TELE BUZZ

Vinod Dua’s Chunav Chuanuti ’98
All the TV channnels are gearing up to comment, debate, analyse and cover the ensuing battle of the ballot. If DD has Nalini Singh, STAR has roped in Rajat Sharma, Vir Sanghvi, Tavleen Sing, Karan Thapar and Prannoy Roy, Zee has Manoj Raghuvanshi, and the fast-moving Sony has the savvy Vinod Dua together with Mark Tully, the ex-BBC correspondent for an election update, on Chunav Chunauti ’98. For an in-depth reportage of the general elctions, catch the formidable duo daily on Sony at 10.30 pm between February 4 and 15. Must say the janta this time has a tough job ahead of it — before exercising their franchise and choosing between the candidates, they have to decide on the channel to tune into for the election specials.

Like father like son
Farid Khan, the son of Kader Khan, follows in the footsteps of his father playing a villain in Mr Dhansukh. In this comic serial on DD Metro, Kader Khan doubles up as the father and son. If anything, his antics do have the viewers in splits. Farid plays a baddie, a don at that, in the serial and he has some major confrontation scenes with his talented dad. The rags-to-riches story of Mr Dhansukh has been scripted by Kader Khan himself. Now it remains to be seen whether Khan Jr. can steal the thunder from his dad and establish his own identity.

Sony’s gift
Three hundred and twenty five destitute children belonging to Premdaan and Vatsalya charitable institutions, were in for a real treat when Sony TV decided to take them all on a picnic to Fantasyland. Needless to say, the kids had a whopping time and returned with smiles and memories that they will cherish all their lives. Keep it up Sony!

Bhaskar Ghose Show completes a year
Bureaucrat-turned-anchor Bhaskar Ghose has completed a year of hosting The Bhaskar Ghose Show. This magazine show includes interesting nuggets of info of forthcoming Indians films as well as glimpses new Hollywood releases. He also zeroes in on interesting people from showbiz. It’s not easy to give his show a miss, even though it is telecast as early as 10.30 am on lazy Sunday morns. Just goes to prove the appeal and popularity of the Bong babu’s show.

Now, a serial on film technicians
Finally, the technicians and junior artists connected with films are being acknowledged albeit on the small screen. Titled Nazar Ke Samne, the serial proposes to bring out the contribution of technicians and other artists in making a film. The programme will be anchored by popular tele-actress Sudha Chandran. It’s being directed by Uday Pankaj and produced by Ragesh Kumar Pathak under the banner of Shree Pictures. Music is by Hari Chorasia, photography by Dinesh Thakkar and editing by Rajeev Gupta.

Salman on BPL Oye
After Sanjay Dutt it’s Salman’s turn to be on Ruby’s show this week. Persuasive VJ Ruby Bhatia has cornered the media shy Khan on her countdown show BPL Oye on Channel (V). Salman was her guest on February 2 at 8.30 pm and the episode will be repeated on February 8, at 10.30 am. This special episode was shot away from maddening Mumbai, at the verdant lacation of Salman’s latest venture Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. During this rare media encounter, the romantic hero unwinds and talks of his forthcoming films, the dare-devil stunts for which he risked his life, his fitness regimen, the good ole days when he was a swimming champ and of course, his musical preferences. Salman, it seems, loves the masala-mix segment on the countdown show.

Ms Bhatia does appear to be angling for the brawny hunks. Who’s next on your list Rubs?

Om Namah Shivay completes 52 weeks
Produced by Zuby Kochar and directed by her husband Dheeraj Kumar, the mythological saga of Lord Shiva’s exploits, entitled Om Namah Shivay completes 52 episodes on DD - 1. The serial is aired every Monday, the traditional day of Lord Shiva. It may be recalled that the serial had a unique launch with its music release at Babulnath temple. Interestingly, Zuby herself a Parsi, has immense faith in the powers of Lord Shiva, and she claims that hubby Dheeraj turned to the Shiv faith only under her influence. Be that as it may, the religious commitment of the couple comes across amply through this mythological.

India Business Week scores a double century
UTV’s India Business Week aimed at the corporate viewership has completed a successful run of 200 episodes “IBM marked our foray into news and current affairs. We put this show up within three weeks to match up with the Star TV News team,” reveals Zarina Mehta, Director - United Televison. IBM has had an impressive line-up of suave anchors beginning with Rajiv Mehrotra, Vikas Mathur, Siddharth Bhatia, Bhasker Bhattacharjee and Raveena Kohli. This business magazine commemorated 50 years of India’s Independence with profiles of legendary achievers like JRD Tata, Jamnalal and Kamalnayan Bajaj, Gujarmal Modi, Ramakrishna Dalmia and now they plan to feature living legends like Dhirubhai Ambani, R P Goenka and Keshub Mahindra.

Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali on TVS Sa Re Ga Ma
After the heart-warming ‘senior singers’ and ‘visually impaired’ specials, the TVS Sa Re Ga Ma team has now pulled another feat of sorts by persuading Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali to adjudge one full segement of their show which includes the preliminaries, semi-finals and the finals. “It was our dream to have Ghulam Ali sahab on our show on public demand. When we contacted him in Pakistan he agreed to grace our show with his presence. He’s such a simple and down-to-earth person,” revealed an elated Gajendra Singh, the director of the show. Music as they say, knows no boundaries and Ghulam Ali has proved that beyond any doubt.