Kasturi - Mausi is the bad one

It is real fun how things keep on happening in Indian TV serials (and how they keep on copying each other). So, from a time when Kasturi was in the bad books of Robbie because she had blamed him for Raunaq's death and vowed to take revenge (and as a part of the anger that Robbie felt, he had got engaged to Anita (who was actually plotting against Robbie and was in cahoots with Raunak)) (did you not see something similar to this happening in 'Kahin to Hoga'), to the point where she learns that Raunak was alive, and this was all a plan by Raunak to get hold of Robbie's wealth.
Well, soon things start to change away from Raunak's and Anita's favor; inspite of the best efforts of these 2 (and Mausi supporting them), Robbie soon starts to get the old feelings for Kasturi again. He breaks off his engagement with Anita, and moves closer to Kasturi (but Raunak has re-emerged on the screen in terms of trying to break the things between Robbie and Kasturi).
Raunak is torturing Kasturi a lot while pretending to be ill and bed-ridden to others, and Robbie can only watch when this is happening. Eventually, Raunak and Anita decide that they have to get rid of Kasturi, and they decide to try and kill her (Raunak has already made a number of people believe that she is mad). However, Robbie also reaches there, and it is believed that Robbie was guilty of shooting her. The police get involved, Kasturi's parents are also very angry and tell a lot of things to Robbie's parents.
And then they find Kasturi, she is in a ashram and has reverted back to a child like mental state (remember Saat Phere, anyone ?). Soon, Raunak decides that she has to go, but this time he is caught along with Anita. Mausi also abandons them, and Raunak is really angry at this, but is unable to do anything. Mausi is still planning, scheming, how to get Devika's and Robbie's wealth. And so the serial moves on, with newer villains (and maybe some element of black magic getting added).

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi - betrayal by the bahu

A battle royal between Tulsi and Tripti is ongoing, with Tulsi fighting a proxy battle with Vaidehi (her bahu, but one who also totally believes in Tripti and is fighting to destroy the Viranis even though she is married to Laksh and is now in love with him). One wonders as to how Tripti is wandering around free and out of jail, given that she had been sentenced by a court to a jail term, but she is wandering freely without any constraint; but she must have proved a popular villain, and hence they brought her back into the serial in a confrontational mode with the Viranis without worrying about a jail sentence.
So Vaidehi sets out on her task. It can be a good role for any actress, showing her to be a dutiful daughter-in-law while also seeking to destroy the family in which she lives. In this case however, by getting her to confront Tulsi at every opportunity, to laugh like a maniac many times, and to try to look evil a lot, somehow is ruining the whole effect. It looks out of place, and seems like over-acting. At the same time, they show her to be capable of any kind of wrong deed, including adding stuff in juice and putting oil on steps to make people fall.
The interesting part is, Tulsi knows about what Vaidehi is trying to do (she saw her with Tripti and heard her conversation), and has confronted her on a number of occasions, but has been unable to reform her. At the same time, she is unwilling to reveal her secret to the rest of the household since she is trying to reform her with love. And after KT cursed Vaidehi that her marriage would also turn bad after Vaidehi had caused the break-up of KT and Eklavya, it is pretty clear what the future will bring. Vaidehi will start to get swayed by the love she is receiving from the family and Laksh, and in the meantime, Laksh will find out her secret.

Khatron Ke Khiladi Akshay Kumar

When you launch a new channel in a field already having a number of new channels, you need to have some great programs to draw people. Typically, film stars are seen to get some excitement to the scene (you already have Shahrukh Khan on 'Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain' and Salman Khan on 'Dus Ka Dum'), and so getting a top film star to be the host of a new program is good. Now, when you have a channel launched by a major international media company such as Viacom, funding is less of an issue, and so getting a truly hot star such as Akshay Kumar worked. Combine this with the excitement of a reality show with actual stunts performed by amateurs, some good locations, and female TV / Other stars, and the channel could actually have a winner in terms of attracting viewer attention. Going by the buzz I hear in the office, people are watching this regularly.



The program is based on the reality show 'Fear Factor', the first episode aired on July 21, 2008. The show is based in military style boot camp in South Africa, with settings based on water, buildings, etc (and there are many different challenges such as jumping off a building into a net hung in mid-air, cycling across a ramp high in the air, driving a cycle into glass and fire, climbing a helicopter from a speed boat, eating disgusting things, and so on). The ladies are teamed up with ex-military men, but most of the stunts have to be done by the ladies. If a lady hesitates or does not do the stunt, Akshay has been known to be critical. On the other hand, he does seem to encourage the ladies and even poke cheerful fun at them (or their make companions).
The various contestants are:
Nethra Raghuraman
Anjana Sukhani (Eliminated)
Aditi Govitrikar
Pooja Bedi
Sonali Kulkarni (Eliminated and then brought back)
Yana Gupta (Eliminated and then brought back)
Meghana Naidu (Eliminated, brought back, and then again eliminated)
Anita Hassnandani (Eliminated)
Dipannita Sharma (Eliminated, brought back, and then again eliminated)
Vidya Malvade (Eliminated early, but not brought back since she disappointed by not doing stunts)
Urvashi Sharma
Tupur Chatterjee (Eliminated, brought back, and then again eliminated)
Tapur Chatterjee (Eliminated, brought back, and then again eliminated)

Video of Stunt on Youtube (driving in an obstacle course)



Videos of the episodes:
http://watchkhatronkekhiladi.blogspot.com/, Youtube

Kasam Seh - strange happenings

Most Hindi serials use 2-3 tactics to get rid of their top stars, or to spice up the show. So, the serial could either get characters to do a plastic surgery so that their face is completely changed (helpful when you want to get a new actor in), or they get a good person to suddenly become bad (helpful to give a twist to the story), or they make time fly past and bring in a change of 15-20 years (people change, but otherwise, the house, the cars, everything else looks exactly the same). All of these strategies have been employed in this popular serial from Zee.
Appearing weekdays at 9 PM, the serial tells the story of 3 sisters, Bani, Piya, and Rano; The story though primarily is that of Bani and her life. After the departure of Prachi from the lead role, the serial had to bring in a new face for the lead role of Bani. And so they bring in the plastic surgery for the new face, and give her the name of Pronita. She is out to take revenge against Meera (initially shown to be good, then turned into evil). Meera has ruined the lives of all of Bani's children, and Pronita has to also try and help them out.
So, Pronita gets married to Mr. Walia (why he divorces Meera was not clear), and then has to face a lot of resistance from the other family members including her own kids. And who supports her ? Her old enemy - Jigyasa (very surprising). Right now Meera has got Krishan arrested for drugs smuggling, and Pronita was unable to prevent it.

Banoo Main Teri Dulhann - The past repeating itself

What happened in the previous incarnation of Divya and Amar ? As Vidya and Sagar, they were massively manipulated by Sindoora, who played one against the other and used all the weapons that she had. So, even though Divya knew by that time what Sindoora was upto, she was unable to do anything, and in the end, both Vidya and Sagar lost their lives to Sindoora (she shot both of them).
And then they came back in a rebirth, met again and even got married inspite of the best efforts of Sindoora to stop them. However, their remembrances of their previous life has been sketchy, and they remember things in part. However, if people expected the makers of the serial to bring some relief, then it is difficult. After all, if Sindoora goes, then maybe the whole drama of the serial goes, so the serial stretches on and on. Right now it seems that the serial is exactly doing what was happening earlier. Divya knows the truth, knows the evil nature of Sindoora. However, they have shown Amar to be now totally believing Sindoora, unwilling to listen to any ill spoken of her. He is even willing to believe that Divya may have got married earlier, and is ready to leave Divya because of this.
For many watchers of the serial, it seems like that the same stuff is getting repeated, and that the serial is now getting boring. It's the same shrewdness and evil shown by Sindoora, with Divya trying to fight it, but not fully able to.