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Love
thy neighbour... never been so popular
The
New Year started on a bright note with optimistic reports of across-the-border
bonding. When the first batch of Pakistani passengers landed from
Lahore, NDTV was there to capture the ….er, festive mood. Not
that anyone looked overjoyed. But yes, one lady did come forward
to say that she had waited very long for this.
Heartfelt: Baby Noor with her mother |
That,
I guess, is the least she could say, considering the historic circumstances.
The Aaj Tak correspondent who had flown down to Lahore, took us
to Noor's residence. Do you remember our little star-guest who got
a heart operation done in Bangalore last year? Aaj Tak took us into
the heart of Noor's existence. We were told she has become quite
a celebrity in her country , with strangers sending her gifts from
all over the world….cut to a mechanical car dancing in Noor's
livingroom.
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How
times change: Pawan Malhotra and Kanwaljeet |
What's
up!: Fame has a strange way of catching up with people. Just
when we win some, we lose some too. Take for instance, the case
of gifted actor Kanwaljeet. He started off his career on the large
screen. In spite of capable performances in films like Kamal Amrohi's
Shankar Husain, Ketan Anand's Shart and Gulzar's Maachis
his career stalled. So he did what all failed actors do. He
proceeded to television where he made quite a name for himself in
Neena Gupta's Saans and the far less successful Sisski
on Star Plus. Kanwaljeet also clicked with comedy in Sony's Family
No.1.
As
late as two months ago he made a lasting impression on Zee's inconsistently
watchable Kabhie Kabhie, as a widower who remarries for his
children's sake. But now I was horrified to see him on Doordarshan
in a sitcom entitled Khushiyan. The only happiness it brought
was the end-titles. But for that we had to wait for a good 25 minutes
watching poor Kanwaljeet squirm as a cast of unknowns tried to be
funny and ended up looking phoney.
What was he doing in the atrocious set-up? Have satellite television's
pioneering achievers like Shekhar Suman, Renuka Shahane, Pavan Malhotra
(seen even now giving a brilliant performance as Karisma Kapoor's
right-hand man in Sahara's well-intended though yet to find its
niche- Karishma: The Miracles Of Destiny) and Kanwaljeet
come to a deadend?
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Moving out of sibling's shadow: Faizal
Khan |
Faizal's
'tele'act: A new set of wannashines from the large screen
have come to television. Aamir Khan's brother Faizal failed
to make an impact in an author-backed role in Dharmesh Darshan's
film Mela. He's now trying his luck on television.
On
New Year's eve Faizal was one of Rakshanda Khan's "star
guests" on Zee. Faizal shook hands with a well-known
numerologist on the show. "I've heard a lot about you,"
he smiled politely. "And I've seen a lot of you,"
replied the man with the numbers.
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Trying
to look confident Faizal told his hostess that he had decided
to "broaden his horizons…and not just look for lead
roles." That meant Faizal is willing to do television.
Weepy
saga's rule the rooster?: One of Faizal's horizon-broadening
moves is Zee's melodramatic Aandhi where he plays the sympathetic
shoulder to the miserably married Simone Singh.(She's in a bad
marriage again, after Henna, talk about typecasting!).
Last week he lay in hospital in a "critical condition"
(that's what we were told by the doctors) as Ms Singh (in action)
bid him and her sasural, including her child, a fond farewell.
"What
kind of a mother would do that?" bitched the Bua (played
by that gifted actress Seema Bhargava who 's also in Koi Dil
Mein). But Pooja's pa-in-law (Kiran Kumar) was in no mood
for the bitchy's Bua's blasted babble. Off he went in search of
his widowed bahu who was sobbing her goodbye by her comatose lover(Faizal
Khan)'s bedside. "Main hamesha ke liye jaa rahi hoon."
Trite
and over-sentimental? Wait till you hear about Kabhie Kabhie
where last week Vivek Mushran and his female co-star fell in love
but stayed away from each other because she was married during
childhood. Mushran had to sing Jab deep jale aana to remind
her he was none other than the child-bridegroom.
Makes you wish there were more stringent laws against child marriages.
In her much-hyped return to Kittie Party, Poonam Dhillon
has abandoned her widow's weeds to wear trendy pants and tops
while 'souten' Kavita Kapoor resembles an over-decorated
Christmas tree. Kiran Kumar who's married to both the ladies in
the serials looks like he wants to be anywhere except in this
Khit-Khit Party.
Quite
unlike Shaan |
No
show: From next year why not shut down the channels on New
Year's eve? It would at least encourage people in the smaller
cities to go out for social interaction, instead of staying home
to bring in the new year through braindead "entertainment".
Even
singer Shaan, who is quite entertaining as the host on Gajendra
Singh's Sa Re Ga Ma, was a disaster with his sister Sagarika
at the New Year's eve jamboree on Zee. I liked him a lot better
on Zee Cinema's Bollywood Tonite where he monologued melodiously
about his songs of 2003, going back-and-forth in an impromptu
one-man hit parade. Shows Shaan is a born entertainer.
But you have to put him in an inspiring place. Speaking of singing,
Zee's Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai featured two singers on two
consecutive Fridays. First there was Abhijeet, then Alka Yagnik.
Is that bad planning or simply a sloppy coincidence? To make matters
worse Yagnik reappeared on television on Vir Sanghvi's know-your-celeb
show Faces & Names on Sab TV .
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Homework
is a must |
Etiquette's
anyone : Wanted---a more temperate and streamlined approach
to celeb-shopping by the channels. Also wanted, a bit more selfcontrol.
In his year-end assessment of Hindi movies Sajid Khan said Chalte
Chalte was the first hit of the year. What happened to Ken
Ghosh's Ishq Vishq and Suneel Darshan's Andaaz,
which came earlier?
(The
views expressed here are those of the author and indiantelevision.com
need not necessarily subscribe to the same)
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