Zakir Khan began the fourth and latest episode of Sony’s new weekend variety show Aapka Apna Zakir (Sat-Sun 9:30 pm on Sony, streaming on SonyLiv) with a line that blends schmaltzy sentimentality with homegrown charm. Addressing queries about when he might marry and ‘settle down’, Khan said, “Mummy jaisi ladki milegi toh pighal jaayenge (My heart will melt when I find a girl like Mom).”

This line would have been very out of place in Khan’s early standup specials, but it is entirely in line with the wholesome image he’s cultivated over the last few years. More importantly, it shows he has understood the assignment re: Aapka Apna Zakir.

This is not a comedy show. This is an old-school variety show à la the Brady Bunch Variety Hour. Across 40-odd minutes (60 on TV with the commercials) it has to deliver a balanced mixture of comedy, drama, song-and-dance and yes, occasional doses of pathos as well. In the premiere episode of Aapka Apna Zakir which aired on Saturday 10 August, Khan described this formula as a ‘deluxe thali’. “Ek katori mazedaar baatein, ek katori thodi si guftgu jo dil ko chhoo jaaye, ghee se chupdi huyi roti jaisi comedy, and mazedaar pagalpan wala achaar,” he said.

This is a communal meal that seeks to serve everybody at the dining table, from the grandmother to the grand-kids and everyone in between (how else are you supposed to make sure not one of them changes the channel?).

You could also see this strategy play out in the way this opening episode was structured: Khan is flanked by four performers who each command a different TV-watching demographic-slice: Shweta Tiwari, Ritvik Dhanjani, Gopal Datt and Paresh Ganatra. A Bollywood guest appealing to big-city audiences (Karan Johar) sat on Khan’s couch alongside an influencer popular among small-town viewers (Haryana’s Ankit Baiyanpuriya, whose DIY fitness videos have earned him over 8 million followers on Instagram).

Khan cracked polite, lightweight jokes about the gender politics of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with an obliging Johar, who also injected the contracted dash of pathos by talking about his late father. This is the sort of thing overpaid consultants would call ‘a four-quadrant strategy’ or ‘maximising catchment area’.

I wouldn’t bet against Khan, who on the evidence of these four episodes, is already displaying a measure of comfort and control over his new dominion.

And Khan is all-in on this strategy, even if it means curtailing his natural style to fit the format and the stardom of his guests. He is content to make the TV equivalent of ‘small talk’. So, the third episode has six straight minutes of Shraddha Kapoor talking about her favourite breakfasts (a segment I quite enjoyed, actually, being a Marathi-food-fiend myself), while the fourth has John Abraham talking about shooting combat scenes in his latest film Vedaa. This is another structural feature of the variety show in India—Bollywood promotions are a way of subsidising costs.

It’s fascinating to see Khan work his way around this paradigm. His style of comedy isn’t really about “the cool new thing” or borrowing heavily from newspaper headlines. But he’s trying hard to adapt into this new paradigm of mainstream acceptance.

To John Abraham, he says that his hometown of Indore was full of boys who were inspired to take up body-building because of how good Abraham looked shirtless in films like Dhoom and later, Dostana. With Abhishek Banerjee (whose star is on the rise and who turns in another excellent performance in Vedaa), he jokes that because Banerjee runs his own casting agency as well, all the good parts are kept away from the likes of Khan himself.

If you are expecting the old, abrasive Khan of the ‘sakht launda’ era, or even the skilful shaayar-comic of latter-day specials like Tathastu, you’re probably going to be disappointed. This is affable, serviceable, hard-working Zakir Khan, but at the end of the day it is Zakir Lite, a watered-down version by design. And yet, there are small moments and segments where it seems Khan is trying to introduce small novelties into the format.

For instance, the fourth and latest episode, which aired last night, saw Khan inviting onstage a small-time shaayar from Indore, a young woman named Himanshi Babra, who delivered her poetry with the utmost sincerity. Khan understands the unique role played by kavi sammelans and mushairas in the social fabric of Hindi and Urdu-speaking small towns. He saw clips of this young woman’s work online and invited her to be a small part of the episode. It might not work for everyone but the move shows an attempt to reach parts of the Indian audience that Bollywood and mainstream television has largely ignored in the 21st century.

Only time will tell whether Aapka Apna Zakir builds a durable, dependable viewership of its own. But I wouldn’t bet against Khan, who on the evidence of these four episodes, is already displaying a measure of comfort and control over his new dominion.