Now if only Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and his officials had consulted Sanjay B. Jumaani (that’s Jumaani with an extra ‘a’) before mandating the conditional access system. CAS, as is popularly known, simply does not add up to the right number, says Mumbai-based numerologist Jumaani. Anything and everything to do with entertainment should add up to number six which spells good fortune and success.Number seven — which is what CAS adds up to is a spiritual number for numerologists — that does not yield material success. But what does a numerologist have to do with TRPs? Well, almost everything. We have his word for it. ‘‘All top-10 programmes (by that he means high TRPs) across the channels are there by virtue of the change suggested by us,’’ says Jumaani. It helps when all the serials are on one channel.In Jumaani’s star-list which boasts of Zee, Star Plus, SAB (it was originally SABe) TV, UB chairman Vijay Mallya, Shobha De, the Wodeyars of Mysore, Raja Bhaiyya’s mother, producers and actors eager for a place in the sun — every programme worth its TRP has undergone some alteration. An extra‘a’ or a ‘k’ has set the advertisers salivating.If Jumaani is to be believed everything moves with his consent. Even Mallya got the Hi Blitz name vetted before launching it. The extra ‘k’ in Ekta Kapoor’s serials was factored in after consultations with Jumaani. ‘‘Star Plus officials sent her proposal to me and I suggested an additional ‘k’,’’ says Jumaani, adding all the K-serials have undergone a subtle change with the sole exception of Kundali and Kalash. ‘‘These too are just fine,’’ says Jumaani.Producer Aruna Irani who had not consulted him before airing Jis Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand — did get back to him when the serial almost went out — an extra ‘l’ in nikla — did the trick. So it was with Kitty Party on Zee. ‘‘I informed the producer the name spelt trouble and it did, when he found that another programme had been registered under that very name. I suggested Kittie. That was alright for the channel,’’ says Jumaani.Jumaani himself was forced to add another ‘a’ to his name because of serious infighting in the family. The Jumanis were a disruptive family. ‘‘I figured that our name simply did not add up to the right number and was not compatible with our date of birth. My father decided on an extra helping of ‘a’ and we are fine now,’’ says Jumaani. It was the same alphabet that improved the fortunes of the Sri Adhikari Brothers who went by acronym SABe - till Jumaani asked them to drop the ‘e’. The rest is history, he exclaims, adding the channel is doing well.But it’s not always been like that. Jumaani has got a few things wrong like the failure of films like Kucch To Hai, Kya Dil Ne Kaha, incidentally from the Balaji Telefilms stable. ‘‘But I won’t blame numerology as it is based on mathematics,’’ he says.The expansive Jumaani clams up when asked about how numerology works because that ‘‘would be giving the trade secret away’’. He does say that every letter stands for a number which should be compatible with the producer/director’s date of birth.The 34-year-old numerologist, who cut his teeth in the profession three years ago, thanks to his father who made a living out of it, says, numerology helps in today’s world. That and 17 years marketing liquor for the UB group has come in handy. It has taught him to market himself. ‘‘I don’t say a change in alphabet will change life. You have to work hard to achieve success,’’ he says.Jumaani does not confine himself to Indian affairs. On America’s obsession — Osama, says Jumaani, has the backing of a strong number 42 — and will continue to be elusive. Closer home, Veerappan too has a strong number backing him at 41. ‘‘The only person who can match him is Jayalalithaa,’’ says Jumaani.
