Sheetal Thakkar, who was last seen in Kituu
Sab Janti Hai, was caught in a dogfight (literally) and ended up
with a dog bite. “I had taken my dog to a park. Another ferocious
dog attracted mine and later started attacking it. I tried to pull
them apart and in the bargain, got bitten. Within three seconds, I
had this terrible burning sensation and rushed to the doctor,”
reveals Sheetal. When asked what else is she doing these days
besides getting involved in dogfights, Sheetal laughingly informs
that she is busy shooting for an upcoming show Risthon Ki Dor. A
family drama between three sisters and one brother, the serial has
Sheetal playing the simple and strong-headed elder sibling. That
apart she isn’t willing to divulge anything more. The actress who
has a passion for travel and adventure has tied up with Gem Travel
and Tour Agency recently. Our sources informs us that Rishton Ki Dor
is a part of a new band Sony’s introducing in the afternoon called
Nayee Dopahar. Rishton.. produced by Adhikaris starts airing from
May.
Business Baazigar is finally
here
The hunt for the most intriguing business idea has
finally begun. Zee TV is all set to launch its magnum opus reality
show, Business Baazigar from March 31. The show offers an
opportunity to the common man to turn his business idea into
reality. Aditya Birla Group has partnered Zee TV for this
multi-episodic reality series. Says Punit Goenka, Business Head Zee
TV, “We are glad to announce the launch of Business Baazigar, a hunt
for India’s business tycoon. This show promises to entertain the
audience with its intense reality drama and its unique
concept.”
Business Baazigar is a journey of 250 participants who
will eventually be scaled down to 50 finalists. Among them, the
final 20 will be put through grueling tasks that will test their
business acumen and team spirit. After every task, the jury will
decide the fate of the contestants. Eventually one participant will
emerge triumphant and will have Zee Telefilms fund for his business
venture.
Business Baazigar has Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Zee
Telefilms, Mahesh Murthy, CEO, Passionfunds and Prof. Anil Gupta who
come together to form the jury and decide the fate of the budding
entrepreneurs while Cyrus Sahukar is hosting the series. It will be
aired on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm.
Koli special
‘Mee dolkara dolkara
dolkara dariyacha raja ...’ goes the popular koli song and with that
Sony opens the Fisherwoman special episode of Deal Ya No Deal.
Colourful kashthas and navvari saris koli style dazzle on the stage.
Mandira got into the spirit of things by dressing like a kolin. She
was wearing two inch heel sandals which she very quitely removed
near the cameraman. Removing the heels seemed like removing the star
status because after that when she turned towards the contestants,
she seemed one among them. The first thing she asked the contestant
was, “Am I not looking like a pakki koliwali” and was greeted with
whistles and taalis. The episode has Madhuri clinching a deal of Rs
10.5 lacs from the show.
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy compose for the
Commonwealth Games 2006
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who made the
nation groove to their hit track ‘Kajra Re... have composed the
music for the Commonwealth Games 2006 being held in Australia. The
trio had earlier composed music for the Afro Asian Games and the
National Games. “The people involved with the Commonwealth Games
liked our work and hence we were invited to do the music for the
same,” says Ehsaan. Their composition played at the Commonwealth
Games this year, is a kind of an invitation to the players and
others to come to India where the games are going to be held four
years later. The concept of the piece is akin to the theme song of
the Olympics which indeed a great honour.
Going global
Looks like all our
music directors are going international. Another composer to be
giving music for an international film is Raju Singh who has
composed for Drena De Niro’s film Karma Confession and Holi starring
Sushmita Sen and Naomi Campbell. “It was fun and great experience to
create music for this film. It is unlike what I have done so far,”
says the composer. He has also given music for a childrens’ story CD
Kanga Beat. Earlier he had recomposed a track by Lionel Ritchie for
Richard Gere’s Company Hero’s Project. The original was titled One
World and the recomposed track is Ek Jahaan. This song was sung to
support the cause of AIDS.
New faces in
Kumkum
Five new characters are set to join the cast of
Kumkum from April 10. Vivan Bathena (Mr India 2001 and Abhishek of
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) will play the grown-up Dhruv while
Gaurav Khanna of Bhabhi and Siddhanth fame and Chahat Khanna of
Shakalaka Boom Boom, Kittie Party) will be the twins.
Shilpa
Anand, a familiar face in South Indian films (also waiting for her
debut Hindi film release Ikraar) and Sayantani who has done a number
of Bengali films have been selected to play the female lead opposite
Vivan Bathena and Gaurav Khanna. Kumkum will be the debut show on
television for both the girls. Commenting on the introduction of the
new characters, Rajesh Chadha of BAG Films says, “The casting of
fresh faces will infuse new interest among the viewers and will
definitely reflect the goodness of the characters and the personae
as has always been the USP of the serial.”
Neighbour’s envy
One is often used
to hearing parents talking about their offsprings and pranks at any
given opportunity. But producer JD Majethia is on a different trip.
He has two daughters but his staff is amused and surprised to hear
him eulogising his neighbour’s son’s antics. He is completely
enamoured with the child’s boundless energy and affection - the
child always greets him with an enthusiastic Jai Shri Krishna
whatever the time of the day. Impressed, Majethia couldn’t stop
talking about this young kid to all and sundry. It was only later
that he realised that the kid was apeing Gattu’s (Baa Bahoo Aur
Baby) inimitable way of saying Jai Shri Krishna and was not really
attached to him...
Fear lures
Looks like the desi Fear
Factor has a lot of viewers glued to their TV sets. The series
opened with a TRP of 4.5 and the following week it garnered 5.3
TRPs. Tina Parekh who featured in the first episode claims that she
got an overwhelming number of messages from friends and also people
she doesn’t know. “I got messages like ‘you are the greatest girl
we’ve ever seen,’ which I think is the biggest compliment,” she
smiles. Tina, who is a great swimmer, is afraid of heights,
specially if there’s water below. She, however conquered it when she
was hung upside down from a bridge lowered into the sea. She managed
to hold despite gasping for oxygen and went onto the second round
where she had to lie in a glass coffin with 100 live snakes. “It was
scary but I managed,” she smiles.
Another adventurous actor Sai
Deodhar has made it to three rounds. She is also hanging upside down
from the highest bridge in Kuala Lumpur where “it is completely
horrifying to see this guy in front of you and behind it is all
water”. She has also successfully pushed herself into eating a
mixture of pies. “You will have to see to believe that people can
eat this also,” she shudders declining to reveal what she ate ...
Laughter turns soar
An episode of
The Great Indian Laughter Challenge sparked of protests outside the
STAR office recently. A Sikh contestant was taking digs at his
community which didn’t go down well with other Sardars. The Sikh
Association was up in arms against the contestant and the channel,
saying that instead of just cracking jokes at Sardars, they should
be thinking of those Sikh warriors who have and are fighting for the
country’s security. To which the contestant pointed out that his
comments were made in jest - in the spirit of laughter - and were
not meant to be taken seriously...
Now Bombay to Goa on the small
screen
Recently, the laughter champions comprising Sunil
Pal and Raju Srivastav came together to do a film Bombay To Goa
based on the original Amitabh Bachchan-Aroona Irani starrer. Now a
similar story will be replayed in Star One’s detective serial DON.
Parmeet Sethi who plays Don comes across an explosive that has been
planted in a booth and the only way to defuse the same is by knowing
the code number. Preliminary investigations lead to some vital clues
and the prominent among them a bus ticket envelope that mentions
Bombay To Goa. Don boards the bus to Goa and comes across a young
girl, a runaway couple, a shady businessman and some other
passengers all of whom he suspect of being the terrorist. There is
also a small precocious child with his granny and a fun loving
Mehmood like character who is the conductor.
Don disguises
himself thrice, first as Don himself, second as a Sardar. But the
child Alvin blows his cover and finally by disguising himself as
Jean Luca Van Damme, a French Hippy tourist with a Bob Marley look,
he solves the case.
Talking about the episode, producer Sanjay
Wadhwa said that it was the film Bombay... that inspired him. “I
must have seen it 50 times and I think it’s one of the best films
ever made. DON, being an episodic detective series, we could toy
with the idea of setting a story in the bus. Besides it was a
refreshing challenge,” reveals Wadhwa. So, a Volvo bus was hired and
scenes were shot at various locations like the Expressway and
Bombay-Ahmedabad highway. Since the cast and the crew were not quite
prepared as to how to go about it on the first day, a lot of time
was frittered away. Moreover, they chose to film the episode on the
Mumbai-Pune Expressway but since it was too far for the artistes
only three hours of shooting was achieved. Next day onwards they got
onto the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and shot for four days and in
Filmcity for three days. “Since we had to shoot in a moving bus it
was quite a task. While all the main stars and the junior artistes
were packed into the bus, two cars followed them with the necessary
parapharnelia. The artistes and the crew had a harrowing time
because once inside the bus they couldn’t move till the shot was
over, as the camera was placed at the entrance,” says Sanjay. Even
those who wanted to go to the loo had to hold back! He, however,
claims that the episode that is to be aired in mid-April is a
first-of-its-kind and will in a way re-live the experience of Bombay
To Goa...
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