"Power Trip is the right show at the right time for me"- Shobhaa De

Writer, columnist, scriptwriter and now an anchorperson. Enigmatic Shobha De, will now be seen anchoring a show on the newly rechristened SaharaOne. Power Trip, as the show goes will have Shobha unveiling the human side of the most powerful and influential people from the corporate world. Apart from this, the superwoman has two more serials coming up, one on Star Plus and other on Zee, and of course two new books by the end of the year. " PowerTrip is the right show at the right time for me, says Shobha in an exclusive interview to indiantelevision.com I am sure there must have been many offers along the way, why did you choose this show? There have been offers over the years but either the shows were over glamorised or were not my kind of shows. Also, there were a lot of things on my plate and my children were younger. This is really the right show for me at the right time, since it gives a good platform for me to extend myself. It also gives me a chance to relook at some of the extraordinary high achievers with whom I've been interacting for the last twenty years. Why is it called Power Trip and what is your involvement with the show? Well, I suggested the title Power Trip, since it's catchy. And the show is all about people who are the most powerful people in the real sense of the word. The first line-up we have biggies like Yash Birla, Adi Godrej, Swati Piramal and of course there will be many more as we go along. I am not just anchoring the show, but I am totally involved in terms of the research, content and look of the show. I can tell you, anchoring is a slog job. So, will it be on the lines of the Simi Garewal show? Well, Simi was wonderful on her show. But I would say it was a softer show, where you had social celebrities like movie stars etc. Here, we are trying to unveil the person behind the businessman or a corporate head honcho. So, the first four segments will be the Business segments, and the last two segments will have a slightly personal touch to it, where we try to discover the person behind the business suit.; his/her likes dislikes, values and passions. In this segment, the celebrity gets along a person of his or her choice, so we had Swati Piramal getting along Ajay Piramal, and Adi Godrej getting Tanya Godrej. People rarely get to know the real person behind a corporate biggie and such a show need not necessarily be on a channel like CNBC. But you wouldn't be an expert on the subject so to speak? Well, I've been meeting certain key people or achievers from practically every field all along. So, most of the celebrities are people I 've interacted with at one point or the other. I am just redefining my horizons, and it's just an extension of my work, a natural progression. Over a period of time there are few more powerful women I would like to get on the show. Why was Kittie Party on Zee TV wound up? Well, how far can you stretch a story. I believe If I have a story to tell, I will tell it and bring it to its concluding end. And it ran for more than two years. You can't drag it beyond that. From Swabhimaan to Kittie Party and now Power Trip, how's the journey been? Television writing is an extremely stimulating experience for me. But it's all about being disciplined, as you have to write about eight to nine scenes for each episode and make sure the scenes have the exact freeze points. Are you scared of facing the camera, since it's the first time you're anchoring a show? I am familiar and comfortable with the medium; it's not an alien medium for me since I have faced the camera many times before. Books, columns scriptwriting … how do you pack in so much in your working day? I am addicted to work. And on a day when there isn't much happening I am totally lost and disoriented. I do a lot of travelling to unwind, but then that's agai