Rakhi ka Swayamwar - Decision on the 2nd of August

In my earlier post, I had mentioned that the marriage on Rakhi Ka Swamayamwar would happen on the 2nd of August. Then I read an interview of Rakhi Sawant yesterday that changed my perception. In this interview, doubts that I had about whether the marriage will actually take place were re-confirmed. Rakhi mentioned that she will not actually marry on the 2nd of August, but will take the actual decision on the 2nd of August. In fact, in the interview, Rakhi mentioned many variables such as getting to know her future husband better, spending time to see whether this is the right decision, and so on. Of course, once the show ends, who cares whether Rakhi is doing the correct thing by marrying a person she met only 2 months back.
The next 2 episodes on the show will be more about festivities, about mehendi decorations, and so on; but one is sure, that in this, Rakhi will be able to introduce the level of drama that she is famous for.

Rakhi ka Swayamwar on its last legs - Marriage on Aug 2nd

Finally the spectacle seems to be getting over. There is a lot of speculation that Rakhi will do something to avoid getting married, including declaring in the end that she does not like any of these grooms and does not want to get married to any of them. In addition, it is very much possible that the prospective groom also realizes that some publicity is not enough to actually get married to Rakhi. Anyhow, the serial is in its last few days, with the marriage supposed to happen on the 2nd of August, 2009.
The show started with a huge number of people signing up, and then being whittled down to a field of 10. From these 10, Rakhi would evaluate them on various parameters, including how they walked over hot coals for her, whether they could bear having her name tattoed on their hand. A few of them were obvious publicity seekers, such as this guy called Manmohan who was there till the last 4, but who was probably a bigger drama-seeker than Rakhi. As the number of people reduced, Rakhi also met their families, went to their home towns, had live dates with them, and so on. But you could see her drama everywhere.
Now, it is down to 3, with the hot favorite being Elesh (from Canada, willing to settle down in Mumbai).

Present Contestants are:
Manas Katyal
Chittiz Jain
Elesh Parujanwala

27th July 2009 - Rakhi Ka Swayamvar [Special Epiosde] - Part 1



27th July 2009 - Rakhi Ka Swayamvar [Special Epiosde] - Part 2



27th July 2009 - Rakhi Ka Swayamvar [Special Epiosde] - Part 3

Shweta Tiwari out of Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao

Her wish to live in the jungle did not last for the full 2 months that she had initially signed up for. Shweta Tiwary was missing her daughter, and apparently finding that life in the jungle was not as easy as she thought it would be. There were animals nearby (apparently the unit saw a big snake recently); her experience in the game in the coffin with frogs would not have been too good; she was also critical of the rude behavior of Akash. Eventually, on the show on the 27th of July, she quickly packed her stuff and left after bidding a goodbye to the rest of the team. Even exiting from the jungle is not so easy. She had to walk in water, across another section of the jungle, and then in fast boat till she much have reached some form of civilization.
Another new celebrity entered the jungle at around the same time, and this was the the hot Nigar Khan, who had been deported from India a few years back. She cannot come to India for such a show because of visa problems, but since the show was being held in Malaysia, she could take part in the show over there.

Video of departure of Shweta Tiwary from Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao on 27th July:

Zee TV invites you to wedding in Pavitra Rishta

The first Indian Television Wedding to be attended by the viewers

Mumbai, July 25th 2009 – Sulochana’s search for an ideal son-in-law has come to an end with Manav’s entry in Archana’s life and the two are set to get married on 27th July 2009.
For the first time in the history of Indian Television, a show’s wedding ceremony will be connected directly to the live audiences in the form of a mega on-ground event. The response from its’ viewers has been humongous which is evident from the fact that so far more than 50000 sms have been received in response to the channel’s invitation to all its’ viewers for attending the wedding within a span of 3 days. The show’s ardent fans, who have been wanting to attend the ‘Pavitra Rishta’ wedding will be travelling with their respective families from various parts of country like Pune, Nasik, indore, Delhi, Kanpur, Amritsar, Lucknow, Rajkot to bless the newly weds. The channel has made elaborate arrangements for the guests who have been invited; they will be greeted with utmost care and luxury.
Besides this, hundreds of enthusiasts will be attending this wedding from Mumbai and it’s suburbs. Interestingly, some innovative ways were used to invite them; last Saturday, Savita Prabhune aka ‘Sulochana’ (Archana’s mother in the show), commuted in a local train starting from Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus to Dombivli Station to invite the fellow commuters for the wedding. On a Sunday morning, Sulochana personally visited viewers’ homes in different locations of Mumbai who welcomed her in the traditional Maharashtrian saree with haldi and kumkum and blessed her for the auspicious occasion.
Several devotees from Ganesh temples are also being invited for the wedding; where Sulochana frequently visited to offer prayers for finding a suitable match for Archana. The devotees receive a packet of sweets alongwih the invitation card. The show’s producer, Ekta Kapoor, herself visited Pune’s Dagru Seth Halwai Temple to seek blessings for Archana’s wedding and meet the fans in the city.
Along with heavy on-air promotion on all the Network channels, Radio spots and Print media is being used to publicize the wedding. Promos in Best buses have been bought to invite people to attend Archana’s wedding on air.
Commenting on the same, Nitn Vaidya, COO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. and Business Head, Zee TV, said, “The channel has lived up to its tag line of ‘Har Pal Banaye Ek Naya Rishta’ and established a special bond with the viewers. Archana’s wedding is one of the high-points of the show and we wanted our audiences to feel a part of it. Hence creating an on-ground event of the wedding was the best way to directly connect with our viewers. Besides creating different touch points, we also have made sure that the wedding is done in the authentic Maharashtrian way as Archana and Manav belong to middle class Maharastrian families.”
The wedding will see a huge participation of the Zee TV artists and live performances by the participants of ‘Hero Honda SaRaGaMaPa L’il Champs’ and ‘Lux Dance India Dance’. Every minute detail, right from the layout of the sets to the ushers’ costumes has been done in a classic Maharashtrian way.
The families of Archana and Manav are enjoying this beautiful moment and are busy preparing for the wedding. Celebrations are in full swing, shopping on a high spree, Archana’s elder brother is into sky-scraping preparations; sisters all set to look hoity-toity, parents are more than happy to see all this go so smoothly. May heavens’ choicest blessings shower on this newly wed couple!

Story till date -
‘Pavitra Rishta’ portrays the simple lifestyle and strong cultural values of a typical middle class Marathi family living in Mumbai. The story revolves around the eldest daughter, Archana’s, wedding. At a young age, Archana makes a very important decision in a crisis like situation to take the responsibilities of her siblings and the household chores rather than focusing on her education or career. As Archana approaches a marriageable age, like every other mother, her mother too is determined to find the most eligible and successful bachelor. After Archana’s marriage breaks with Satish, Sulochana is determined to find even a better match for her daughter. In the process she doesn’t realize that the guy mother has settled with a Mechanic and not a mechanical engineer. So what happens to the marriage then?

Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao - Not very exciting

In this age of reality shows all over, Sony Entertainment Television copied another reality show appearing outside (called 'I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!') India, and setup the local equivalent called Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bacha0 (Starting from 13th July, 2009 at 10pm. Mon-Thurs at 10pm & Fri 9pm for 1 hour). The show took 10 celebrities to a jungle in Malaysia, and makes them live there without the usual comforts (and most of them are people who either needed the glamour, or who are without much work). They are forced to do tasks over there that can seem pretty horrible:
- such as being forced to spend minutes in a coffin with water coming in and 60 frogs provide company (Shweta Tiwari)
- having a glass helmet over one's head while different insects and other creepy crawlies (snakes, scorpions) are also in the same helmet (Akash)
- having to break pots to get the stars hidden inside the pots while the pots contain vile animal stuff, and so on
If they complete such tasks successfully, then they earn food.



Every contestant gets a handful of rice and some soyabean for food every three days, which is clearly not enough for survival. Therefore, they must participate in various physically challenging contests and win "food credits" for themselves and their team members. Each day, the team must nominate one participant to play in the day's contest and be the so-called bread-winner for that day.
Audiences can vote for their contestants and people have started getting nominated for eviction, with Chand Fiza Mohammed becoming evicted after losing a contest with Anaida.

Hosts:
Mini Mathur
Yudhishthir Urs aka Yudi

Contestants

Marc Robinson - Fashion Choreographer
Chetan Hansraj - Actor
Akashh Deep Saigal - Actor
Shweta Tiwari - TV Actress
Anaida - Singer
Mona Wasu - TV Actress
Aman Yatan Verma - Actor, Presenter
Palak Kaur Johal - 2nd Runner-Up in Roadies (Hell Down Under)
Fiza Chand Mohammed - Famous Personality in marriage, divorce, re-marriage case (out)
IshQ Bector - Hip-Hop Singer (out)

Video of Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao on Youtube

Iss Jungle se mujhe bachao 16 july - Shweta Tiwari looking cool and sexy



Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao contestants walk out of the show! (A reality show that has been scheduled to last for two months saw 8 of the 10 celebrities on Sony Television's Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao have walked out of the show. It seems this came after Akashdeep Saigal, a contestant on the show, performed a task called 'Fill your Face' where he had to put his face into a jar filled with snakes, meal worms and bugs. When Akashdeep returned to the camp, his face was swollen after being bitten by the bugs. The incident shook the rest of the contestants and eight of them reportedly decided to walk out of the show, and came back only after talking to the contestants)



Marc's confession about Priety



Videos of Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao on Youtube (link)

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus

The story has been going on a strange twist. Imagine an arranged marriage, it would not possible for the boy to have seen the girl and vice-versa with both assuming that this would have been the first time. It could have been that the girl met the boy after seeing some other boys, and in some case, the girl could have approved of a boy, but the match fell through after some time.
However, in the case of the serial, the boy, Naitik finds out that the girl, Akshara had earlier agreed to another boy, who was actually a cousin of Naitik, but the marriage did not happen. He accuses her of having loved the other boy, and has now turned cold towards her. She, in the meantime, has been very distressed at this, and is not sure how to convince him that she loves only him.
In the meantime, preparations for the marriage have been moving at full pace (and the serial has taken many days to show these preparations); and now, the scene is such that he has a bad mood even during the marriage, enough that others can see that there is something wrong. What will happen in the future for this marriage ?

Sach Ka Samna on Star Plus - Face the truth

Sach Ka Saamna is a new show on Star Plus, with the aim of asking real hard questions on national TV to people, who will answer such questions in the hope of making a cool Rs. 1 crore. This show is the Indian version of the international reality show, 'The Moment of Truth (wikipedia)', and revels in asking a huge number of questions that test the person's ability to answer truthfully. The show started on July 15th, and runs on Star Plus weekdays at 10:30 - 11 PM. The show is hosted by Rajiv Khandelwal. The show features a combination of celebrities and normal people, with the first person on the show being Smitha Mithai, followed by actor Yusuf Hussain, and ex-cricketer Vinod Kambli.



The show is literally equivalent to opening up yourself in public. People are put in front of their families and friends and asked whether they have betrayed them, or felt anything for their family, or even more direct questions related to their sexual habits (such as a contestant being asked whether he had sex with a girl younger than his daughter). One shudders to think as to how long this show will go on before questions and outrage in Parliament will force a crackdown.
The show has contestants appearing in front of a polygraph (lie detector machine) and being asked 50 questions. This happens behind the scenes. When the participant appears on the show, they are asked 21 of these questions in increasing order of hardness and as they proceed successfully, the amount they earn increases until they reach the sum of Rs. 1 crore. However, if they answer a question incorrectly (if the polygraph judges the answer to be incorrect), they lose all the money they have earned. They can withdraw before the question is asked.

Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 1



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 2



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 3



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 4



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 5



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 6



View more episodes of the show on Youtube (click here)

Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur - Historical Saga on Sony TV

From time to time, the channels make shows that deal with historical figures, such as serials on Rani Jhansi, Prithviraj Chauhan; as a part of this, there are also shows with a religious fervor such as the serials on Sai Baba. The story of Rani Padmini, and her Jauhar (self sacrifice in a fire) rather than be dishonored by Alauddin Khilji (the Sultan of Delhi) is a part of the history of India, and the tales of her beauty and valor are incredible. So, the serial takes the story of her life (read an article on Wikipedia about her story). The few reactions that I have got from people about the serial (not too many people continue to see the serial after some time) are that they expected more drama, and that the serial seemed to have very colorful costumes, but was lacking in something.



The serial is about the story of Rani Padmini and Prince Ratan Singh of Chittod. King Ratan Singh is already married to Nagmati, but falls in love with Padmini, the daughter of the king of Singhaldweep. He appeals to her parents to let him marry her, even without the permission of his parents, and they finally agree. After some drama where Padmini is kidnapped and then rescued by Ratan Singh, she enters the Chittod royal palace against the wishes of Nagmati, and has to face some rivalry from her.

Cast:

Tejaswini Lonari...Rani Padmini
Rohit Bakshi...King Ratnasen
Mukesh Rishi...Allah-ud-din Khilji

Videos of the serial "Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur"

Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 1



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 2



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 3



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 4

Ladies Special on Sony TV - Story of 4 different ladies

Ladies Special is a show that started fairly recently on Sony TV (premiered on May 25, 2009). It is shown on weekdays, Monday - Thursday at the prime time of 9:30 PM. The name of the serial is based on the train service only for ladies, called 'Ladies Special'. The show takes 4 ladies from different age groups, and covers their daily challenges, problems, accomplishments. It is yet another quest to make a serial that is different from all the family drama that used to dominate serials earlier.
The serial tries to take an unromantic look at life, a theme that was started with Nukkad and has been shown in several other shows; the concept is still relevant if the shows are realistic and do not drag.



The 4 ladies that are the main characters of this show are (details at this link):
1. Neena Gupta (plays Shubha Joshi). Her life gets upset when she realized that her husband (Akash Khurana) had a second wife in Pune, and she decides to leave and move into a separate flat. She had left her job and left the Ladies Special, but now needs to find a job and resume travel on the train.
2. Shilpa Tulaskar (plays Nanda Shinde). Middle aged, mid 30's. Has 2 children, including a daughter in school (15 years old). Her life in the serial is geared towards meeting the challenges in her children's life, as well as forming a wonderful husband-wife pair.
3. Ashita Dhawan (plays Bubbly Chaddha). Is Bubbly like her name, works in a private company as a receptionist, and lives a life based on EMI's and installments. Always boasting about riches she does not have, her life is getting into a trap of money repayments and money problems.
4. Payal Sarkar (plays Pooja Singh). Newly married, Pooja is in the honeymoon like period of early marriage, but her marriage to Harsh Chhaya is slowly revealing that her husband is dominating, and abusive. She slowly gathers the courage to make an independent life.

Videos of Ladies Special on Sony (on Youtube)
Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 1:



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 2



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 3



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 4



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 5

Bhagyavidhaata serial on Colors - The marriage happens again

Bhagyavidhaata reached a critical phase. The Sinha family wants to get rid of their unwanted daughter-in-law, but is afraid of what her brother (the man who wields force and guns) will do, and hence comes to a plan whereby Vinay Sinha will leave the house instead of asking Bindiya to leave the house; the idea being that when their son is not in the house and not traceable, they can ask Bindiya to also go back to her house.
However, this plan is not to be, since Bindiya's brother finds out about this plan, and reaches their house with his men, and starts threatening the Sinha household again, and it is clear that the plan for Vinay to go away has failed. It is now that Vinay takes a decision to finally accept Bindiya (till now he has not accepted her, and humiliates her on every opportunity).
Vinay declares to his family that he will accept Bindiya and marry her again, so that his family will be forced to accept that Bindiya is now the proper daughter-in-law and will have no reason not to accept her anymore; they can no longer look for a way to get rid of her. He asks for both sets of parents to be there, and then marries Bindiya formally.

06 29 09 Bindya slaps Raja Bhaiyya (Video on Youtube):

Na Aana Iss Des Ladoo - Sia is back to be humiliated by Ammaji

Previously, Sia had been trapped in a major plan in which Ammaji's son had tricked her into marriage, and once the marriage had happened, they proved that Sia's character was not good; this helped Ammaji in getting her revenge on Sia, as well as on Sia's father. As part of the revenge on Sia's father, Ammaji got him beaten up, and then got the village panchayat to blacken his face and put him on a donkey.
After all, Sia is shaken, but very defiant. She promises to take revenge, and as part of that, she has to get back to the haveli and take whatever punishment Ammaji delivers onto her. So, you have the sight of Sia falling at Ammaji's feet and asking for mercy. Ammaji of course gloats at this sight, and decides to let Sia into the house while making her work like a servant, including sleep in an outhouse. Her family members are forbidden to have any sympathy for Sia, and Ammaji still keeps on humiliating Sia at every opportunity, remembering the time that Sia stood upto Ammaji's actions. However, it must only be the arrogance that Ammaji has that prevents her from recognizing that Sia was not the type of person to suddenly show such humility, how could she not suspect that Sia is out for revenge.
The serial has also started showing some divisions in Ammaji's family, with her sons resenting the attention shown to one of the sons, and you also got to hear that one of her sons is actually making sure that he is putting some money aside every month in a different bank account, something that Ammaji definitely would not know.
One is pretty sure that the serial would show the humiliation being depicted on Sia for some more time before they can show how Sia can extract her revenge for the humiliation that her family and she has undergone.

India's Got Talent on Colors TV

There are contests on various TV channels, dealing with dance, music, acting, action, stunts, and so on. Some of them could get quite crazy, such as the MTV Roadies, and Splittsvila; now Colors has come up with the Indian adaption of the Got Talent series. The show started on Colors TV on June 27, 2009. The show has been shown as a platform to depict the entire range of talent that people in India have, including such stuff as Music, dance, mimicry, puppetry, magic, anything at all that would enthrall people. The judges for the show are actress Sonali Bendre, Bollywood director Shekhar Kapoor and Veteran actress Kirron Kher. Hosts are Roshni Chopra,Nikhil Chinnappa and Ayushmann Khurana.
Some of the performances do make you wonder as to how people are able to do them, and how long they have been practicing them.

The kind of talent that will be showcased on the show will include:
· Singers
· Musicians
· Magicians
· Dancers
· Folk Acts
· Impressionists
· Stand-up Comics
· Unique Indian Acts, and anything else that will entertain the nation!

The original show debuted in America in June 2006 and since then has successfully completed a couple of seasons. It has been a frontrunner for many television channels in countries including world's major TV markets: the US, Britain, Germany, France and Australia. India will be the first Asian country to showcase this format show

Videos on the official site (link)

Videos of the show on Youtube (click here)

India's Got Talent 4 July Part 1 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 2 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 3 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 4 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 5 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 6 of 6

Balika Vadhu on Colors - Sugna's marriage problems

Sugna seems to be the character used to symbolize many of the problems facing women. She was married off at a young age, and her 'Gauna' (sending off to the groom's (Pratap's) house), an occasion of great celebration and joy, turned dismal when her husband, Pratap was killed by dacoits during the course of a robbery. Her in-laws blamed her for the death of her husband, and as a result, it was quite clear that Sugna could not live in their house; she remained in her parents house, and adapted the lifestyle of a widow (living in a small room, eating simple food, not enjoying life). Soon, it was the presence of Farida Jalal who forced some changes in the way Sugna lived her life, getting her to go back to school, and start enjoying some of the more simple pleasures of life.
And then enters a new character, called Shyam, a young guy, who is actually the son of Madan, a neighbor from the village who has a long standing feud with Kalyani and her sons, and keeps fighting with them over many issues. Shyam likes Sugna and slowly gets more attracted to her (he also saves Jagdish's life once), and eventually proposes to her. Initially Kalyani is not happy over this, but she turns around over a period of time, since it also means that Sugna would get married again. There is a lot of issue about this, since Sugna used to meet Pratap before her Gauna and is pregnant with Pratap's child (even though Sugna was not supposed to have a physical relationship with Pratap before the Gauna, and this pregnancy horrifies Kalyani, given the social problems this would cause).
Eventually, Kalyani agrees for the marriage, and Shyam knows about the pregnancy, and is fine with it. Madanji is not told about the pregnancy since Shyam volunteers to share the information with his father. And soon, it is time for the marriage. However, Kalyani's hopes that the pregnancy would get hidden go for a toss when Sugna is not supposed to do the 7 pheras around the fire because of her pregnancy; and this is when it is realizes that Shyam has not told anyone about this pregnancy. Both his elder uncle and father object vehemently, and make the information (that was supposed to be kept a secret) public. Shyam so far has been not following his father's orders, and sticks to his stand that he has come to marry Sugna and will do so.

BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-1


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-2


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-3


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-4


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-5

Sia to stage a fight back in 'Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo'

Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo is portraying the concept of a village where the women are terrorised, where they have no rights other than to portray the role of mothers who give birth to male children, who are thrown into small locker like rooms if they do show some spirit or some sign of resistance. And the surprising concept was that this entire repression is lead by another lady, Ammaji, a strong willed matriarch who leads this effort to maintain the male dominance. It is she who sends her daughter-in-laws to repression, who gets the female babies killed, who breaks up education campaigns for the women in the village.
And then there was somebody who stood up to her, and this was the daughter, Sia, of the new village doctor. She tried to give the women right to education, and then she fell in love with this guy. At that time, there was a hunch, that something would happen such that Sia would eventually land up in the household of Ammaji, and this is what eventually ends up happening. Even though Sia knew that the person she loved was the son of Ammaji, she eventually gave in to his persuasion (they have portrayed as very stupid, in my opinion), and married him.
And then it happened. As per Ammaji's plan, Ammaji hired somebody to portray as if Sia had a loose character, got her hauled before the Panchayat, got the Panchayat to punish her father (after beating her father up when he came to protest) by blackening his face. Now, Sia must be totally destroyed. And this is where the serial now seems to be showing a fight back. Sia vows to destroy Ammaji's house from inside, by acting like a Durga in her house. Will she manage to live up to this promise ?

Bhagyavidhaata serial on Colors

Serials nowadays are trying to be more socially conscious, a number of them saw how the previously popular saas-bahu serials started losing attention, and then saw how a serial such as Ballika Vadhu that takes a social issue can become very popular, and so a number of serials have jumped onto the same league of having socially active serials. So there are serials dealing with child marriage, dealing with the condition of poor in society, dealing with caste differences, and so on.
So, Colors has very recently launched another serial called, "Sabki Jodi Wohi Banaata… Bhagyavidhaata", and the motif of the serial is about, how in Bihar's lopsided society, the difficulty of getting a poor and average looking girl married off is so difficult that people came up with the idea of getting their girls married off by force, through kidnapping the groom, and under the pressure of force, getting him married to their girl. It is not so however for the girl after that, since her in-laws would not readily accept her (after all, if they were looking for nice dowry, then they would feel cheated, and since it is assumed that the boy's side has an upper hand, getting the boy married by force would not appeal).



And so it is in the case of Bindiya, who is an educated girl with morals and values, but is from a not so well off family, and who is average looking. Her brother, using force, kidnaps a valued boy, and gets her married off to this boy, who is not able to forcefully resist because of the guns all around him. However, since he does not feel any relation to her, and because the rest of his household (except for his elder brother) do not like the situation other, they ill-treat her, making her do all the work in the house. Her elder sister-in-law (the elder bahu of the house), in fact, screams at her all the time and otherwise also makes her do all the work of the house. Even her father is not treated well when he comes to their house. However, what will happen now ? Will she ever get proper treatment from a household that feels that they were forced into doing something ?

Videos of Bhagyavidhata on Youtube

Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 1:


Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 2:


Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 3

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain is a relatively new serial that appears on Star Plus weeknights at 9:30 PM (Monday - Friday). The series started on January 12, 2009, and has been moving relatively slowly; it is full of family drama, being slightly different from the saas-bahu serials of earlier. The serial essentially revolves around 2 Marwari families (both being above middle class, in fact, with the sets and house that they show, the families are rich). The 2 families are the Maheshwari family (to which, the main female character, Akshara, belongs to), and the Singhania family, to which the main male lead, Naitik, belongs to. These 2 characters are a part of an arranged marriage, and the serial displays the goings on in the families, their relations with each other, and the way their emotions move.



Akshara is a traditional girl, who is sweet natured, and who knows her limits. Her parents (in fact, the entire family), is looking for a groom for her, and she is somewhat uncomfortable with the concept of looking for a boy (at least initially), but she does not have too much choice in the matter. To the extent, when she meets Naitik, she is totally tongue-tied, and her family thinks that she had destroyed the marriage. However, Naitik is impressed with her, and decides to move ahead with Akshara (and her family is so happy, that no one bothers to even ask her whether she wants to get married to Naitik).
For the past several months, they have been engaged, and the families are moving towards the marriage date. There is also the tension of different emotions and social customs - whether it be the amount of gifts and presents in the marriage, whether it be the power relations between the 2 families, whether it be that girls should get educated after a marriage, whether the girls or boys can easily meet after an engagement, and so on.
Right now, the 2 households are engaged in some of the mehendi functions, and there is also some tension between Naitik and Akshara since Naitik found out about an earlier engagement that Akshara had with his cousin Rituraj, and is miffed about that, and Akshara feels this; this distance from Naitik is scaring her since she now feels close to Naitik.

Cast:

Hina Khan ... Akshara Vishambhar Nath Maheshwari (the main lead, protagonist)
Karan Mehra ... Naitik Rajshekhar Singhania(Akshara's to-be husband)
Vinita Malik ... Daadi (Akshara's grandmother who is more like a friend to her)
Sanjeev Seth ... Vishambhar Nath Maheshwari (Akshara's father)
Lata Sabharwal ... Rajeshree Maheshwari (Akshara's mother)
Manu Malik ... Omkar Nath Maheshwari(Vishambhar's younger brother, Akshara's uncle)
Neelima Tadepalli ... Sunaina Omkar Nath Maheshwari(Omkar's wife)
Ather Habib ... Shaurya Vishambhar Nath Maheshwari (Akshara's older brother, in love with Varsha, now married to her)
Pooja Joshi ... Varsha Shaurya Maheshwari(Akshara's childhood friend in love with Shaurya, now married to him)
Aman Sharma ... Anshuman (Omkar & Sunaina's son, Shaurya and Akshara's cousin brother)
Amardeep Jha ... Shankari Tai (Udaipur's most famous matchmaker, who knows Maheshwari family for a long time)
Zarina Roshan ... Gopi Daadi (worker at Maheshwari household, but more like a family member, aka Akshara's second grandmother)
Sunita Rajwar ... Dhaniya (another worker at Maheshwari household who is also more like a family member and Akshara's friend)
Bajinder Singh ... Bhola (driver of Maheshwari' family)
Ali Merchant ... Rituraj (Akshara's was-to-be fiance and now Akshara's brother in law)
Sonali Verma ... Gayatri Rajshekhar Singhania (Naitik's mother)


Videos of the serial on YouTube:

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 1st July 09 Part 1


Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 1st July 09 Part 2


Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 1st July 09 Part 3

Rakhi Ka Swayamwar on NDTV Imagine - finally the spectacle started

With a whole host of new reality programs having started on TV, the quest to make something different drives television programming. When you combine this quest with a weird personality such as Rakhi Sawant, who would like nothing better than to create a new sensation, you get the idea of having a Swayamwar for Rakhi. To tell the truth, my stomach turned over when I first saw the TV ads, since I do not particularly like Rakhi. However, I am trying to be objective when I write this, and purely from a reality show basis, the mission of trying to get a girl married off through a reality show is about as exciting as a reality show could be (although I am not convinced that Rakhi will eventually marry the person at the end of the show).
The show asked for people to send in their applications (the show announced that 12,000 people sent in their nominations), and after screening and further review, the list was shortened down to 16 people (view the 16 contestants on this link). The show is being hosted by Ram Kapoor (from Zee TV's Saat Phere), and is being hosted at Fateh Garh Palace, Udaipur. The costumes are splendid. However, when I asked around as to how many people enjoyed the show, majority opinion out of 10 people was that they found the show boring (they found the first day boring), so maybe the excitement will improve as we move onto more episodes.
Each week, the grooms will be put through tasks that will test their personality, character; physical fitness, talent and also their compatibility with Rakhi. Additionally, Rakhi will be joined by a host of her celebrity friends for certain tasks, who will help her make her decision. In keeping with tradition, Rakhi will also visit the homes of the prospective grooms to get to know their families better. All through the series, viewers will help Rakhi decide, by voting for or against the prospective bridegrooms.

Videos of Rakhi Ka Swayamwar:

Raja Hasan to appear on the show on the 2nd of July


Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, 1st July 2009, Part 1


Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, 1st July 2009, Part 2


Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, 1st July 2009, Part 3


Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, 1st July 2009, Part 4


Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, 1st July 2009, Part 5