|
 Sony's
Celebrity Fame Gurukul also projects tremendous
gusto for life. Hell, these 'celebrities' are no singers.
They aren't even celebrities in the true sense (some
of the guys in the guise of stardom wouldn't be recognized
if they step out on the road). But they've a will
to sound right.
I
loved what the totally atonal Tisca Arora told the
tolerant judges Javed Akhtar and Alka Yagnik. "I
know I sing badly. But I want to sing. So what's wrong
with doing it?" And then on a lighter note she
added, "When I think of the songs in my head
they sound so right. It's only when the words come
out of my mouth that they come out so wrong."
Attagirl! I love that spirit. And Tisca is truly a
proud product of television. I love her work in Zee's
stumbling-doddering political soap Sarkarr…
almost as much as I like Divya Dutta as the sweet
angelic Punjabi kudi in Star's Shanno Ki Shaadi.
****
|
But
yes Zee's Time Bomb is a complete disaster. Last
week the villain (Akaash Deep) tied up the hero (Rajiv Khandelwal)
and administered electric shocks on his bare torso.
And still, Khandelwal registered no perceptible expression.
Some people will never learn. I think he should go back
to Ekta Kapoor's Kahiin To Hoga to play Sujal. Since
the character has a new face Khandelwal can play Sujal in
the flashbacks. That way we get to see less of him…
Not that the new Sujal is any less wooden. Maybe he should
pitch in with the rakish Vivan in Zee's Rabba Ishq Na
Hove. Together the trio can form a wooden almirah.
****
I've
noticed that Sahara's Kohinoor tries to imitate Time
Bomb in format and editing pattern. Guys, the split
screen works on TV for Friends, not for desi thrillers
where the actors squint so hard that they seem to be searching
for the director to tell them what to do next.
Buoyed
by the success of the two music hunts Indian Idol
and Fame Gurukul - the former's winner Abhijeet Sawant's
album Aapka Abhijeet has made him the largest-selling
pop artiste of India, ahead of Abhijeet's idol Sonu Nigam!
- Sony Entertainment has decided to pull off a massive stunt.
"We've
selected 5 contestants from Indian Idol and 5 from
Fame Gurukul, put them together for a stunt called
Dus Ke Dus Le gaye Dil, informs Sony's executive
vice-president Tarun Katial. "Sure, we've no qualms
in admitting it's a stunt. But a very viable stunt, you've
to admit. Everyone is interested in the Idol and
Fame finalists. Look at Abhijeet Sawant and Qazi
Tauqeer. Qazi may not be a fantastic singer. But he's a
star! We're proud to have produced these bright young stars
on these two shows, and now they're going to come together
for a whopping finale of sorts."
The
Dus candidates ready to croon their arts out are
Prajakta Shukre, Aditi Paul, Harish Moyal, Rahul Saxena,
Ravinder Ravi, Arpita Mukherjee, Shamit Tyagi, Arijit Singh,
Mona Bhatt and Anubhav Suman. The show goes on air from
4th November every evening at 8:30 p.m. till 18th November.
Says
Katial, "The idea is to re-package the popular faces
and voices in a new experience. We at Sony are definitely
into reality music contests. Besides Indian Idol 2, which
will be a bi-weekly, we're gearing up for our big game show
Deal Ya No Deal , also a bi-weekly, which goes on
air on 23rd .We're going easy on the soaps… But we
do have a new daily Ek Ladki Anjani Si going on air
from 4th November."
It
features Kanchi Kaul (the flop actress from Kuku Kohli's
WohTera Naam Tha). The show is being produced by
Shrey and Nirja Guleri, thereby lending credence to the
belief that Ekta Kapoor and Sony Entertainment are no longer
bosom buddies.
"I
keep hearing about our fall-out," laughs Katial. "But
there has been none. Ekta and I haven't met for weeks. But
that's because we're both busy and not because we've fallen
out."
Indian Idol 2 returns on 21 November. "Everything
including the judges - Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan
- will be the same. But there will be a huge scaling up
of everything - including the excitement level."
Commenting
on the popularity of Indian Idol, Katial says, "Some
of the contestants from Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma have gone
all the way to the top, and then auditioned for Indian
Idol. The frenzy at the auditions this time is far more
pronounced."
Tisca
and
Rajiv Khandelwal's Pics By: Vicky Ahuja
(The
views expressed here are those of the author and indiantelevision.com
need not necessarily subscribe to the same)
I
must admit that though it's a deviation for the channel, I
immensely like Star One's Nach Baliye, their first
big shot at winning over a sizeable audience. The programme
is done with a great deal of panache . We don't get bored
for even a split second watching these together couples whooping
it up on stage with all they've got. And it isn't as if these
well-known TV couples are great dancers. They just project
that joie de vivre which makes their dancing skills or lack
of it, so endearing and real. 
