Chinna Pappa... crosses 200 mark
Chinna Pappa Periya Paapa’s 200th episode is telecast on Sun TV. The weekly comedy serial telecast on Sundays at 9 pm has Nalini as the mother-in-law(Chinna Paapa) and Devadarshini as the daughter-in-law(Periaya Paapa). Both the women have only one aim in life and that is to acquire wealth and though they are rivals they ensure that they always end up with gain. Their hubbies Pazhani( Vasu Vikram) and Madurae( Vishnu) and Pattabi ( M S Bhaskar) the man for all occassions add to the mirth. Directed by Shakthevel it is produced by Raadan Mediaworks. The serial was revamped in 2001 and ever since it has been a hit.

Jackpot’s special episode
The hundred and fiftieth episode of Jackpot the knowledge based game show on Jaya TV had two teams led by actor Jeyam Ravi and Sibiraj respectively. Playback singers, classical dancers and fashion designers formed part of the team. Kushboo, the anchor was at her bubbly best. Her designer cholis and chirpy mood set the ball going. The young actors seemed to be in awe of the anchorperson.
Later, Kushboo along with the crew and Jaya TV’s top brass cut a cake to symbolize the completion of the 150th episode and promised to celebrate the 300th episode with more grandeur. “Jackpot was conceived three years ago as an infotainment show for the whole family. Kushboo was the natural choice as an anchor. The first three rounds based on the top of mind of recall philosophy consists of questions relating to every day individuals. The highlight of the episode is the challenge round, which is based on general knowledge. The final round has contestants chase a target to win the bumper prize which makes it very exciting as one day cricket” explained Sunil the producer and the brain behind the show.
Kushboo said that everybody predicted that the show would be wound up as fast it began but still it continues and proved the critics wrong. “I was nervous of my Tamil diction but the producers helped me and patronage from the channel head Murali Raman made me forge ahead. I must thank the dress designer who insists that each episode should have a new type of costume and keeps chasing me,” said Kushboo with an impish smile. The show was branded by Arokaya Milk from day one and continues to do so.

Amitabh speaks Tamil
On August 5, Vijay TV launched one of the most awaited show - Kaun Banega Crorepati - 2 in Tamil (Fri - Sun) at 9 pm. KBC2, is back for its second season on weekends — Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The show, which created small screen history is back with a prize booty of Rs 2 crore. The show on Vijay was simultaneously telecast along with STAR Plus. With Chennai coming under the CAS system the Hindi version on STAR Plus is out of reach to the majority of the viewers who do not have the setup box and so Vijay is the only option to view the show. The first episode of the Tamil version had engineering student Abhishek Gaurav in the hot seat, quizzed by a Tamil-speaking Amitabh Bachchan. Gaurav, a student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, played the game with Amitabh Bachchan but the voice was of Tamil actor Nizhalgal Ravi.

Vijay TV, belonging to the STAR Television group, publicized the show as “Nambikkaiku mele double (double what you hope for!)”. Vijay TV officials felt the show which made a grand comeback on millions of Indian TV screens after a five-year hiatus, will create a bigger impact among the Tamil audience this time. Harsh Rohatgi, DGM of Vijay TV remarked, “The show which made television history is back again and this time it’d create a bigger impact among the Tamil audience.” Bachchan is said to have delivered some lines in Tamil himself. “It was very difficult. Narayanan of Seventh Channel wanted me to do it. When we did a test, it seemed easy then. When I sat down for the first three episodes, I realised how difficult it was. Since I am a big fan of Amitabh and used to imitate him in college, I could judge for myself how the voice modulation would be. Instead of mimicking his voice, I have stuck to my voice except for the expressions when I have had to change my voice to sync with his, especially his laugh,” says Nizhalagal Ravi.
The first time Ravi dubbed was for the English film The Lion King. Many advertisers who have dubbed Amitabh’s ads for Tamil television channels are now signing up Ravi to dub for their ad-films.

Aanandam crosses 400 episodes
For a serial to have a long run in the 7 pm slot on any channel is not an easy task. Though all the channels claim that it is a prime time slot, the producers get a lukewarm response from the advertisers since TRPs are very low. An exception has been Aanandam produced by Sathyajothi Thyagarajan and directed by Nithyanandam. Speaking about its success, its creative head Thyagarajan said, “The first and foremost reason is the planning and precise execution of the shoot. We sometimes even used three units on a single day to see that the work was not affected. Our team did a lot of homework before the shooting. Storywriter Devi Bala who also writes the screenplay with Ganga along with dialogue writer Ramadass had a brainstorming session. Since the central character is a war widow we went in to the details about the benefits for them from the government. Another reason is that we listen to the public comments sent to us by mail and this helps us to do some corrections.” Story writer Devi Bala who is the first choice for many a serials felt that the slot is meant only for housewives since working women and men are yet to reach home at that time. The serial deals with Shanthi a war widow who is married to Karthik her dead hubby’s colleague. The entry of the new daughter-in-law with a child creates a storm in the aristocratic and conservative family of Karthik. Abhirami, the eldest daughter-in-law of the family welcomes Shanthi and the kid. In a sudden turn of events a revelation by the servant on his deathbed that Abhirami is not as virtuous as she behaves but is out to destroy the family of RK changes things. Shanthi now has the task of saving the RK family from the evil designs of Abhirami. Actress Sukanya of big screen plays Shanthi, Brinda Dass plays Abhirami, Kamalesh plays Karthik and Delhi Kumar is RK. A single episode, which showed a war operation in which Shanthi’s husband Vijay gets killed by a mine blast, cost the producer Rs 5 lakhs. The serial will go on for 200 episodes said Thyagarajan.