17 New serials are to be launched

(Posted on 9 March, 1:30 pm)

 

Comedy Programmes

DEVRANI JETHANI
Genre: Comedy
Starting from: Third Week of March (Weekly Episode-Prime Time)
Star Cast: Tiku Talsania, Imran Khan, Himani Shivpuri, Grusha Kapoor, and Viju Khote. Director: Raju Palsekar

THE CONCEPT: They are rivals yet they are together. They can't stand each other yet they can't live without each other. They are the wives of two brothers at loggerheads with one another. The paradoxical nature of this relationship involves a long series of incidents, which are rib-ticklingly interesting.
This is a joint family of Mr. Aggarwal (Viju Khote) who lives with his two sons, Punit (Tiku Talsania), Ajit (Imran Khan) and their wives Jaya (Himani Shivpuri) and Dimple (Grusha Kapoor). The two women are out to outwit one another with their spicy speeches.
Their rivalry creates humour with each trying to outwit the other. Their acts, biting satire and acid epigrams provoke everything from mild chuckles to hysterical laughter. The family adds fuel to this and creates a spicy Bhel-Puri of entertainment.

AASMAAN SE TAPKI
Genre: Comedy
Starting from: Third Week of March (Weekly Episode-Prime Time)
Star Cast: Archana Puran Singh, Sushma Seth, Sumeet Raghavan Producer: Archana Puran Singh
Director: Mukul Abhyanker

THE CONCEPT: Raman who is still single, finds his soul mate and the love of his life "Tara". It is love at first sight, and soon they tie the marriage knot. During their courtship Tara always surprised Raman with her innocence, but the biggest of all surprises comes on their first night when Raman learns that she hails from another planet. Hell breaks loose but this is not the end of Raman's plight. He still hasn't come to terms with his wife being an alien, when he is faced with the prospect of his mother in law arriving in search of her daughter. What lies ahead is an alien invasion on a ordinary man of this planet. Wait and watch how Raman deals with the alien attack.

YE HAI MUMBAI MERI JAAN
Genre: Comedy
Starting from: Third Week of March (Weekly Episode-Prime Time)
Star Cast: Varun Badola as Balu, Vrijesh Hirjee as Harry, Daisy Irani as Mrs. Desai etc.
Director: Manjul Sinha

THE CONCEPT: A comedy serial based in Mumbai, drawing greatly from the city which is a melting pot of rural simplicity and urban complexity.
Hariprasad has come from Jaunpur to the city of his dreams - Mumbai, to become a model photographer. He has worked very hard to shed his small town image, anglicised his name from Hariprasad to Harry and hates talking about his past. He would rather make people believe that he is from the US and not UP… but things aren't going too well, because Balkrishna is migrating to Mumbai. Who is Balu? And why is he going to create problems in Harry's life?
Balu is Harry's relative. He has also come to Mumbai to fulfill his dream - of becoming a movie star. Each episode promises high entertainment with Harry pretending to be a city slicker and his country cousin Balu. Situations get more complex with the introduction of Mrs Desai their land lady. Jagat Babu, Annie and Dolly their neighbours, Mr and Mrs Ghodewala who own the store where Harry and Balu work while looking for their big break.

APUN TO BUS AISE HAIN
Genre: Comedy
Starting from: Third Week of March (Weekly Episode-Prime Time)
Star Cast: Satish Shah (the main character)
Director & Producer: Girish Malik

THE CONCEPT: Apun to Bus Aise Hain is the story of a witty and smart father and his adopted son, a rascal, who is even wittier and smarter.
Priyadarshan Saxena (PD), a high flying senior executive in a multinational firm, always wanted a son and he gets two when he adopts Avtar and Kartar, the sons of his driver Santokh Singh who dies in an unfortunate accident. Avtar (Bittu) the younger one is PD's counterfoil. Where PD is khandani, suave and sophisticated, Bittu is a typical eight year old sardar, with the indomitable spirit of Punjab and its 'never say die' attitude.
The stories revolve around these two; their one up-manship, their confrontations underlined by the feeling of immense love for each other. PD reminisces of his childhood through his interactions with Bittu, while Bittu sees his father as a monster with a soft heart.
The serial has numerous characters adding to the attractiveness of the show - PD's daughter Meenu who is forever falling in love, their maid RT who had come to Bombay to become an actress and PD's relatives, who he hates. The serial is pure fun - without any sermonizing, pretence of taking up social issues and no loaded ironies. The entertainment arises out of the conflict between two diverse characters. Each episode will be an independent episode with the stories arising out of the characters - their weaknesses, whims and foibles.

Family Band Programmes

GHARANA
Genre: Family Soap
Starting from: Third Week of March (Mon- Fri - Afternoon band)
Producer: Dinesh Bansal
Director: S.J. Talkudar / Pawan Kumar
Star Cast: Sucheta Pauche, Pooja Dhadwal, Anang Desai, Avinash

THE CONCEPT: "Gharana" depicts the ups and downs in the life of a married couple. The story revolves around a family where the differences of opinion between the parents changes the personalities of their daughters. The elder daughter becomes good-natured like the father while the younger daughter becomes arrogant and aggressive like the mother. The peace and happiness of the in laws' house is destroyed when the younger one gets married. After some time the eldest one also comes to the same house after her marriage, and tries her level best to reunite the family and bring back the happiness.

HAMARE TUMHARE
Genre: Family Soap
Starting from: 4th March 2001 (Every Sunday-Prime Time)
Cast: Pallavi Joshi, Akshay Anand, Nandita Puri, Yatin Karekar, Vishal Malhotra, Gauri Karnik, Sushmita Daan.
Producer: Soni Razdan
Director: Rajan Shahi

THE CONCEPT: This story of two sisters and their respective families revolves around the precarious relationship they share emanating out of a shared bitter past. Their behaviour towards each has led to a situation where their respective families share a loving but tentative relationship with the other. As the story proceeds, a situation arises when the four children of the two sisters, ranging from seventeen to seven years old, who have barely interacted with each other earlier, are made to live together under the same roof and have to cope with each other. They come to a stage where they realize that they have to shed the bitterness of the past to cope with the crisis that has surfaced.
Will the secret in the two sisters' past resurface and ruin their blissful married and family life? Can the four cousins learn to love, adjust and bond, amidst the pleasures and pains of growing up together, and under vastly different circumstances from those that they are familiar with? Will they ever be able to forgive, forget, and live happily ever after?

EK THI RAJKUMARI ….
Genre: Family Soap
Starting from: Fourth week of March 2001 (Mon-Fri-Prime Time)
Star Cast: Padmini Kolhapure, Sudhangshu Pandey, Sadia Siddiqui, Priyanka, Yatin Karyekar, Salim Shah, Meghna Malick, Bhavana Gupta, Jyoti Dogra, Piyush Mishra, Dolly Minhas
Producer: Tutu Sharma
Director: Ravi Ojha

THE CONCEPT: The story revolves around Gauri who has sacrificed her personal needs and stayed single in order to provide physical and emotional support to her mother. Her drab life is made colorful by the arrival of Dev, her prince charming, who sweeps her off her feet. She gets married to Dev, expecting marital bliss & familial love from his siblings, but lady luck is not on her side for long. Dev has to leave station for work and meets with an accident.
Not only is Gauri a widow now but she soon realizes that her fairy tale marriage was just an eye-wash, and that Dev was actually leaving the country with the lady he wanted to marry, leaving her with the responsibility of his family. In one swift stroke destiny snatches away all her gifts. Gauri looking at the young faces of her husband's family around her knows she cannot desert them. Gauri knows only one thing - that she has to keep the family together. She has to provide for them and look after them. She can no longer be only a bhabhi --- she has to be their mother!
And over & above everything the spectre of the other woman dangles over her.

DIL HAIN HINDUSTANI
Genre: Family Soap
Starting from: Third week of March 2001 (Weekly-Prime Time)
Producer: Saket
Director: Shivam Nair

THE CONCEPT: The story of a big business family of Indian origin settled in Hong Kong who are forced to come to India for a period of fifteen days during their relocation from Hong Kong to the UK after the Chinese regime takes over Hong Kong.
Of the family, the only one with any fondness for India is Amma who left India 50 years ago for Hongkong. The family's Indian ordeal begins when their aircraft is denied landing at Mumbai and they are asked to divert their plane to another city.
The story revolves around the experiences of the Rishabs in India, and how the culture, society and the warmth of Indians force the Rishabs to finally decide to settle down in India.

CHANDAN KA PALANA RESHAM KI DORI
Genre: Family Soap
Starting from: Third week of March 2001 (Mon-Fri-Prime Time)
Star Cast: Vikram Gokhale, Apara Mehta, Ragini, Darshan Zaveri

THE CONCEPT: It's a daily soap about the Hirjee family, where the head of the family pressurises his son to produce a male heir for the family's business empire. The son and his wife being unable to have a child, get into an arrangement with another woman to be a surrogate mother. The story revolves around the drama that emerges out of the relationship between the husband, the wife and the mother of the child.

SANGINI
Genre: Woman Oriented Programme
Starting from: Third week of March 2001 (Mon-Fri-noon)
Producer & Director: Anu Malhotra
Hosts: Maru Shaikh and Smita Malhotra

THE CONCEPT: This show captures the individuality of today's woman and provides her a show that she can call her own. A show designed with women's needs and interests in mind. Throughout the week the show will cover various topics that touch a woman's life, with everything from fashion to health, from cooking to interiors, from an agony aunt to beauty, from achievers to meeting celebrities.
A show that will be every woman's window to the world… a world made beautiful by their presence, a world which is their own. A world which Sangini will showcase… after all it is a woman's world!!

YEH DIL KYA KARE
Genre: Family Soap
Starting from: Third week of March 2001 (Mon-Fri-afternoon)
Star Cast: Ketaki Dave, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Usha Bachhani, Nilofer Khan, Rahul Vohra, Natasha Rana, Shakti Singh
Director: Mandira Kashyap
Producer : Ishan Trivedi

THE CONCEPT: Yeh Dil Kya Kare is the story of four women from different walks of life with one thing in common - their aspirations. The serial revolves around the whirlpool of relationships these four women are caught in - relationships where morality is reinterpreted and lust and desires stalk their love lives. The main protagonist (Ketaki Dave) is a conventional woman and the serial chronicles her exploits in an unconventional world.

Forthcoming Comedy / Serials/ Soaps

SANSAAR
Produced and directed by- Raman Kumar

THE CONCEPT: A mega-serial based around a family spread across five continents - Asia, Australia, USA, UK and South Africa. The serial will offer windows into the lives of Indian in India and around the world.

ZEE COURT
Produced by - Madhu Trehan

THE CONCEPT: Do you have a problem… are you seeking justice… no where to turn to... Don't want to go to a court because of the delay in justice and your lack of faith in the legal system.
"ZEE Court" will be the platform for people where their cases are heard and mediated. This show will be an alternate 'People' s Court of India'. A Court where they can come with their grievances, file a case and where justice is dispensed at lightning speed. This show will draw upon real life cases of people that are compelling, thought provoking, and are about things that can happen to any of us. Two neighbors fighting over the ownership of a common terrace, children hating names given to them by their parents, ex-students protesting over their teachers behavior with them when they were in the school...all cases that can be presented at Zee Court.
A retired judge will preside over the court, and real lawyers will argue the case. The lawyer will call upon witnesses to support their case. And it will be a trial by jury. This will not be a MOCK COURT as the ruling by the judge and decision of the jury will be binding to both the parties. In each episode we will take up a case that touches our lives.

KABHI TO MILENGE
Star Cast: Rati Agnihotri, Tanaz Currim, Vijayendra Ghatge, Sumeet Saigal, Tom Alter, Sadhana Singh
Directed By : Anant Mahadevan

THE CONCEPT: The story of a woman falsely accused of murdering her husband. She vows to catch the actual murderer after she comes out of jail and gets a complete shock when she finds out who it is.

PRADHANMANTRI
Directed by - Ketan Mehta
Star Cast - K.K. Menon, Malavika Tiwari

THE CONCEPT: A series set in the near future with references to facts of the last 53 years and their repercussions but essentially the saga of a fictional Prime Minister of the future who will lead India to the next stage of development.
A show that does not attempt to recreate history but seeks to create the future by taking up contemporary issues, and by projecting them into the future tries to tackle them in an appropriate manner.
The series deals with the full range of pressure and pulls that a Prime Minister has to go through within the party, the government, business lobbies, media maneuvers, natural calamities, threat perceptions etc, etc.
The dramatic content of the serial will be made interactive for the audience by inviting their comments, generating opinion polls on how issues should / could have been dealt with. The whole premise of the show will be to try and arrive at a national consensus on issues facing the country using a dramatic context.

KHAMOSHIYAN KAB TAK
Star Cast: Vikram Gokhale, Renuka Shahane, Pawan Malhotra and others

THE CONCEPT: The story of a woman married to a man much older than her, who falls in love with her step daughter's fiancé.