Dildaar Remo on Zee TV's Dance India Dance

He might have been named ‘ Gabbar’ for being little stern with the contestants last year, but this Gabbar actually has a heart of gold! Chotu Lohar belongs to a very impoverished family in Jharkhand and earns a meager living by cutting stones in the mines. Last season of DID invoked his passion for dance and he tried to learn the art by watching television. The passion drove him to Kolkata where Chotu left the mentors spell bound with his muscle flexing. “ Aap agar untrained hoke itna achha dance kar sakte ho….toh I wonder under training aap kitna achha perform karoge”, was Remo’s immediate reaction. A teary eyed chotu said, “ Sir, train karne ke liye paise kahan hai….pet bharne ke liye paise nahi hote, dance karne ke liye paise kahan se laoonga..”

Master Remo was so very moved by the boy’s dedication, that he offered a life changing proposition to him. “ main aapko letter deta hoon. aap mere dance academy mein jao aur apna training shuru karo …all free of cost.. aur DID 3 mein wapas aao..”

One word from Geeta ma had changed Sanjay Sinha’s life, we hope this will give a new dimension to Chotu’s life as well.

From US to India… to become the Dancing Star

The final 18 are yet to be selected in the Nation’s much waited dance show Lux Dance India Dance but one girl who is already making headlines is 21 year old Nikitasha Marwah from Washington DC. The first NRI to have reached this far is already touted as one of the strongest contenders of this season. Whoever has seen her perform can’t stop talking about the girl’s agility and versatility. It’s a surprise that inspite of being a gen x girl and being brought up in USA, Nikitasha harbors a keen interest in Indian Classical Dance. This North Indian kudi has trained herself in ‘one of a kind’ and relatively difficult dance forms - Mohoniattam and Kuchipudi, staying in Washington!

The bundle of surprises do not end here. Nikitasha also holds the title of ‘ Miss India Worlwide’. Not only has she become Remo’s pride , but also Geeta and Terence’s darling. They just cannot rave and rant enough about the girl’s professionalism. Says one of the trainers, “ She is an extremely obedient pupil and a gentle human being at the same time. Her dedication and eagerness to learn has really made her popular amongst one and all”.

Don’t miss the upcoming episodes of Lux Dance India Dance to catch Nikitasha’s mindblowing performances.

Zee Dance India Dance: Sisters cross swords for TRPs!

What happens when two sisters participate in two reality shows on competing channels slotted for telecast in the same time slot? It’s a war for TRPs under the same roof!!! Delhi girls Shakti Mohan and Neeti Mohan are sisters who have made it to Zee TV’s Lux Dance India Dance and Star Plus’s Amul Music Ka Maha Muqabla, two high-profile mega-budget reality shows scheduled for telecast in the same weekend primetime slot on the two competing channels. And what’s more … the girls are not exactly unknown. Neeti Mohan first shot to fame with Channel V’s Popstars 2, where she made it to the music band ‘Aasma’ that belted out the catchy pop number “Chandu ke Chacha Ne Chaandi Ke Chamche se…”.
A few years later, as readies herself to impress the judges on Star Plus’s music show, her sister Shakti is all set to dazzle the dance gurus with her moves on Zee TV’s Lux Dance India Dance. If the buzz is anything to go by, the two sisters bear a marked resemblance and are superlative at their respective art forms. So is the rivalry catching up at home? Shakti immediately clarified, “Oh no, not at all. We are extremely close as sisters and nothing matters to us more than each other’s happiness. We hope both the shows do exceedingly well. And that we get noticed for our talent. Just pray for both of us!” So, will it be Neeti who sets the TRP’s soaring for Star Plus or will Shakti prove lucky for Zee TV and dance up a TRP storm for Lux Dance India Dance? Only time will tell … stay tuned!

Big Boss Season 3 - Vindu Dara Singh was the winner

Finally, the third version of Big Boss has now ended. The season this time tried to be more glamorous in terms of stars by bringing in former stars such as Vindu Dara Singh, Poonam Dhillon, but the biggest star to grace the sets was getting Amitabh Bachchan in the form of the presenter. Compared to having previous presenters such as Arshad Warsi and Shilpa Shetty, getting Amitabh was a bigger coup, and would have contribute to raising the profile.
At the same time, it seems like the people in Big Boss are getting encouraged to fight much more to rake up controversy, since some of the fights, especially by Pravesh, and by Kamal Khan were without any reason. And once Kamaal was evicted because of his bad behavior, to bring him back for some time was like doing a provocation. At the same time, apparently Big Boss was also told to be careful about being careful on the amount of skin show, since the skin show was drastically reduced, and there was nobody behaving like Payal Rohatgi from last time.
The various people in this version of Big Boss were:
Ismail Darbar
Sherlyn Chopra
Kamal Rashid Khan
Poonam Dhillon (2nd runners up)
Bhakhtiyaar M Irani
Tanaaz B Irani (first time a husband wife team was included)
Vindu Dara Singh(Winner)
Aditi Govitrikar
Jaya Sawant
Shamita Shetty
Claudia Ciesla
Rohit Verma
Raju Srivastav
Pravesh Rana (runners up)
Vinod Kambli

Bandini - Santo has to take a hard decision

This is now completely ridiculous, how can a person land up in the same problem; looks like the writer of the serial is manufacturing things from thin air. Consider the earlier case, Santo was married to DM, and as a result, Khemi and Hiten could not get married. In the end, Khemi married Arjan, and saved her sister the trouble.
And then, many episodes later, it came out again that Arjan is also DM's son (looks like he has got sons all over the place, and since Moulick was not his own, he just got a replacement). But the same situation all over again, how can Khemi be married to Arjan, since by relation, Arjan is now Santo's son (after all, the son cannot marry his mother's sister). To get around this, DM asks Santo to sit in decision this time. The added complication is that Hiten does not like Arjan, and said that he would not like to live in the same house as Arjan.
However, when Santo gives her decision, she rules against Khemi and Arjan, something that causes all of them, Hiten, Khemi, and Arjan all to criticize her. Khemi even sarcastically calls her the "malkin" (owner of the house). At this, probably for the first time, Dharamraj calls the family and scolds all of them for forgetting what all Santo has done, that she took the right decision, and how can Hiten even think about criticizing her. Arjan however says that he will leave with Khemi, and suddenly, it turns out that Khemi is pregnant, and is advised bed rest. What will happen to Santo's order ?

Aapki Antara: Antara picks up singing

The show from time to time shows the disappointments in the life of a parent, who has autistic children, along with the struggle and the hard work. However, it is also shown that autistic children have certain properties that can surprise their parents and others near them. For example, many autistic children have been known to have very good artistic abilities, and even though they cannot express themselves easily in terms of learning or being able to speak normally, these abilities can surprise.
In this case, Vidya has been feeling depressed, not able to handle Antara, and her needs. She has also been feeling a bit distant from her husband Aditya, and she gets advised by both Aditya and Dr. Vikram to take up singing again, since this used to be her passion, and also because this would be very useful for Antara. She agrees, and starts a concert, but is unable to continue since she breaks. At this time, surprisingly, Antara starts singing and completes the song.

Zee TV - Dance India Dance starts again

In 2008 and parts of 2009, Dance India Dance was a popular program on Zee that allowed normal citizens to show their dance capabilities (and some of them were very good). This was compared to other dance reality shows that allowed stars (from all walks of life, but still well know people) to show their capabilities. Dance India Dance became much more popular as things moved on, with the master judge Mithun Chakraborty adding a nice touch to the whole proceedings.
Now, the show has re-started, and auditions are ongoing from city to city. There are huge crowds ready to audition, with the 3 judges being the ones to decide:
Terence Lewis
Geeta Kapur
Remo D'Souza
The host of the show was and is Jay Bhanushali
The show promises to be as exciting this time as it was last time.

Palkon ki Chaaon Mein - dead or not

Palkon ki Chaaon Mein is a serial that reverts to the traditional older concept of how a widow would be treated, and one is not sure whether the serial makers wanted to play on the concept of emotion and tragedy rather than show something uplifting. The serial started out right with a young orphan girl Suman having been taken in by a family, and then she falling in love with the younger son Karan. And then she realizes that the mother of the family actually wanted to get her married to the elder son Karthik who also has a soft corner for Suman. It takes a fair number of episodes to get the mother to believe in the love story between Karan and Suman, and to convince everybody in the house that this marriage can happen.
However, soon it came about that due to a tragedy, Karan dies and Suman got injured. And that is when the serial started showing all the horrors that a widow faces, including the mother being convinced that Suman was responsible for the death of her son. Only Karthik defends her and is aghast at the treatment of Suman, and at the same time, there is some amount of suspense about whether Karan is still alive or not.

Raaz - Pichle Janam Ka - something different

Reality shows, for many years now, have been the types of serials that bring users to watch the shows. However, people have got a bit bored with the familiar serials that have celebrities coming into song or dance, or those which are essentially the same types of competition. In between, you started getting Roadies and Dadagiri types of serials where the main point of the show was to surprise and humiliate the participants, with the hosts of the show being vicious, sarcastic, and so on. Serials even started bringing in popular film stars to make some difference.
In the midst of all this, comes the reality show called "Raaz - Pichle Janam Ka", that is now airing on NDTV Imagine and which stars the popular Bhojpuri actor "Ravi Kishan" as the host. The concept of the serial is somewhat interesting, that some of the problems that a person has could be based on some of the experiences of their previous birth, based on the popular Indian concept of reincarnation.
So, for example, the first episode took a lady who had a fear of flying, put her on a couch, and then she was taken back to experience the last minutes of her previous life, where she was a sailor who was traveling to New York, and who died in the same plane crash which also killed the renowned scientist Dr. Homi Bhabha in 1966. The concept is that exploring this side can eventual lead to them getting rid of the problem.

Bandini - Dharamraj now faced with another son

Things start to get more like other hindi serial in the latest twists and turns in this serial. Suddenly everybody is locked into equations of relations, and complications. The major issue in this serial is that Santu is the wife of DM, the head of the house, and it is impossible for her sister to marry Hiten since that would make the relations between the sisters as that of mother-in-law and DIL. So, Khemi marries Arjan and not Hiten, and Hiten finally accepts this.
And then there is the controversy about Moulick not being the son of DM, and being the son of Taru instead. DM cannot accept that he has been lied to for so long, and sends Taru off to live with Kanji. Just when these things are starting to settle down, and Moulick's marriage (not to Khemi) is about to happen, things start moving in the direction that Arjan turns out to be DM's long lost son, and then the equation between Santu and Khemi will be the same again.
In the meantime, Arjan is suspicious of Hiten and tries to kill him, and is just saved in the nick of time. DM refuses to believe that Arjan is his son, and asks for conclusive proof that Arjan is indeed his son, something that nobody can provide (nobody has heard of DNA).

Pavitra Rishta - Manav's family spends time in jail

Pavitra Rishta seems to be moving towards a climax. Whenever Manav tries to prove his innocence, things seem to go the other way and his image is further sullied, increasing the distance between him and Archana. Archana also started believing that Manav was responsible for some misdeeds that were blamed on him, and as a result, Manav is further shocked. However, Manav's father and Archana's sister believe in this relationship, and want to try anything to ensure that they get a chance to meet - this includes going to the other party's house to send over invitations for functions, and getting Archana to come over for the opening of Manav's garage.
This time, Manav manages to get proof of Ajit boasting that he was the one who was behind all these activities, and rides off to show this proof (proof was in a recording). However, Ajit's sister Manjusha decides to prevent this from happening, and files a complaint in the police station that Manav and his family commit torture on Archana (and the police take Manav in and beat them up - they do this without verifying the complaint and without even hearing the girl in question). As a result, Manav decides to finally break off all ties with Archana, even though Archana did not do any of this.
In the meantime, Sulochna and Archana's father have decided to get Archana married to Sathish, but Archana opposes this when she hears of this, since she cannot get Manav out of her mind. However, she does not know that Manav and his family are in jail, tortured and beaten up, and no longer so loving of Archana. What will happen next ?

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain - The Mohit story

Trust a serial maker to drag a serial on and on. When the serial planned the marriage between Akshara and Naitik, it seemed like this would be a good time to end the serial. However, you cannot end a serial unless forced to, and hence the serial goes on and on. Nowadays, there are multiple stories that are ongoing;
- Akshara is facing the challenge of integrating with a new household that is more conservative than her own family; already seen when she is forced to always have her pallu over head.
- She is given responsibility of running the house, but the current servants of the house feel that she is demanding accountability for every bit of money spent, and they resent it
- The story of Naitik's friend, Mohit, has started unfolding. His family is in a bad financial position, and his mom nags both him and his father to do something about this. She wants Mohit to work with her brother, but this is not something that Mohit can accept. He is looking for a job, and from behind the scenes, Naitik is trying to help.
- Naitik's sister, who is handicapped, has started liking Mohit, but is unwilling to accept this easily, and snipes back at Akshara when Akshara suggets this
- Most problematic for Akshara, her mother-in-law has mistakenly thought that Akshara was complaining about her, and is now becoming cold.

Perfect Bride - Rumpa is the one

Perfect Bride, on Star Plus, finally reached an end. The show, which featured a number of girls and boys with their parents with the girls and boys steadily getting eliminated, finally came down to 2 girls (Rumpa and Priyanka) and 2 boys (Hitesh and Rajbir). And the couples had already been formed with Rumpa being attached to Hitesh, and Priyanka getting attached to Rajbir.
However, the relationship between Rajbir and Priyanka was not close to being committed since Rajbir's father was not ready to accept this marriage via the show, and in his absence, both Rajbir and his mother were not ready to go ahead with a marriage. But Rajbir had given a commitment to Priyanka that he stated he would honour.
And now the date of the final version of the show, on Sunday 12 December 2009, came up, and the show reached a final 3 hour end-game. Rakhi Sawant was there as one of the main attractions, and here she declared that her engagement with Elesh was over, and was irritating as usual.
3 main things happened on the show:
- Rajbir's father, reached over phone, refused to commit to a marriage now. He apparently does not like all this business about getting married in a hurry, and the intervention of Shekhar Suman did not have any difference. He wants the 2 families to meet and discuss, something very logical.
- Rumpa became the Perfect Bride, beating out Priyanka
- Rumpa and Hitesh also got married

Uttaran - the Thakur goes down, and is now in hospital

Things are really going haywire in the serial Uttaran. After the shock that Tapasya delivered by forcing a switch so that she could get married to Veer, he never got over the shock, to the extent that he decided that he no longer acknowledged Tapasya to be his child, and now only claims that Ichcha was his daughter. However, Damini was able to see that the love for Tapasya was still there with Divya, and she wanted to ensure that Ichcha now stayed out of Veer's life, and she really did not acknowledge that Tapasya made a mistake. In addition, Ichcha herself did not really want to accept that Tapasya had done anything wrong.
With all this, Damini decided that this was the time for her to leave Jogi Thakur's house along with Ichcha, something that shocked both Jogi Thakur and Divya. Nani of course never liked Ichcha and Damini (considering them as servants), and hence was happy that they were leaving. Jogi Thakur however took this as a shock, and had a heart attack just when Ichcha was leaving. At the same time, there was the addition of a new member in Veer's house, his father's younger brother who was back from prison and of whom nobody really wants to talk about.
Tapasya is trying to fit into the house, but she has problems with doing some of the duties that a bride must do, such as some amount of cooking, given that she has not been used to doing such things and considers them not worthy of doing.

Perfect Bride - 2 couples announce their engagement

The Perfect Bride is reaching close to a conclusion; after the drama of the past many weeks, the show on this Sunday, on the 6th of December, 2009, has announced the engagements of the couples - Rajbir and Priyanka; and Hitesh and Rumpa. The day before, Hitest did a major drama by saying that he was not ready for the marriage, since he had been told many things by the mother of Rumpa, and as a result, he was hurt. However, today this was revealed to be just a drama, and that he was interested in committing to Rumpa.
The story of Rajbir and Priyanka is not so easy to resolve, since Rajbir's father is not fully in favor of this marriage, and as a result, his mother (who is there on the show), is unwilling to give her approval. She may like Priyanka, but until his father approves and the family is fine, she will not give her approval; this is something that Priyanka really does not like and she has got into cold wars with Rajbir over this situation.

Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya hi Kijo on Zee TV - Laali runs away

The story is taking a different turn, with a trip to Nepal being the way out for a hunted Laali and Shekhar. For some time now, Laali is being hunted by Ranvijay who has a running fight with his own brother Shekhar. Things reached a peak where Ranvijay plotted to kill Laali by burying her alive, and it was only when Shekhar reached there in the nick of time that he was able to dig out the earth covering Laali and saved her. Eventually, after a confrontation between Shekhar and Ranvijay where Shekhar also threatens his own father, Thakur Loha Singh with a gun, Shekhar leaves the place along with Laali. He also states quite clearly that his father will have to make a choice between his sons, with one unable to give a heir, and the other not willing to give a heir.
Ranvijay follows soon after, and eventually they end up in Laali's village where she meets her family, but Ranvijay is following soon after. Seeing that Laali has already left, he catches Munna (Laali's brother) and threatens to hang him if they don't tell him where Laali has gone. Petrified of the threat to Munna, they tell Ranvijay enough that he leaves Munna. And then they show Laali and Shekhar getting off the jeep and seemingly heading towards Nepal.

Aap ki Antara - Being forced out of school

As the focus in the show has shifted to the children getting a bit older, they are starting to show the challenges that an older Antara is facing. Billu is now pretty smart and confident, able to take on any challenge that he needs. However, things are not so easy for Antara. Abhishek, who was so supportive of Antara when he was a small child, has started to get irritated with this burden and responsibility. He is unable to stomach the ridicule that he faces because of Antara's autism, and gets irritated.
Antara autism had led to her getting involved with terrorists, and this was something strange, given the entire situation. 2 terrorists had used Antara to get past a police check post, and when they were caught later, Antara was also caught. However, she was released due to her autism, and since it would seem obvious that she had no connection with the terrorists.
In the meantime, Antara also got removed from her school, since it would seem that she was unable to pass her class (although she had a good mathematical brain) and her school principal wanted her out of the school, as did her school teacher. Finally, they made her sit in a test, but she was unable to clear the test, and is now at home.

Perfect Bride - trying to do match-making via a reality show

Perfect Bride is a reality show being run on Star Plus on weekdays at 10:30 PM. The show, with 3 glamorous judges in the form of Amrita Rao, Shekhar Suman and Malaika Arora Khan. The show started on September 12, 2009, and follows the hunt of 5 bride-grooms to find their brides. The show started with 10 brides, and are slowly getting eliminated on a weekly basis.
The men have to do various contests (that involve a combination of physical strength and their balance) which will give them the right to stop a bride from getting eliminated. Out of the 5 boys, 2 of them have been eliminated over the course of the program, and we are now left with 3 boys. Further, the girls stay with the mothers of the boys, and have to impress the mothers of the grooms (and very oddly, the mothers of the grooms are also known by the name of their sons, not by their own name).
Every week, a girl is chosen as the bride of the week, and gets a gift hamper. Further, the girl cannot be eliminated by the selected mom of one of the boys, and another girl has to be selected. What used to happen was that the mother who was selected to eliminate a girl would typically eliminate a girl who was not comfortable with her son, increasing the chances that the remaining girls would be more comfortable with their son.
The remaining boys are Hitesh Chauhan, Rajbeer Singh, Vivek Agrawal
The remaining girls are Priyanka Sharma, Gurpreet Kaur Sandhu, Rumpa Roy

Sapna Babul Ka Bidaai, Ranveer in lots of trouble

When everything else seems to be going right for the serial and the characters, then there is a need to add complexities to the story and turn it around. As a part of this, in the serial, when everything seemed to be going fine, you either add some new villainous characters to the scene or change the circumstances, and that is what they have done in Bidaai.
First they added a daadi-bua who does not like Vasu at all and who seeks to play people against one another, and then complicated matters by adding a deadly case. Just when Daadi-Bua seemed to be pushing Ragini and Sadhana against each other by implying that their husbands were being treated distinctly, came a case whereby some hoodlums were troubling Sadhana, and then Ranveer assaulted one of them very severely.
As a result, the hoodlum is very critically injured, and Ranveer is now in jail, and now Sadhana has to either speak the truth and see Ranveer get a long jail term, or she has to lie if she wants to retain her relationships, especially with Ragini. Ranveer is being prosecuted by a lawyer who has not lost a case, and he promises to get a long term for Ranveer.

Balika Vadhu - Finally Gehna delivers a baby

Balika Vadhu always has those scenes of distress and plotting. So, where Kalyani still does not treat Gehna with respect, Gehna cannot forget what Kalyani had told her in terms of threatening her parents and family. As a result, Gehna had decided to stay in the house and give birth to the baby as a way of paying off Dadisa, but as she told her sister-in-law, she would leave after giving the baby. When Vasanth heard this, he was very distressed since he had started to love Gehna, and had treated her with a lot of respect, even listening to whatever she had to stay and paying attention to her.
On the other side, in Shyaam's and Sugna's house, his Tauji, Shyaam's father elder brother could not accept that the first child for the family would be born due to Pratap and not Shyaam, and finally decide to get rid of Sugna's child. This was not something that they could tell to Shyam or Sugna, so they decide to take other steps that would induce the abortion of Sugna's baby while still in her womb.
On a final side, Gehna finally reaches the point where she has to give birth, and is taken to hospital where the doctors give an ultimatum that either her baby or she can be saved. Dadisa of course decides that the child is more important, but Vasanth wants Gehna, and finally this has a happy ending where Gehna and the child (a boy) are saved. Kalyani is thrilled and informs everybody about the child.

Bandini - Dharamraj distances himself from relatives

Bandini has entered a somewhat strange territory. For some time Santo had been keeping the secret of Tarulata, the fact that she earlier married to Kanji Vagela, and that she also had a son Moulick, who was brought up as Dharamraj's son. This was something that his wife, Subhadra was also knowing about, but Dharamraj did not know about this, and was never told.
Just before Anamika came into the picture, claimed to be Subhadra, and was then exposed as being a fraud, Dharamraj had married Santo formally and given her all the rights. However, he comes to see Subhadra's diary, and realizes that a secret is being held from him. He tells Santo that a husband and wife have no secrets, but she is not able to tell him the secret of Taulata's marriage.
And then Dharamraj gets to know. He is shocked beyond measure; telling Tarulata and Santo that he is breaking his relationship with them, scolds and slaps Moulick for not telling him, and then he calls a Pandit to do a prayer since he no longer has Moulick for a son. And then he hands out the punishment to Santu - Santu will stay in the house, but Dharamraj will not acknowledge her or have anything to do with her. Motiben / Tarulata has gone to Kanji's house and moved out of the house, and DM now misses her.

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus - Problems for the lady

Akshara is running into multiple problems on Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hain on Star Plus. A lot of this is just miscommunication and wrong thoughts, and also due to a different level of conservative behavior between the 2 families.
Akshara is from a family where there is less conservatism, where the daughter-in-laws of the house are not supposed to have purdah all the time, and she has got married into a house which is much more conservative. The morals of this house are run by the grandfather, and he is much more conservative. And this is where Akshara has got caught.
She was already lonely when Naitik went to Delhi for some work, but was unable to take Akshara since his grandfather did not see a reason to combine work and pleasure, and thus this was the first time after marriage that Akshara was left at home while Naitik was out of town. And then the incident happened, where Akshara had gone with her brother and sister-in-law out to enjoy, and the grandfather saw her outside, without her pallu over head. He was shocked, and scolded her mother-in-law for not inculcating the proper morals in her, and this was further told to Akshara, increasing the distance between her and the elders in the house.

Na Aana Is Des Ladoo - Jhoomar saves Ammaji, but then ..

Na Aana Is Des Ladoo continues to show how Ammaji gets saved from all possible situations. When the District Magistrate is unable to get Jhoomar from Ammaji for satisfying his lust (a depiction of a DM that angered the Government), he threatens Ammaji with jail for the crime of pocketing all the relief supposed to be given to farmers. Obviously, it is difficult to find farmers who would be willing to give evidence against Ammaji, but the DM uses his own force to convince somebody to do so. Ammaji's men manage to grab this person, but the DM is warned by Ammaji's own angry son about the location of the farmer.
However, in the court case, Ammaji gets a relief when Jhoomar gives evidence against the DM (although why a case of wrongful pocketing of relief could be changed by a character problem), and he goes back triumphantly home. At home however, things get problematic when Jhoomar's potential husband runs away since Jhoomar is now tainted after her testimony. Ammaji is wild, literally seeming crazy, and orders that the groom and his family be found no matter what; and they apparently are able to find the groom finally.

Update on Zee TV's 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa'

Pritam da’s hairy resolution
Pritam Da who was the special judge on SaReGaMaPa Mega Challenge this week has shocked the audience by his resolution for next year. Prtiam Da has had a long association with the show and he made an interesting announcement in the coming episode. He said that the next time he comes on the show, which would be a year later, he would have lost 20 KGs of weight and would also get rid of his long tresses and would be seen clean shaven. The anchors – Manish and Vipul were pulling a fast one on Pritam saying a lot of his fans have requested him to trim his hair. They actually went upto him with scissors and cut a bit of his hair. That’s when Pritam shocked everyone with his announcement. Looks like after Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam is in line of the music directors to try a new look. His long hair, beard and moustache are his signature style and we wonder if anyone would even recognize Pritam without his beard!

SaReGaMaPa gets its new anchors just after a week
Just after the first two episodes of Zee TV's ‘Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Mega Challenge’, the anchors - Archana Jani and Karan Singh were replaced. Manish Paul and Vipul Roy, the pair that has been hosting 'Ghar Ghar Mein' on the channel has been finalised to play the anchors on SaRaGaMaPa Mega Challenge henceforth.

A long journey for Manish and Vipul
Both the anchors are super-excited about their new role.
Vipul who has been long associated with the show, never thought of actually being in front of the camera. He worked with the spotlight (behind the scenes) crew during SaReGaMaPa Challenge 2007. Similarly Manish as a kid, use to imitate Sonu Nigam during the initial episodes of the show. An excited Manish says, “I always wished that I anchored a show someday and do a job as good as Sonu Nigam. Today standing in his place and trying to deliver the same means a lot to me.”

Its MP v/s Gujarat on SaReGaMaPa Mega Challenge
After the maha battle between Maharshtra and UP last week, teams from Gujarat and MP are all geared to take each other on this weekend. The teams delivered excellent performances this week and encouraging their spirits were Pritam da and Sadhana Sargam who couldn’t stop raving about the participants’ talent.

Aap ki Antara - A time shift to slightly older people

Zee TV’s Aap Ki Antara takes a leap along with the change in the time slot
Meet the new Antara, Abhishek and Billu
This would be the last week when the audiences will get to watch the masti and antics of the little kiddos of Aap ki Antara. Yes, the show takes a leap along with the change in the time slot. Earlier telecasted Monday – Friday at 8:30 pm, the show has been shifted to 10:30 pm time band, Monday – Thursday. Sooraj Barjatya’s latest offering ‘yahaan main Ghar Ghar Kheli’ will now be shown at the 8:30pm time band, mon –fri , starting 17th November.
The latest development also comes with a leap. From the coming week (16 November 2009) the audiences will find all the kids- Antara, Abhishek & Billu in their adolescence. The primary traits of all the characters will remain the same except for some behavioral pattern.





Antara’s character will be played by Aaina Mehta. We’ll now find Antara more proactive and tuned to a fixed routine in life. She would switch off all the lights of the house at 10pm because 10pm is her sleeping time. She’ll also trying speaking a few wrds.
Abhishek’s character will be played by Sahil and Billu’s character would be portrayed by Sandeep Upadhyay. We’ll find Abhishek over burdened with responsibilities. Billu on the other hand would turn out to be really sharp and manipulative but in a good way. A good soul by heart but loves to do all kinds of tomfoolery to get ahead in life.

RJs Archana Jani and Karan Singh to host ‘Hero Honda SaReGaMaPa Megachallenge’

Ending the much speculated development on the Anchors of the brand new series- Heor Honda SaReGaMaPa – Megachallenge, Zee TV announces the well known RJs of Mumbai – Karan Singh and Archana Jani as the hosts of their new show. Various names like Shaan, Navjyot Singh Sindhu, Shreyas Talpade, Purab were doing their rounds for this position, while Karan and Archana happened to bag the same. Both of then are equally excited to join the SaReGaMaPa brigade. The previous seasons’ hosts – Dhairya and Afsha had the audiences under their spell and now the new RJs will bring a totally fresh air to the show. With their spontaneity and high energy they would keep audience glues to their seats and make the sets even livelier.

RJ Archana said, “Having entertained viewers for so long only by talking to them, it gives me heejee beeis to finally appear in front of them. Like they loved my voice and allowed me to entertain them, I really hope they like to see me anchoring the legendary show and accept both Karan and me into their homes.”

Zee TV: Dance India Dance is back for Season 2

Hold your breath! Zee TV comes back with another foot tapping season of ‘Dance India Dance’. The much awaited dance reality show on Indian television is all geared to make a comeback soon! The biggest platform for aspiring dancers, will once again open doors for common people who dream of becoming the biggest dancing star. This season will only double up the dance mania and needless to mention the competition quotient as well. The passion with which close to 80 millions viewers in India and many more across in 165 countries were hooked on to the show, made ‘Dance India Dance’ larger than life.

The first season made winner out of 22 year old Salman Khan from Bangalore, who as promised, not only got the ‘Sunehri Taqdeer ki Topi’ but also got the golden opportunity to feature with superstar ‘Salman Khan’ in his latest block-buster movie, ‘Wanted’. This very season came as a breath of fresh air and made popular, the never seen before dance forms, like the famous popping and locking to Bollywood Salsa to old school Jazz, Pasa Doble, Crumping, Tap Dogs to Swing, Aerial acts, Chau, Jari Mari, etc.

With Grandmaster, Mithun Chakravarty, on the hot seat and mentors, Terence, Remo & Geeta, the show gained popularity not only for its supreme talent but also for its unique format.

‘Dance India Dance’ is an amazing opportunity which is coming to discover hidden talent from Delhi. Close to 4000 entries have already been received from the viewers in the city, who are keen to participate in the auditions. Best dancing talent is to be selected from across the nation and their mettle is to be judged on this platform. The eminent jury members will be in the city to identify the Best of the best of Delhi. These winners will then head towards a series of grooming sessions for the ultimate competition in Mumbai and then finally the Numero Uno amongst them would be crowned as ‘India’s best dancer’.

Delhi
Audition Dates:
Sun & Mon, November1st & 2nd, 2009
Time – 9 am to 2pm

Age group –
15 to 30 years

Venue
Ryan International School,
Sector – C, Pocket - 8,
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110070

“Kya Aap Tayyar Hain Apne Big Break Ke Liye”

Uttaran - The shock given by Tapasya

After the 2 children grew up, it soon became clear that the insecurity and hatred that Tapasya felt towards Iccha only grew. This feeling was heavily fostered by her Nani, and her parents were not able to counter this influence. However, what really inflamed the feeling was when it came down to a question of marriage (however, what is really strange in this serial is that these are 2 educated girls, but there is no mention of them working or doing anything like this; all they seem to be interested in is marriage - what a bad example to set to modern women).
Anyhow, when the very eligible Veer from a good family (although very conservative family) comes to see, Tapasya is very happy. However, Veer is able to see how shallow and arrogant Tapasya is, and falls for Iccha, and eventually manages to persuade both sets of families for this marriage (even though Nani and Tapasya are both shocked and try their best to persuade the family against this).
Eventually, as the marriage comes closer, Tapasya gets determined to not let this marriage happens, she wants to marry Veer. Finally, on the day of the marriage, Tapasya blackmails Iccha and Damini by threating to commit suicide, and Iccha cannot stand this (she really loves Tapasya), and finally Veer and Tapasya get married (with Tapasya's face covered). When Veer finds out, he is shocked and rushes to the house to find Iccha.

Bandini - Finally Santo will be marrying Dharamraj, but ..

It took a long time but finally Santo will be the properly recognized wife of Dharamraj Mahiavanshi. There was a lot of drama, when Santo wanted to ensure that her sister, Khemi, and Dharamraj's son Hiten get married to each other. But this would not be possible since Santo was married to Dharamraj (the relations would get terribly complicated - you cannot be a mother-in-law to your own sister). So, Santo and Dharamraj decided to get divorced, something that Santo was not very happy about. However, Dharamraj had always considered that Santo was his 'bandini', forced to marry a much older man, and giving her a divorce would be like releasing her from this burden. However, things did not go like Santo had thought. Khemi decided to get married to somebody else to prevent the breakup of her sister's marriage.
At the same time, there was more drama about Moulick, the younger son of Dharamraj. After a lot of struggle, he got reformed, through the support of his aunt, who in reality was his mother. Moulick finally learns about this, and is initially shocked, but he had always been very close to her, and so accepts her. He is thus not very comfortable with the idea of Santo becoming the dominant bahu of the house, since that would shake the power of his mother.
However, when Santo remonstrated with Dharamraj, he agrees to marry her and give her all the authority of her position, and Santo is very happy. Now, they are getting married, and yet there is a cloud on the horizon, with the serial hinting that a girl called Anamika may be the supposedly dead wife of Dharamraj, Subhadra. Anamika arrives at the house just when the wedding celebrations are taking place.

Li'l Champs finale on Zee TV - a grand occasion

Shreya Ghosal adds another feather to her cap.. agrees to host the Saregamapa L’il Champs Grand Finale Live

The mesmerizing voice that resides in the hearts of millions will don a new avatar. Shreya Ghosal, the songstress who is ruling the charts in Bollywood has agreed to host the Saregamapa L’il Champs Live on ground on 24th October 2009. For the uninitiated, as a child Shreya had won the children's special episode of the Sa Re Ga Ma contest on Zee TV. Back then, the show was hosted by one and only Sonu Nigam. Kalyanji bhai who was a judge on the competition convinced Shreya’s parents to move to Mumbai because he sensed incredible talent in the child. Today Shreya is a name to reckon with worldwide. Even after being the most sought after female voice in the industry, Shreya even today feels indebted to Zee TV and Saregamapa – the show that identified her singing prowess and gave her the platform to rise and shine.

Shreya along with Afsha and Dhairya will anchor the Saregamapa L’il champs Live from Andheri Sports Complex Mumbai. Finally we’ll get to see another side of this versatile singer which is yet unknown to the world.



Saregamapa L’il champs clearly promises to be a dhamaal musical night replete with some dazzling performances. Ankita Lokhande - Archana of Pavitra Rishta is going to dance on “raat ke dhai baje…”. Rubina Dilaik, Radhika od Choti Bahu is going to do some latkas and jhatka’s on the Madhuri Dixit starrer “Aaja Nachle”. Handsome hunk Salman Khan, the Dance India Dance Season 1 winner is all set to set the stage ablaze on the “dhoom medley” and some other breath taking dance numbers. Mentor Abhijeet Bhattacharya will sing “Ladies and Gentleman” and the ultra romantic “ roshni se bhare bhare” from the movie Asoka. Alka Yagnik is going to perform on the award winning “ring ring ringa “ from Slumdog millionaire and “ Choli ke peeche”..

On the same platform, the Saregamapa Mega Challengers are also going to be introduced. Mega Challenge Is the next series of Saregamapa which will succeed L’il Champs from 30th Oct.

Apart from this, the icing on the cake would be of course superstar Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Asin who will grace the occasion with producer Vipul Shah. Salman Khan is touted to do an impromptu act with the kids. He along with Ajay, Asin and Vipul will also felicitate some of the kids.

Balika Vadhu - Bhairav gets to know the reality of Mahavir Singh

Balika Vadhu has explained the mystery of the relationship between Kalyani and Mahavir Singh, and why Kalyani reacts so strongly to any mention of Mahavir Singh. This could also explain why she threw Anandi out of the house when Anandi went to Mahavir Singh for help. This story came out when Bhairav Singh came back from work and found out everything that happened in his absence.
He set out with his wife, Sumitra to find Anandi and her family, only to discover that they had to leave their house (and he heard a lot over there about how they have abandoned Anandi's family). Finally, they found Anandi and her family at Mahavir's Singh (when Vasant had gone with a gun to kill Mahavir Singh (after hearing Kalyani's story about how Mahavir Singh had tried to outrage her modesty after the death of Kalyani's husband)).
Bhairav managed to get Anandi back after a lot of resistance from Anandi's mother (who could not stand their abandonment by the family), and promised Anandi that he will get her parents back from Mahavir Singh as well. Soon, Mahavir Singh also informed Anandi's parents that Anandi was the reason that he was helping them.

Pati Patni Aur Woh - A different kind of reality television

A new kind of show is there on NDTV Imagine, a new reality show where normal couples are taken through a process whereby they are given children to handle for some weeks, along with other tasks (daily routine tasks). They need to earn their own money, they do not have any maids to help them, and face the various issues that having children brings with it.
The couples taking part in this show are:
Debina Bonnerjee and Gurmeet Choudhary (not married, but going around)
Shilpa and Apoorva Agnihotri
Rakhi Sawant and Elesh Parujanwala (who got recently engaged on the show, Rakhee's Swayamwara, and from whom, it seems clear that they will not get married)
Juhi and Sachin Shroff (newly married)
Gaurav Chopra and Mouni Roy

The transitions on this show will be:
First, the women will have to wear a empathy bellies, similar to what pregnant ladies have to bear
Next, they will be given infants and have to take care of them
Then, they will be given toddlers, and have to handle numerous naughty children
Next, they get pre-teens and teenagers, and they need to handle how to handle naturally rebellious children
Elderly, finally these couples will need to handle elderly parent like adults, and learn how to address their needs

Na Aana Is Des Ladoo - the depths of human behaviour

Na Aana Is Des Ladoo on Colors is going through a major social problems. When the local District Magistrate / Collector came to investigate Ammaji over the relief money she had pocketed, one had expected that this would lead to problems to Ammaji. However, it would seem that the makers of the serial had different ideas about the story, something that a lot of people would not expect.
So, in this case, the DM turned out to be one of the worst form of humans, one who is going to use the power of his Government position (and a Collector in a rural area is extremely powerful, since the DM represents the Government in these areas, and also has a lot of influence and power over the police) to fulfil his lust. He threatens Ammaji with jail unless she arranges women for him.
The first night, Ammaji arranges for a woman from the village for him, but that apparently is not enough for him. On the second day, he applies pressure on Ammaji to get one woman from Ammaji's own mansion, something that shocks Ammaji, but she has no way to not fulfil the request. She ensures that none of her daughter-in-laws appears in front of the DM, only the servants of the house (which includes Chandra and Sia). Other members of the house (her sons) are also disgusted by the DM's behaviour, but they still don't have a way of refusing. Finally the DM selects Ghoomar, who lives like a servant in the house, but is actually a daughter of the house.

Balika Vadhu - multiple issues

The story on Balika Vadhu seems to be moving in different directions. On one side, the storyline that deals with Sugna seems to be moving towards a different set of challenges. Earlier, Sugna was very unhappy at being married to Shyaam, since she heavily valued her relationship with Pratap earlier, and was devoted to him. However, slowly she started valuing her relationship with Shyaam, and by now, she considers him her husband. Ever since Shyam went ahead with his marriage with Sugna, he was disowned by his parents, and was living in Kalyani's house. Recently, Shyaam's mother managed a reunion by forcing everybody to accept this relationship and both Shyam and Sugna came back to Shyam's house.
On other side, Anandi was thrown out of the house and forced to go back to her parents house. Her parents are also facing tough times since they took a lot of loans for getting adequate presents to the marriage of Shyaam and Sugna, and this time, Bhairav is not there in the house to manage things (he is out of the house for many days for work). Anandi's parents house and farms are possessed to pay for the loans, and they are facing real tough times.
Jagdish in the meantime has got into bad company again, moving into more of gambling, skipping school, even after having been warned by Bhairav earlier. This time, he lands into real trouble when the police raids the place where he was present, gambling, and he is taken to jail. When he reaches back home, he finds out that Bhairav has just reached back (who was very disappointed at missing Sugna's ceremonious departure), and who is extremely angry at finding out about Jagdish's activities.

Laaliya - WWF Wrestler

Ratan Rajput aka Laali of Zee TV’s ‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo’ is willingly taking up stunt sequences that shocks the unit time and again. Whether it is playing Kabaddi with the men or riding bullock carts or now facing the bull. Must say she is taking acting too seriously. Yesterday Ratan shot a deadly scene with bulls around her. Excited Laali said, “Though the bulls were trained but with the thought of I have to not only stand infront of the Bull but fight with them was pretty scary. You never know when they snap back at you and that too two bulls…My God! I still can’t get over the fact that I did it. Holding their horns and running after them was a lot of deadly fun that too in Saree. Well must say I did a good job (laughingly).”

When contacted the producer, he said, “The scene was shot at Helipad at Film City where most of these scenes are shot. With the current story line something like this had to be planned to take the show to another level and give it a different treatment all together. I am sure you guys have seen men fighting with animals in cinema but when you see Laali wrestling with a bull I am sure viewers will get goose pimples.




Story –
Shekar’s closeness to Laali is making a lot of people jealous. To a surprise his very own blood brother, Ranvijay, is creating hurdles for his younger brother. For the first time Shekhar takes a stand for Laali against Siddheshwari. In turn Siddheshwari joins hands with Ranvijay against Laali.

Ankita, from Pavitra Rishta finally taking a break to go home

Ankita lokhande, Archana of ‘Pavitra Rishta’ has finally managed to get a two-day off from her shooting schedule during Diwali. She plans to visit her home in Indore during this holiday and celebrate Diwali to its fullest. She has already demanded a lot of delicious dishes to be made not just from her Mom but also from her friends and elatives back home. This is the first time that Ankita will be visiting home ever since the launch of the show. She hasn’t been to her hometown ever since she became a star and hence is nervous and excited about their reactions when they meet. Her relatives have planned a grand welcome for Ankita that would start right from the airport. Says an excited Ankita, “This holiday is going to be a special one coz the only time I got a break when I was hospitalized last week. I haven’t got any time for myself and hence getting chutti Diwali time is the best one can ask for. Being Maharashtrian, Diwali is celebrated in a grand way at home and I am also anxious to meet my friends and take their feedback on my show. It would be very different to roam the old known streets after such a long time.”

Ankta’s Raunchy Number
An extremely good dancer, Ankita was recently approached to perform at the grand finale of Zee TV’s ‘SaReGaMaPa L’il Champs’ to be held on October 24th at the Capital. Anikta who readily accepted the offer however, wasn’t very happy about performing on a simple quiet song. Her words, “The storyline of ‘Pavitra Risha’ is already making me cry day and night in the show. Viewers only feel sympathy towards me and they have hardly seen me smiling. I want to show them my other image and want to perform on a crazy wild song.” Giving up to her demand, the channel has now changed her song to ‘Raat Ke Dhai Baaje’ from ‘Kaminey’. What stays to be watched is would Ankita be able to match the Oomph!! factor that Priyanka had created on the silver screen with the song wearing a Maharashtrian Kashti!”

Big Boss 3 on Colors

Colors has a reputation in terms of having snatched the position of the leading Hindi TV Serial, with many different serials, and some of the leading reality serials. After the success of Fear Factor Level 2, the next such major reality show is Big Boss (part 3). And to make sure that the show has the prime attraction features, the show is hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, who will be very different from the previous hosts.
The show has now been on for one week, and this time the show seems destined to have fights right from day 1. The week saw some different types of tasks, and also fighting between the different inmates. The house seems more different from the previous types, and also has a jail this time.
The various members of the show are:

Females:
Sherlyn Chopra,
Aditi Govitrikar,
Tanaz Curim,
Shamita Shetty,
Jaya Sawant(Rakhi Sawant's mother) - now being the first member to be evicted
Poonam Dhillon,
Claudia Clesia (the actress from Marigold)

Males:
Kamal Khan (Deshdrohi fame),
Bakhtiyaar,
Vindoo Dara Singh,
Raju Srivastav,
Ismail Darbar,
Rohit Verma (fashion designer)

Bakhtiyaar and Tanaaz are the first couple to take part in Big Boss.

Bad character on TV - Wife wants him to withdraw

Imagine a villain on TV getting bad vibes in real life. Some of movie world's villains have been excellent people, such as Danny. Yet at the same time, if you do negative roles, there are many people who view you negatively.

Though his performance and character have been receiving rave reviews, Indresh Mallik, the infamous Rajeev Bhalla, of Zee TV’s ‘12/24 Karol Bagh’ is not a very happy man. Reason ironically being the same on-screen character. Indresh plays a negative role in the show, wherein he is addicted to all the bad habits ranging from ‘drinking to visiting brothels’. He even tries to rape his soon-to-be wedded wife, Simmi, in the show. Recently when Indresh, with his wife, visited the Jhandewala temple at the Capital, instead of getting appreciative attention from the passers-by, they threw dirty glances at him and stayed at an arm’s distance. They even, in a very mean way, addressed his wife and enquired on how she manages to stay with such a man. Indresh’s wife who though understands that it’s only his on-screen image that’s driving such reactions from the audience, is not very happy about receiving such feedback at public places. According to her, stepping out of the house has now turned into a bitter experience and she worries that someone on the road will out-of-the-blue start abusing Indresh without any real fault of his. She has been requesting the production house to soon end Indresh’s character in a positive way. Also a very few people know that Indresh actually is a fashion designer who had no acting aspirations till he landed with this offer, one fine day at the producer’s office. Hence his wife tries to reason out that even if he enjoys acting, he need not do such roles henceforth.

The charm & effervescence of B- towns Aladin – ‘Reitesh Deshmukh’ on L’il Champs

For some time now, the concept of Film Stars appearing on TV to promote their movies has been prevalent. Viewers get to see movie stars on their TV sets, and the stars get a chance to promote their movies to many more people.
It’s packed with oriental mystique – not one, but two genies, wicked magicians, gold and jewels galore, a palace that is transported through thin air, a beautiful princes, and a poor boy who gets very lucky indeed. This is the story of Reitesh Deshmukh’s latest movie Aladin which was promoted on L’il Champs this week.
Keeping the same theme in mind, Dhairya had become Dhairuddin and his wish granting genie was Afsha.
So when Dhairya said, “mujhe ice cream chahiye…” two bowls were presented one with ice and the other with moisturizing cream, literally connoting ice and cream. It was one crazy episode with some mind blasting performances and Reitesh adding the much needed zing to the episode.
Hemant Brijwasi’s rendition on the song “saanwre from Bandit Queen” had everybody transported into some other world. Reitesh was literally speechless at such a power packed soulful voice. Abhijeet da gave the best compliment he has ever given to anyone. He gave Hemant the title of ‘Sir’. “aaj se tum mere liye Sir Hemnat ho…”
Reitesh could not stop his feet when the boys teamed up to sing “dekha jo tujhe yaar dil mein baji guitar…”the masti wala song with its tapori lyrics was just idle to make Reitesh leave his chair and attack the floor.

Lara Dutta appeared on the show:
Lara Dutta felt doubly special because she came in an episode which also welcomed the best violinists and piano players of our industry to jam with the kids. The music and the orchestration had Lara totally besotted and awe struck.
If Priyanka Chopra taught Afsha the tricks of the ramp, it was Lara’s turn to tutor her how to do a ‘chiggy wiggy‘ on the stage. It was hilarious to watch Afsha ape Lara.
Shreyasi’s performance on “haan maine chu kar dekha hai…” from the movie Black got her appreciation galore. So was Hemant’s performance which took everybody’s breath away. Seemed like Shreyasi and Hemant are all set to outshine each other at the finale.




The competition is not yet over but the five finalists have already become play back singers. Shreyasi, Hemant, Prateeksha, Yatharth and Swarit all have rendered their voices for the forthcoming movie ‘ Bal Ganesha ‘ – the music release of the same was done on the coveted stage of Saregamapa. Lucky kids to have become playback singers much before the competition is over…

Zee TV’s ‘Aap Ki Antara’ recognized as the ‘Best Serial of the Year’

Sometimes there are shows that get the formula about serving education right. A show that seeks to educate people about a social issue, and does so in a way that people watch the show and do not consider it a boring documentary is important. Zee TV's Aap Ki Antara is an important show that seeks to educate people about autism.
Zee TV’s popular show, ‘Aap Ki Antara’ has been bestowed an honour of being the Best Serial of the Year 2009 by the Varisht Nagrik Kesari Club, a social wing of leading Hindi newspaper, ‘Punjab Kesari’. Impressed by the show’s earnest social cause of spreading awareness about Autism amongst its viewers the channel and the lead character of the show, Zaina Vastani (5 years) were felicitated at a grand event at the Capital. The nominations and the winners were chosen through the readers’ survey conducted by the publication. The grand event was attended by around 2000 people with respected filmmaker Subhash Ghai being the Chief Guest of the evening. Little Zaina was overwhelmed by the appreciation and attention received from the dignitaries and the viewers.



‘Aap Ki Anatra’ is a survival story of an autistic girl Antara. As a part of the show’s telecast the channel has launched a helpline for Autism queries from its viewers. Special videos of real-life parents of autistic kids have been telecast at the end of every episode to make the viewers aware of the symptoms and corrective measures on Autism. These noble initiatives by the channel have garnered a lot of queries and feedback on the show from across the country and abroad. A lot of couples have posted their heart-wrenching stories to the channel. Zee TV has also been partnering with various workshops arranged for parents of the autistic children which can help them cope up with their kids’ behaviour and thereby help them lead a normal life.
Commenting on the same, Ajay Bhalwankar, Programming Head, Zee TV, said, “The show has been awarded due to its path breaking concept and amazing response from the audience. Zee TV has always been the pioneer of raising social issues and creating awareness and so through ‘Aap Ki Antara’ we have aimed to create public awareness about Autism & sensitize the society towards this issue. With such encouraging feedback, the channel has once again lived up to its tag line of ‘Har Pal Banaye Ek Naya Rishta’ and established a special bond with the viewers.”

Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil on Star Plus

Kis Desh Mein Ha Meraa Dil has gone through a lot of turns and twists. The story started out with 2 friends who separate for a long time, but before doing so, promise that they will get their children (Prem and Heer) married to each other. The serial comes on Star Plus on weekdays, and started on March 3, 2008, and has been running successfully ever since.
The two were engaged to each in childhood, but after family misunderstandings, the relation broke off. However, in adulthood, after Prem sees Heer in a wedding, and they decide to marry inspite, with Prem breaking off his engagement. However, just when everything seemed to be fine, and they even had a daughter, the relationship broke off since Heer believed that Prem had committed adultery when he was drunk (even though the audience knows that Prem really did not do anything). They have been separated for 6 years now, and Prem was trying to get Heer back into his life.
Finally, Prem succeeded when Heer also realized that she also loves Prem (even though she was given the job of finding a new wife for Prem). They are now both reconciled, and ready to be married again, with the impediment that Prem's step-mother, Gayathri, being against the relationship and trying to put obstacles in their path. She does not like Heer.

Na Aana Iss Des Ladoo - Internal problems within the family

In the serial about social injustice and crimes against women, Na Aana Is Des Ladoo plays a very significant role. One would not tend to believe that such things happen, but then you read in the paper about the attitudes of Khap Panchayats and their statements and actions, which go unchecked by the police, and then you believe that anything like what is depicted in the show can happen.
In the serial, Ammaji is finally facing some problems. But these are not created by Siya, in fact, if you look closely, Siya has not been able to cause any problems to Ammaji for some time now. All she is trying to do is to play upto Raghav, but that does not seem to be causing any problems. The biggest problems that Ammaji and her sons are facing are on 2 fronts, both internal and external.
Internally, Ammaji's son and bahu had been conspiring all the time against her, by stealing money from the regular accounts in order to prepare a separate fund. Also, given that Ammaji is favoring a new bahu, and also favors Raghav, the sons are a bit jealous. However, eventually Ammaj finds out when a villager claims that he has already repaid the debt by giving it to the son. She gets Raghav to look at all the books, and eventually the deceit is found. Ammaji removes all responsibility, and this only makes the son more mad (in private).
Externally, Ammaji had misappropriated relief funds meant for farmers, and a new Collector wants to find out where the funds went. He already has a confession from the local functionary who was involved, and confronts Ammaji who refuses any guilt.

Sapna Babul Ka Bidaai, reveals the secret

Alekh in Bidaai on Star Plus has always be shown to be in great turmoil. When he was much younger, he had witnessed the death of his grand-father, and that incident had badly shaken him, to the extent that anybody would have mistaken him for a mad man. So, when Sadhana marries him, she spends her time and effort trying to make him better, and a lot of her efforts seem to be succeeding. She does this inspite of the best efforts of her mother-in-law who does not trust anybody else in the case of Alekh, and slowly starts to discover that somebody is deliberately doing actions that seems to worsen Alekh's problems.
Ranbir also starts showing strange behavior, as if he no longer cares for people, and for his brother, but after a confrontation with Sadhana, he reveals that he is doing all this as part of a drama so that he can find out who is trying to scare Alekh, and wreck his life. Together, they try to make Alekh face events of the past so that they can find out who is the one who is doing this. The other family members really don't like this or appreciate it.
And then the episode happens where Alekh remembers all that happens, and surprisingly, accuses Ambika of being behind all this, and also of having killed his grand-father. Ambika finally accepts that she has done all this, and it is her envy of Vasu that caused her to do all this.

Kitani Mohabbat hain - A quick end

Kitani Mohabbat Hain on NDTV Imagine had a relatively quick end, with the last episode being shown on September 25th. For quite some time now, the serial had been showing Arjun in jail, although not showing exactly why he was in jail. His lawyer was also trying to find out the reason as to why he was in jail, but was not getting a good answer right till a few weeks before the end. The scene in jail happens around 2.5 years after he split up with Aarohi, and all the hints earlier were that he had killed somebody with a pistol.
And the reason why he was in jail ? He was in jail, waiting to be hanged for the murder of Aarohi's father on the night of Aarohi's wedding with Karan. Apparently, Arjun was convicted of throwing Aarohi's father off the roof, and was sentenced to be hanged within a short period of 3 years (never mind that with multiple rounds of confirmation needed - upto the Supreme Court, and in India's case, death is only for the rarest of rare cases, he would never have got sentenced to death for such a crime).
He is about to be hanged on the same day as the alleged crime, when Aarohi apparently found a CD that actually shows how the death was an accident and that Arjun was actually trying to save her father. And she managed to go and save Arjun from hanging just when the level is going to get pressed, and everything is fine afterwards.

Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya hi Kijo on Zee TV

Shekhar spends his first day farming with Laali .. Back in the haveli encouraged by Laali , Shekhar enters the fray for the tractor despite being the underdog ..
The entire family has an opinion on Shekhar's entry into the kabaddi match .. gangiya provokes siddheshwari to stop shekhar from palying the match .. Siddeshwari tries using her charms to get Shekhar to quit the match but shekhar doesn’t ..

Before kabaddi match poison again tries to show its effect on shekhar n again shekhar n lali again almost crosses the line with each other when shekhar pushes her back angrily n tells her that all she wants is to get physical with him .. tells her to not to show her face during kabaddi match n insults her .. at one point shekhar gets wounded in kabaddi match n lali on his behalf plays n wins the match

Shree, goes in for a 6 year leap, but evil is still there

The serial takes a 6 year leap! The whole family is happy and united as tehre has been no trace of Kangana for 6 yrs (as that is when the evil child will gain his full powers and finally be able to kill Hari..) It is the eve of the kids bday and we see Rudra (evil child - who is a brat) and Naveli (the devi child- who is sweet and shy).... Nine poor girls are called home so that the family can feed these kids.. (as part of Navratri pooja).... But Rudra does some jadoo and the food becomes super spicy! But naveli with her love and her own powers makes each of teh girls eat the food which then turns sweet... The abhshagun was avoided thanks to naveli... Its been six years and Shree is unsure whether one of her kids is evil or not.. But with the help of Pujari she finds out that one child is indeed evil and is the ansh of kangana -- and will kill hari! To protect the child from gaining his evil powers and to protect the good child as well.. Shree goes to lady who spins magic yarn and makes protective shawls.. She tells Shree that the kids must wear the shawls at 12 (when they turn 6).. only then they will be protected... But naughty Rudra manages to take his and naveli's shawl off.. When Shree goes back to check on them she realises both her kids have disappeared!

Ongoing drama on 12/24 Karol Bagh

The prospect of marriage, that too, between 2 families with different social status can cause a lot of emotions upheavals, demands, and egos, and so it was on 12/24 karol Bagh. Here is an update from previous week.
The Tarnejas have placed a demand putting Anuj in a quandary of getting Simi and Rajeev married one day prior to the already preponed wedding of Anuj and Anita.
Anuj is worried about this since he cannot even speak to his parents about this. Thus he confides about this to Simi , and behaves as if she is the one responsible for everything.
Simi is pained about this and bumps into Abhi in the temple when she goes to pray to save Anuj and Anita’s wedding.
Meanwhile Rajinder has gone to the Tarnejas residence to postpone the roka without knowing their demand. All hell breaks loose when Rajinder discusses his idea with the Tarnejas. The argument augments and Rajinder breaks the marriage proposal of Anuj and Anita. Rajinder bumps into Abhi and they have a cute spat. Abhi tells Anita not to worry as he will do something about it. Anuj and Simi come to know of this news and are dumbstruck. So is Manju. No one has courage to speak to Rajinder on this issue. On the same evening Anita is seen standing at Sethi’s door with her luggage. Manju and Rajinder are shell-shocked.

Two moms on Aap Ki Antara

Reel Mom comes to heal when Real Mom whacks!!!
When 4 years old Raj who plays Abhishek in Zee TV’s Aap Ki Antara was getting serious whacking from his Mom for not doing his homework during the break on the sets, his reel Mom, Prabhleen Sandhu came to his rescue. Raj known for his brattiest ways and prankster nature on the sets, just refused to do his homework and eat ‘ghar ka khaana’ on shoot. When he started stomping and yelling, his Mom couldn’t control her temper and hit him hard on his back. Seeing this Prabhleen who was watching the entire episode came forward and asked Raj’s mom to please not hit him at least when she is around. She took Raj in her arms, promised him an ice-cream once he finishes his food and homework. That’s finally when an inconsolable Raj let Prabhleen feed him. Lucky Raj to be equally loved by both his on & off screen Moms! Prabhleen said, “Both Abhishek and I extremely fond of each other. It also stems from the fact that we both play pranks on everyone and also keep chattering away to glory when we not shooting. I really felt bad when he was being scolded by his Mom and intervened coz I know his Mom wont mind.”

How kids grow up fast nowadays

Antara’s Continuity Fear!
It’s amazing to observe how kids these days are much sharper and professional for their age. 5years old Zaina (Antara) of Zee TV’s Aap Ki Antara doesn’t like it when her co-stars do not come on time on the sets. She hates to wait for the other artists. The real shocker came when Zaina got a boil on her nose last week. Her Mom noticed it just before the shot and suggested that they should go to the doctor to get rid of it. Pat came the reply from Zaina, “Mumma isse nikal nahi sakte, yeh continuity ka hain. Hum kal wala shot hi kar rahe hain, yeh kal wale take mein tha ab isse rakhana hi padega.” Everyone including her mom was taken by this statement coming from a tiny tot.

Commenting on the incident, Zaina’s Mom said, “It’s really surprising to see how she picks up everything that’s discussed around her. She and her twin sister, Ziyah sometimes discuss their shots and its real fun when they practice their dialogues.”

Zee TV's Lil Champs a very watched show

Who’s the bigger star on Indian Television?

‘Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs’ is the undisputed leaders when it comes to audiences’ choice

Mumbai, 23rd September 2009 - In a period where Bollywood superstars like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are reigning the Indian television with their participation on various reality shows, Zee TV’s L’il Champs have found their way to people’s hearts and are the undisputed leaders when it comes to their popularity. The latest TAM data shows that the number of viewers watching the show have far surpassed than those watching other star-studded reality shows on other channels.

According to the TAM data, the show started with the 3.47 million people watching the episodes during the launch which has recently gone up to 4.4 million in the past week. This further validates that the popularity of ‘Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs’ has been soaring ever-since its launch gathering further eyeballs.

In just three months of the launch, Zee TV’s Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs has created stars of the kids who are not more than 14 years old. According to Mr. Nitin Vaidya, COO, ZEEL and Business Head, Zee TV, “it’s the spontaneity, innocence and charm of these kids that have grabbed audiences’ attention and have garnered tremendous love for themselves amongst the viewers. Introducing Afsha and Dhairya (the 6 & 10 years old anchors of the show) was one of the biggest innovations on the show and today both of them along-with the participants have become the topic of discussion in every household today.”

Mr. Vaidya, further added, “We always believed that television is not about popular movie stars but about creating its own stars. It’s particularly overwhelming in the case of L’il Champs as these tiny tots have not only impressed the audiences with their exceptional talent but have become their favorites. To beat film stars’ popularity, in a country where Bollywood is followed as a religion, is a huge achievement by itself.”

Zee Network Celebrates ‘Inquilab Divas’

Zee Network Celebrates ‘Inquilab Divas’ in remembrance of the Legendary Freedom Fighter - Bhagat Singh

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of the great martyr Bhagat Singh, Zee Network proudly evokes a sense of nationalism by celebrating the ‘Inquilab Divas’ on September 27th. Being a responsible Indian TV network, Zee undertakes the initiative to salute our national hero and honor his sacrifice with a view to re-instill the spirit of patriotism amongst its viewers.

Septmeber 27th will see all Zee Network channels with unique elements, celebrating the spirit of patriotism with great enthusiasm. The network would appeal the citizens to wear orange/saffron, offering tribute to the great freedom fighter. The channel would run astons, bugs and promos with this patriotic message. The look and feel of Zee’s websites & channel logos will be designed in sync with the idea. Well-known television and film artists have joined hands in this novel initiative and will be seen appealing to the viewers to pay tribute to Shahid Bhagat Singh. Through various activities & means the message that Zee would send across is -“Bhagat Singh ke iss Janamthihti par Zee Network mana raha hain Inquilab Divas – Aao Pehne Basanti Chola”

Commenting on this initiative, Puneet Goenka, CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, said, “Through our various shows/events and activities, we have always propagated our rich cultural heritage. Even in course of cut-throat competition, we haven’t deviated to programming or messages that would hamper our country’s sentiments. Our Indianness is our biggest strength and we are proud to initiate the ‘Inquilab Divas’ with a view to re-live the patriotic fervor. I truly hope that viewers show the desired respect and enthusiasm in this initiative and together, we strengthen the sense & pride of being an Indian.”

Khatron Ke Khiladi Part 2 / Level 2 - Action continues

This year, the second version of Khatron Ke Khiladi has some great stunts. The show takes place in South Africa with 14 Indian divas (TV actresses, models, etc) along with their selected ordinary male companions. The host for the show that appears on Colors is Akshay Kumar, and the contestants have to undergo a variety of stunts. If the stunt requires only one person, then it is the lady who has to do the stunt, and if the stunt requires 2 people, then it is both who participate. The stunts typically involve activities dealing with water, being up in the air somewhere, animals, etc. As an example, one of the stunts involved being able to withstand octopus in the same helmet as the lady, with water inside the helmet, and the lady has to remove the screws holding the helmet together. The one who did so in the least possible time wins.
Akshay can be encouraging when he feels that the lady is overcoming some internal problems, such as when somebody is afraid of going under water, or afraid of dealing with an animal, or similar problem.
At the same time, Akshay can scold the contestants very thoroughly if he feels that they are not giving their best, and has done so many times. In each show, there are 2 stunts, and Akshay gives one or more of the teams a yellow banner if they are the best in the first stunt, so that they do not have to do the second stunt. The contestants are listed below. Some of them were brought back into the show after being eliminated, and had to go through another contest for this chance.

Shweta Salve
Carol Gracias-Eliminated 6th day (15th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Jesse Randhawa
Shonali Nagrani-Eliminated 1st day (7th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Mandira Bedi - Eliminated 9th day (21st Sept 09)
Rosa Catalano -Eliminated 2nd day (8th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Pia Trivedi-Eliminated 5th day (14th Sept 09)
Bruna Abdalah-Eliminated 3rd day (9th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Sushma Reddy-Eliminated 4th day (10th Sept 09)
Nauheed Cyrusi
Anushka Manchanda
Rupali Ganguly-Eliminated 7th day (16th Sept 09)
Sonika Kaliraman

Video of one of the shows:

22nd September 2009 - Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi Level 2 (link)



Watch more videos at this link.

Zee TV - Shree found it difficult to get a pair of newborn kids

The serial Shree, in which Shree tries to save her husband from her rival, Kangana's ghost faced a unique situation recently. The show reached a stage where Shree was to give birth to twins, a boy and girl, one of which will be approached by Kangana and will grow up like the devil, eventually to kill his own father, Hari.
Now, the problem was that the show needed to get a pair of newborns for the show, so that they play the role of the characters. However, when prospective parents got to know about the supposed role of the children, none of them were willing to have their children play such a role.
It was then the Senior Producer, Ravi Sharma, who recently had twins, agreed to let his children be in the show to play this role. At the same time, there was another problem. Pankaj, who plays Hari, was very hesitant to play the role of a father since he felt he was too young to play such a role. This feeling of uneasiness is likely to go up once the show takes a 6 year gap.





Finally, the show gets 4 eunuchs on the show, who come to give advice to Shree about taking care of her children, since the sign of the devil is over her children, and one of them could be dangerous for her husband, Hari. The main characters of the show were nervous, since they had never been so close to eunuchs before.

Zee Tv - Lil Champs host has a twin

Afsha Musani now has a competition.
Her Identical named Laado is often asked the obvious question

Afsha Musani now has a competition. Her Identical named Laado is often asked the obvious question “tum kya Afsha ho?”. Laado is from Gorakhpur and looks pretty similar to Afsha. Thanks to Afsha, even she has become pretty famous due to her uncanny resemblance to Afsha. When she made an appearance in the episode, Abhijeet da and Dhairya nearly fainted. “ ek Afsha kam thi kya, ki abhi do do Afsha leke aa gaye…”.

Real Afsha was l’il worried though. “ ye kya ho raha hai… ye Afsha nahi hai… main Afsha hoon “

But the bak bak machine Afsha Musani is really one piece on this earth and no one can match her histrionics! God just made one mould and broke it!
We wish goodluck to Laado as well for piggybacking on Afsha’s success.

Zee TV - Dance India Dance winner Salman on L'il Champs

SALMAN KHAN – the DID Season 1 winner shakes a leg on the singing platform

Salman Khan the DID season 1 winner makes an appearance in Saregamapa L’il Champs to promote his video in the movie ‘Wanted’ which he shot with superstar Salman Khan. The movie is releasing this Friday 18th September and Salman is anxious as this video might be his stepping stone towards the filmdom.

Salman came and spoke about his video and his experience with superstar Salman and the dancing genius Prabhu Deva who is the director of the movie.
He also announced the come back of Dance India Dance Season 2 and taught little Afsha and Dhairya how to shake a leg and groove that thing…





The viewers also are waiting with bated breath for DID season 2 - a frenzy that caught the Nation wild and tempted the audiences to put on their dancing shoes.

Zee Lil champs - Abhijeet and Bappi Da Make up

After 3 long years, the two bong rivals finally kiss and make up on the coveted stage of Saregamapa L’il Champs

The atmosphere was buzzing with electrifying music of yesteryears. The foot tapping tunes of ‘Jawani Janeman’ and ‘ yaad aa raha hai tera pyaar’. Bappi da, the original Disco King quite surprisingly agreed to share the stage with his one time arch rival Abhijeet Bhattacharya. The ardent viewers of Saregamapa would remember that three years back on the very same stage of l’il champs Abhijeet da and Bappi da had a major tussle about one contestant called Diwakar Sharma.
For the uninitiated, Diwakar was a blind child for whom Bappi da had a big soft corner. He used to appeal to people to vote for him as he was an exceptional child. Whereas, Abhijeet da’s favourite was Sanchita who ultimately went on to win the crown. Abhijeet da was dead against Bappi da’s extra fondness for Diwakar. He pleaded people not to get carried away with biases and vote for the best voice.
This led to huge hostilities between the two; so much so that both started abusing each other in public. It was also rumored that Bappa Lahiri ( bappi da’s son ) had gone up to the extent of hiring goons and threatening Abhijeet da with dire consequences.



After years of back lashing and back biting, finally both the musicians decided to bury the hatchet and start afresh. All this was possible thanks to L’il Champs.
Bappi da had some fond memories of the past and he was all gung ho about the current one as well. He announced, “ I’ll give one my gold chains to the best singer of the day”. And the winner was none other than Hemant Brijwasi from Mathura who wooed the disco king with the song yaar bina chain kahan re…” Bappi da was so very impressed with the little one’s tonal quality that he adjudged him as the best singer of the day and gave him one of his gold chains.

Abhijeet the gave Bappi da a bouquet of white flowers to make amends and Bappi da accepted it quite graciously. Both of them praised each other for their contribution to the music industry and their body of work..

What shall we say, all’s well that ends well..!