Earshot

Next, viewers watching Tuesday’s Sri Lanka-India cricket match on Sony were sourly disappointed to see that the telecast trailed the actual proceedings by two hour. Even pager operators were more up-to-date! Dasgupta insists Sony never claimed the telecast would be live. While that may be true, the channel did nothing to dispel that notion, either.

Good God

Dheeraj Kumar of Om Namah Shivay is on cloud nine these days. The serial has bagged the Kalashree award for the best mythological for 1997-98. He will receive the award from the Vice-President. Says Kumar, "An award is a reward which thrusts more responsibility on your shoulders to prove your work andmaintain standards." Incidentally, he won this award three years ago for the family drama, Sansar.

Driven mad

Niki Aneja is peeved with certain gossip rags. They went to town with the story that Aneja’s fiance is so besotted with her, that he has been reduced behaving like her chauffeur whose only job is to drop her to shoots and pick her up. Aneja says that Vicky picked her up only once — that too because the shoot got over at 2 am. "He is a businessman and has enough things to do. These magazines will write anything — is it a crime to be a star?" she wants to know.

Top Two

Mandira Bedi has decided to take the plunge. She has found her life partner and will be marrying him later this year. The guy is Raj Kaushal and the two met on the sets of Philips Top Ten, where he was the chief assistant to the late Mukul Anand. Om Marital Shanti Shanti!

Double Trouble

Those who were surprised to see Kader Khan on the small screen in the serial Dhansuk, must have been shocked to see hisson Farid Khan make his debut in the same serial in the role of Thakur Dhanvir, the main villain. So now the younger Khan will be fighting the older Khan — two times over! Remember, Kader Khan plays a double role!

Floored

Khanna Bungalow in Mumbai was a strange place on Thursday. On the first floor, Vivek Agnihotri was shooting an episode of Saturday Suspense. He refuses to call it a horror show, saying it is purely for thrills. The difference apparently is that while horror appeals to the heart, suspense appeals to the mind. Meanwhile on the second floor, was the shooting for Shaktimaan, the fantasy soap for kids. Even the snacks served to the unit members were just right for kids — a diet of assorted fruits! Also spotted was actress Vaishnavi, who claims that these days she is reading a lot of spiritual books — so that she can emote better! Maybe she should have simply gone down a floor and watched the shooting of Saturday Suspense, instead.

Mega Battles

Anil Chowdhary’s Mahayagyais doing well. So well that he is in trouble with Laloo Prasad Yadav. It appears that the character called Ram Katori looks like the clone of Rabri Devi. This offended the Bihari babu and his partymen. Chaudhary denies that the caricature was intentional. "I don’t want to hit out at anyone in particular, just want to show the general state of politics," he claims.

Good Deed

Joining the social service leagues is Ashok Pandit, a Kashmiri pandit fighting for the rights of his community. So far Pandit has got 2,500 youths admitted into various colleges and institutions all over the country and is actively involved in the rehabilitation of the community.

Freedom fight

Things are looking up for Manju Singh whose independence drama, Swaraj, had an unsuccessful run of 7 episodes on DD-1 a few months back. Singh seems to be emotionally attached to the serial, "For me Swaraj is a mission to inspire today’s youth and I want everyone to be proud to be an Indian. Swaraj has been a part of my lifeand a very satisfying experience." The serial has 60 major characters and a budget of around Rs 5 to 6 lakh per episode. And now it looks like DD also understood her feelings and gave her the Saturday 8.00 pm slot.

Marriage woes

A casualty on the marriage front appears to be Farha and Vindoo. Gossip mongers say that Vindoo has found a new love and has started living with her. In retaliation, Farha shifted to sister Tabu’s house. Vindoo denies these rumours hotly saying that the matter is something else. But he refuses to elaborate on that `something else’. "It is just a bad phase and we are giving time to each other. I love my wife too much to do something as stupid as that," he says.