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.