JANUARY 2001

DD rejects ‘Knockout’ : "We cannot air any programme which has an element of chance in it. The proposed game show had some elements of gambling and we could not allow that to be shown. Being a public broadcaster we have certain responsibilities towards our viewers." - Rajiv Ratan Shah, CEO, Prasar Bharati. Scheduled to be telecast from January 28, anchored by Kabir Bedi.

"What’s attractive about ‘Anupama’ is the feminine gaze. In Hindi cinema, the gaze has been predominantly male and that has to change." - Shabana Azmi on her new TV serial Anupama on B4U TV, directed by Arun Frank.

Other Articles

Soaps & Makeovers

Shobha De’s ‘Sukanya’ on B4U TV makes waves after she wrote the Mahesh Bhatt directed hit serial Swabhimaan.

Chakravarty, the legend from Telugu cinema is not only a music composer, he is also a writer, lyricist, actor and a dubbing artiste (has dubbed in 600 odd films), now makes a debut in Balaji Telefilms’ Telugu mega serial ‘Kalisundamraa’, a remake of ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’.

FEBRUARY 2001

KSBKT replaces KBC for the top spot as per the latest INTAM reports. Mihir ’died’ in KSBKT, but the viewers resurrected him.

Ace police officer Kiran Bedi makes her acting debut in a short film ‘The Real Salute’, which was telecast on DD 1.

SET and Govinda challenge Star Plus and KBC with eto Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke. JCPK scores over KBC in the first two days as per the INTAM reports.

Anil Baijal takes over Prasar Bharati as the new CEO, from Rajiv Ratan Shah.

Rajesh Khanna scores a hat-trick with Karmakshetra, after having acted in serials like Ittefaq and Apne Paraye.

FTV, the fashion television from France created a furore with its content in India.

Sahara TV ties up with Mondo TV for children’s programming. Set to complete one year on March 28, 2001. To commemorate the first anniversary, Sahara TV is launching six new serials from February to April 2001. Maria, Bhago Bhoot Aaya, Haqeeqat, Daaman, Father Uncle and Draupadi.

Bhakti Barve Inamdar’s death creates a void, epically in the Marathi serial Gharkul.

MARCH 2001

Anil Baijal, CEO, Prasar Bharati, elected as President of Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Anil Baijal is the third President of IBF. Earlier presidents being R Basu (1999) and RR Shah (1999-2001). The IBF founded in 1999, is the largest Indian organisation of television broadcasters.

Cinematographer Ashok Naidu crosses the 1000 mark on the small screen. He works for 20 hours a day.

Aaj Tak overtakes Zee in prime time viewership according to latest TAM report.

The KBC - JCPK war hots up. With KBC’s TRPs falling, Star decides to cut down telecast to thrice a week, to keep the interest with the audience. They of course ascribe the cut down to the licensing agreements, etc.

Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye and Your Honour, two new serials hit Sony.

Kashir Channel failed to have any impact on the people of Kashmir and it has deviated too far from its original aims and objectives. Kashir Channel of Doordarshan was launched in January 2000.

Soni Razdan launches her second serial titled Hamare Tumare starring Pallavi Joshi and Nandita Puri.

APRIL 2001

Riz Khan, the popular news presenter and anchor quits CNN after a seven year stint.

SABe TV completes one year as an independent general entertainment channel.

Sony bags telecast rights of all Yash Chopra movies for Rs 15 crore.

Channel V veejay Asha Gill, who hosts the Billboard Countdown was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, dated April 23, 2001.

MAY 2001

Junior KBC commences telecast from May 6, 2001.

Deepak Shourie takes over as Managing Director at Discovery India. Shourie replaces Kiran Karnik.

Ashutosh Rana to host Zee’s new game show titled Baazi Kiski, after the debacle of Sawaal Dus Crore Ka.

Star India introduces four new serials - Ji Mantriji, Kahin Kissi Roz, KBC Junior and Sanskruti. Apart from celebrating the success of KBC, Star also introduced the first crorepati couple from Rourkela, Orissa.

Balaji Telefilms and HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India call off their proposed merger.

The National Broadcaster has finally approved the long pending proposal of screening French Films on DD2.

Rahen Na Rahein Hum opens to a great response. Javed Akhtar hosts the show on Star Gold about unforgettable old classics.

JUNE 2001

Star Plus’ Ji Mantriji emerges at the top among new serials.

Gautam Chatterjee, Uttam Kumar’s son makes his debut in Bengali tele-serial Khelaghar.

Bengal scores at the Close-Up Antakshari National Challenge, beating Punjab and Maharastra in the final, held in Mumbai.

Shekar Suman, quits Movers & Shakers presumably for a second innings on the big screen. Shekar Suman became famous after the show started in 1998.

Nine Gold emerged the winners in different categories bagging three RAPA awards for Best TV Programme (Superstars), Best Telefilm Direction (Mr Mehman) for Saurabh Shukla and Best TV Title Song (Alag Alag).

Amanat completes 200 episodes and remains still at the top.

Sahara TV makes a mark. They launch Anuradha Prasad’s Haqeeqat on true life incidents about atrocities, which changes TV viewing. Mahesh Bhatt anchors the show. And the golden girl Helen, makes her debut on the small screen with Kushan Nandy’s serial Do Lafzo Ki Kahani.

No takers for DD Metro prime time slots.

JULY 2001

AXN’s Jungle queen Sheena, Gena Lee Nolin, storms India on promotional tour, for the serial of the same name.

First ever television awards were held by indiantelevision.com. STAR TV won nine of the fifteen awards at the Indian Telly Awards held in Mumbai.

B4U wins Asian Television Awards at Singapore among stiff competition from 13 different countries.

Zee TV gears up for the change in channel’s image and programming. Zee to spend 160 crores for revamping.

Boogie Woogie completes five uninterrupted years of telecast.

Rati Agnihotri makes her debut on the small screen with Anant Mahadevan’s Kabhi To Milenge.

Smita Thackeray launches Khel with great fanfare.

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh launches Indian Television Academy, the industry’s first professional guild.

AUGUST 2001

Bhushan Kumar unhappy with MTV VMA nominations.

Star India and HMV enter into a joint partnership to release cassettes and CDs of old movie songs.

Kya Masti Kya Dhuum anchored by Sonali Bendre starts on Friday night on Star along with Khulja Sim Sim to be anchored by Aman Verma.

Asha Parekh’s Kangan starts on Star Plus, starring Kartikadevi Rane and Paritosh.

STAR acquires cent per cent stake in indya.com

Zee ropes in Shekar Suman for the game show titled Niilamghar.

Zee-Sony join hands for telecast in Australia and New Zealand.

SEPTEMBER 2001

Shubh Vivaah, the reality show on Sony to be hosted by beautiful Madhuri Dixit Nene gets into unnecessary litigation and is kept on a hold. The show was believed to be India’s first reality show.

The TRP fiasco shakes the industry and nation. The TRP scandal was unearthed by CNN.

Aap Jo Bolein Haan To Haan, Aap Jo Bolein Naa To Naa logs 50,000 calls on day one. The show is India’s first ever audience interactive show, claims Zee TV.

Dollar Bahu unit stranded in NY during WTC attack.

Niki Aneja is back once again after her fatal accident during a shoot, fully recovered.

Anuradha Prasad’s Haqeeqat gains impressive TRPs.

Shaktimaan gets millions of fan mail from all over the nation making Mukesh Khanna, a real super-hero.

TV Today looks at India’s 25 Incredible years in Aaj Tak.

Channel Nine closes down and sells software to Star.

Super Selector hosted by Naseeruddin Shah s launched by ESPN Sports. The response is tremendous and overwhelming.

News channels rule TRPs after the WTC attack on September 11.

OCTOBER 2001

Junior G a children’s programme secures fifteenth position in all channels, allover India in the top 50 programmes.

Smita Thackeray elected IMPAA President.

Rekha Nigam quits Sony for a career in film writing.

Space scientist U.R. Rao takes over as Chairman of Prasar Bharti.

Sanskruti celebrates its uninterrupted run of 100 episodes on Star Plus.

Ajai Sinha quits Dollar Bahu. The controversy surrounds Sinha’s relationship with the NRI producer Sunil Hali. He directed the serial for 22 episodes. Ravi Keemu takes over from Ajai Sinha, to direct Sunil Hali’s Dollar Bahu from the 23rd episode.

Sony Entertainment is all set for restructuring its business. Sony gets a new face with Kacon Sethi leading the designing and creative team.

Sarhadein takes viewers by surprise with its plot of a Pakistani boy in love with an Indian girl, on Zee. Patriotism takes over from saas-bahu soaps. Aroona Irani’s Des Mein Nikala hoga Chand too speaks about one’s love towards his own country.

NOVEMBER 2001

UTV produced Hard Talk and Shakalaka Boom Boom get Asian Television Awards nominations.

Aaj Tak’s 25 Incredible Years notches up millions of viewers.

ASIANET, the first regional satellite channel turns to film production.

Band Of Brothers takes Indian viewers by storm. Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise produced war television mini-series is considered to be the costliest television production serial, estimated at a whopping budget of US $ 120 million. The serial hits HBO channel.

Ekta Kapoor, the most successful lady with maximum hit serials on various channels, is the producer No 1, for the year 2001.

TAM & INTAM to merge as single entity after the TRP fiasco shook the industry and the nation.

Ravi Chopra’s Ma Shakti wins the award for ‘Best Digital Visual Effects Tele-serial’ at Broadcast India 2001.

Amit Walinjkar from Navi Mumbai becomes the first ever Super Selector in ESPN’s Super Selector, a special sports interactive competition.

Anuradha Prasad’s Haqeeqat becomes the channel driver for Sahara TV, the channel, after its unexpected success.

This month marks children’s day and yet, children based show are still not a hot proposition for the channels.

Ayesha Jhulka, the Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar girl makes her TV debut with the serial Tum Bin.

Temptation Island makes it to the small screens in India on STAR World, amidst controversy at various levels with the ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

Hero Honda ITA awards gets a tumultuous response from the industry. the Indian Television Academy honours television professionals in various categories. Hum Log, Buniyaad, Ramayan, Mahabharat, 1983 Cricket World Cup, Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Karamchand, Surabhi and Tara get "Milestone Awards " for breaking the norms of tele-viewing and setting a new trend in the industry.

DECEMBER 2001

Jannat, the Muslim based serial which got good response from viewers on DD 2, arrives on Star Plus, to the viewers delight.

HBO tops TV Asia’s survey, as the No 1 and most watched channel beating all the other satellite channels.

BBC’s The Weakest Link debuts in Hindi for Indian audience as Kamjor Kadi Kaun, anchored by Neena Gupta.

Zee TV takes to Jai Santoshi Maa and Mahabharat on Fridays.

— Compiled by Johny D