Tracinema's office at Oshiwara, Mumbai once a bustling hive of frenetic activity, now wears an almost deserted look. Men are in a huddle around a blackboard just wiped clean, a telling comment on Tracinema's plight. Once, it showed you salient details of the company's serials that were on air. Now Zee has dumped all Tracinema serials one after another. Which explains why skipper Raman Kumar has a lost and troubled look about him...

For a software house that had as many as seven serials on air simultaneously, and now has none, Tracinema seems to be in trouble...

We're in trouble, big trouble. Problem is, all our serials have gone off air almost together, leaving us with nothing to fall back on. It's taken us quite a while to come to terms with this forced idleness. It was crushing and demoralising at first, I can assure you, the worst time I've ever been through.

You've had to retrench quite a few of your staff in the recent past, haven't you?

That's right. It was the biggest blow for me, to ask several key members of my team to quit, a team I'd trained from scratch into the best talent in town. I didn't have a choice after all my serials went off air one after another.

But everything happens for the best. Each of my staff was snapped up in no time, by other production houses after they quit Tracinema. So I take comfort in the fact that none of them is sitting idle.

Your problems with Zee are said to have begun when Karuna Samtani quit as chief of programming...

On the contrary, I'm on very good terms with both Vijay Jindal, the CEO of the channel and Chandraprakash Dwivedi, who've looked after Zee's programming after Samtani. Jindal in particular, has been very encouraging. But Dwivedi was always very critical of Tara. In fact, in the very first interview after he took over, he said he'd terminate the soap. And he did.

Dwivedi's a creative person himself, so it's hardly surprising that he criticises other people's programmes. He's entitled to his opinions. But I resent the fact that he complained about the serials to the press. As chief of a channel's programming, that was hardly the forum for him to vent his opinions. Nevertheless, I'd hate to be misunderstood. We're still the best of friends and I hold nothing against him.

Your soap, Tara, was largely instrumental in giving Zee an identity. Do you feel cheated now that all your serials have been unceremoniously dumped?

No, I don't think the powers-that-be at Zee had any premeditated plan to crush me. We were notified well in advance about Tara being taken off air. Shatranj wasn't dumped, it stayed to complete its term of 104 episodes. Rahat was taken off, but with the promise that it would be brought back when the time was right. But yes, I was surprised with the way Umeed and Paying Guest were terminated. I found the justification I was given far from satisfying.

Do you think Zee has set a bad precedent in the way it's treated its producers? Wouldn't other producers now be warly of working for the channel fearing that they'd be meted the same treatment.

Like I said, I wasn't victimised or treated shabbily. I have good relations with Zee. If any of our programmes were discontinued, it was Zee's prerogative. Ultimately, they're the producers, and the rest of us are just the workers. They have every right to do what they want to a programme.

You paid the penatly of putting all your eggs into one basket, don't you think?

You're right. But it wasn't quite by design that all my serials were made for Zee. They kept asking me to make more serials for them, and I kept agreeing to do so. In the end I was too busy to even consider making serials for other channels. That's why Home TV is the only other channel I have worked for. I made Cafe 18 for them.

How did you manage to come to terms with all these termination letters in quick succession?

Well I guess, I have a talent for accepting the inevitable. I didn't rave and rant about the injustice, or pull my hair or somebody else's in desperation. I did what I thought was the best thing under the circumstances, concentrate on the work at hand. Fortunately, I have Najayaz, the soap which has been approved by DD. Scripted by Vinta Nanda and directed by me, it stars Raja Bundela, Alok Nath, Navneet Nishan and Kiran Joneja and should be on air soon.

I've Weathered several storms and seen several ups and downs professionally. I remember a time when I had four plays running in theatres, and suddenly, all of them were terminated. There was a similar vacuum after the release of Saath Saath, when no work seemed to come my way, until Shatrughan sinha bailed me out, and asked me to direct his home-production, Raahi. So I guess, I've been around long enough not to let desperation get the better of me now. It also helps that I have no option but to stick to showbiz! I'm too old now for a change of job!

Viewers have often complained that your soaps have been too intense and dramatic, with no lighter, tender moments. Do you think there's no scope for tenderness in a soap?

I guess it's because of my theatre background that the emphasis has been on the dramatic in my soaps. There defintely is scope for tenderness and lighter moments in a soap, although I've dealt with them less often. It's a shortcoming I shall keep in mind from now on.

You're all set to enter feature film production. Was the decision prompted by the recent reversals on the television front?

Yes and no. I do have a lot more time on my hands now than when I had seven serials on air, so I'm in a better position to do justice to a feature film. But I've made five films before this one, and they weren't prompted by reversals on other fronts.

Tell us more about the film.

The film's called Aids, made for the Manila Aids Congress, with script by Vinat Nanda. It's a co-production with the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), partly funded by them and us. Negotiations are on with Jagjit Singh for the music. The rest of the cast and credits are being finalised. It's a commercial film that will be released in theatres too. We hope to start shooting in September at Navi Mumbai and in Mumbai and will complete it in two months time.