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Asked, whether his former employer, Zee Telefilms, is likely to
raise objections over India TV using a name of the programme that
Zee had claimed to own the copyrights of, a confident Sharma said,
"I don't think either Zee or its promoter, Subhash Chandra,
would stoop to such levels. The matter has been sorted out."
So protective is Sharma about his first TV love that he even refused
pictures to be taken of the in-the-making brand new set of the Adalat
show. For record's sake, the new set is being designed by filmdom's
maverick set designer, Nitin Desai, in a studio complex where even
the lighting arrangements are computerised.
Sharma owes most of his claim to fame to Aap Ki Adalat,
which had a successful run on Zee News --- till Sharma and Zee fell
apart after almost five years of association in the late 1990s.
But if Sharma's love is blooming --- "I have always wanted
to start a news channel that would fight for the common man's interest,"
says he --- his wife and business partner, Ritu Dhawan, is waiting
for her turn under the sun.
A self-confessed low-profile person, Dhawan's dream is to start
an entertainment channel, which is next in line after India TV.
Pointing out that though for the moment India TV is the passion
for both, Sharma admitted, "I have promised her an entertainment
channel and she'd have one." So, if NDTV, TV Today Network
and Times TV are all thinking of having a number of channels in
their respective stables, so is India TV.
"The concept for the entertainment channel that I have is
different and, in all probability, work on it should start sometime
next year," Dhawan said.
The duo can afford to think big. After all, they are owners of one
of the most swanky studio complexes not only in the country, but
in the whole of Asia. Built on an area of 80,000 sq ft. the campus
has four studios, all designed to air live programming simultaneously.
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