About the show

The Hosts on the Show


Annu Kapoor
"This unit is family to me. I take this opportunity to congratulate Gajendrra and I wish him all the best. I am extremely delighted that he asked me to host the show. I can't wait to get back on the floors..."

Annu Kapoor, the second son of a Punjabi father and a Bengali mother has his roots in Bhopal. His father owned a mobile folk theatre company. Kapoor, as a child, aspired to be a surgeon (he was brilliant at his academics) but he joined his father's company at the age of 16 to support his family. He has traveled all over North India, performing classics like Raja Harishchandra, Laila-Majnu, Krishna Avtar which made him a master of theatrics and music.

At the age of 20, inspired and encouraged by his elder brother Ranjeet Kapoor, he joined the National School of Drama (NSD). Here, he was exposed to drama of Ibsen, Brecht, Eugene O Neill, Vijay Tendulkar, Badal Sircar. He was also a player with NSD Repertory Company. His first major theatrical break was with Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, directed by Ranjeet Kapoor, where he played the role of a 80 year old man (he was 24 years old at that point). He travelled with this play to Bombay for which he received a lot of critical acclaim from illustrious personalities in the industry like Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Gulzar.

June 1982, driven by passion and determination, Kapoor moved base to Bombay. His first job in a film was the dubbing he did for a captain's character in the film Gandhi. He then bagged a role in Dharmendra's Betaab. From then on, there was no looking back. He worked in Mrinal Sen's classic Khandhar. Girish Karnad chose him to play a role in Utsav. Shyam Benegal cast him in his films Mandi and Susman. His versatility made him a director's actor. He has worked with top-line directors of Indian cinema ; Kala Patthar, Mashal, Darr (Yash Chopra), Droh Kaal (Govind Nihlani), Ram Lakhan (Subhash Ghai), Chameli Ki Shaadi (Basu Chatterjee), Chaalbaaz (Pankaj Parashar), Ghayal (Rajkumar Santoshi), Hum (Mukul Anand), Muskurahat, Gardish, Kalapani (Priyadarshan), Raincoat (Rituparno Ghosh), Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahi (David Dhawan) Aitraaz (Abbas-Mustan).

Kapoor's most memorable performance is the role of Mr. Gaitonde, the edgy editor that he played in Mr. India. Other power-packed performances have been in Saza-E-Kalapani, where he played the role of Veer Savarkar and in Ketan Mehta's Sardar where he was Mahatma Gandhi. His forthcoming release is the The Fakir, a black comedy, where he plays the title role. He made his directorial debut with his film Abhay, which won him The National Film Award (Golden Lotus Award) for Best Children's Film (1994).

He has enchanted audiences worldwide and created history with Antakshari for the past twelve years. Now its time to recreate the magic with Antakshari -The Great Challenge. He revives songs that are forgotten today. Kapoor says, "While providing entertainment, I promote values of my country and civilization. I promote my language. This is my medium to serve my country".




Juhi Parmar
“I enjoy acting, but nothing feels better than being able to interact with a live audience…that too on a grandeur platform like Antakshari, where I get to share the stage with none other than the Annu Kapur."

Born in Ujjain, MP, brought up in Jaipur, this Rajput girl has won many hearts and become the Bahu that every Indian mother-in-law wants in her family.

Juhi Parmar was 15 years old when she decided that she wanted to be an actress. At first, the parents thought that she was charmed by the glamour but when they realized that she had determination writ large on her face, they consented. The overprotected girl came to Bombay where she faced some disappointment and homesickness. She credits a large part of her success (apart from good luck) to her parents' constant encouragement.

Kumkum, as she is popularly known, began with a one-episode appearance in Jee Sahib, a sitcom. She moved on to bag a longer role in Woh. Juhi then beat many contenders to bag the title role in the family drama, Shaheen. She moved the audience with her innocence. Then came Choodiyan where she played the role of the younger sister to the central character with a lot of maturity. But nothing could have been bigger than Kumkum.

Today, she has enjoyed her five-year run as the lovable and level headed Kumkum and has grown into being a critically acclaimed TV actress (She bagged the Best Actor critic (Female) at the Indian Telly Awards in 2005. Juhi has also made a foray into films with Pehchaan which has Raveena Tandon in the lead role for a TV premiere.

Today, Juhi is very excited about anchoring Antakshari The Great Challenge. She feels that being a character on screen places one within a shell. Antakshari, for her, is going to be an experience where she is herself. As Juhi likes to put it, 'Be Juhi Parmar, as she is.'