MTV India and hosted several series and events like Indian Idol and Miss India. Recently, she opened up about why she left the musical reality series Indian Idol after hosting it for six seasons. She shared that even though she was earning well on the show, the series began to feel made up and not genuine. Mini eventually came to the realisation that it was no longer real and created just for the cameras.

Mini Mathur joined Indian Idol as a host in 2004.

As she spent more time on the reality show, she realised how Indian Idol began to manufacture moments for the audience. Mini gave an example of a contestant being surprised to see a family member, after they knew they would be on the show. Later, she was asked to 'create' a moment by the show's producers between veteran actors Dharmendra and Hema Malini when they were stopping by as special guests on the show. The host revealed that initially she was quite involved in the show and the contestants, and used to spend a lot of time with them.

Speaking to Cyrus Broacha on his podcast Cyrus Says, Mini Mathur shared, "I was truly invested in every single person. Even when the cameras stopped rolling, I didn’t drop my smile. They would come to my house for dinner, I would sit with them for hours.”

Mini also said, “I called it quits only when I realized that now, there is no longer a real reality. I did six seasons. After that, it was just a question of making money, but by then, the husband had started making money… But I really didn’t appreciate that reality had become constructed.”

Mini is married to filmmaker Kabir Khan; they have two children, a son Vivaan and daughter Sairah. She was last seen in the Prime Video family series Mind the Malhotras opposite Cyrus Sahukar. The host also acted in the film I, Me Aur Main (2013) along with John Abraham, Prachi Desai and Chirangda Singh.