Earshot — Matter of age

Matter of ageSurendra Pal, tellywood's Guru Dronacharya, is quite unhappy these days. The reason is his Guru Drona image. Actually, it is b...

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Matter of age

Surendra Pal, tellywood’s Guru Dronacharya, is quite unhappy these days. The reason is his Guru Drona image. Actually, it is because of his Guru Drona image that he shot to fame and he seems to have forgotten that. But probably he can’t be blamed because every second offer that he gets requires him to wear a white wig and beard. He thinks he’s had his share of whites. The old man image will not be too good for his big screen role, where he plays a smart cop. He is to share the screen with Sunny Deol in Adam Kumar’s Champion. His last film was the Bacchan starrer, Khuda Gawah after which he went into hibernation.

Merry ways

Speaking of Surendra Pal, let’s reveal what this Guru Drona of the idiot box loves doing off it. Pal admits that his three passions in life are singing, women and his Black Label scotch whisky. No wonder his marriage didn’t work. This kalyug ka Drona is known for changing his girl friends every six months.

What’s up?

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God alone knows what’s happening to ZEE TV. They seem to be inspired by the Star Plus programming. During Dr Dwiwedi’s operation clean up, besides others, most of Raman Kumar’s serials were axed — V3+, Shatranj etc. But recently V3+ was aired as a daily soap, called Paying Guest and Shatranj was aired as Jung. The Jaspal Bhatti starrer, Hai Jindagi Bye Jindagi, that was also pulled off the air because of poor TRPs, has been reinstated. Will someone explain why poor programmes are being forced on viewers?

Grounded

Mukesh Khanna’s problems seem to be never ending. His Shaktimaan has not had a smooth take off. The first episode, was not aired because of the live telecast of Mother Teresa’s funeral and things went wrong even this Tuesday. We don’t know if the viewers waited for Shaktimaan but Mukesh Khanna surely did. But DD announced that it could not be aired for some reasons. And when Khanna called DD to know what the `some reasons’ were, he was told that the cassette got stuck. Mukesh was obviously upset because he had spent some Rs 3 lakh on the publicity of the first episode. But he is in a philosophical mood and says, "Jo hota hai acche ke liye hota hai."

Facts, figures

Ved Rahi of Gul Gulshan Gulfam fame, and the director of UTV’s Meerabai is one director who doesn’t compromise. His Meerabai, 27 episodes of which have been shot and 17 aired, is reportedly not doing well and has a low TRP. UTV wanted him to change the approach and the concept a little, but he’s not ready to. Says he, "I prefer to leave the serial rather than tamper with a historical fact. Meerabai represents Indian culture, and I can’t change it just to raise the TRPs." He also adds that earlier serials used to make TRPs and now the TRPs make the serial. The buzz is that Sunil Agnihotri, the man behind Betaal Pacchisi, might take over.

Way to go!

Tanaaz Currim of V3+ is in high spirits these days. She is probably the only one who is not depressed by the fact that her serial has been taken off air. Now she is hosting Kya Scene Hai. But the reason for the high is that she has got a role in Rajeev Mehra’s film Hum Tum Aur Woh, and that too opposite the Tere Mere Sapnay guy, Arshad Warsi. Question is who is Tanaaz — hum tum or woh? I, me, myselfThe easiest way to become an actress is to produce a serial yourself and then keep the best for yourself. That is what Reena Wadhwa, the producer of Yug who also plays freedom fighter Ratna, has done. Just in case you have forgotten, she was part of 70 episodes of Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi. Later, her parents wanted her to get married and like a good daughter she did get married to Ashok Wadhwa. Then came Yug. You can also see her in Betaal Pacchisi. Now she has been flooded with offers and she is being choosy. So it does pay to promote yourself.