Walking away from the arclights

SHE must be the youngest person ever to voluntarily walk away from the arclights. Claudia Schiffer’s loud thinking about retiring has taken the glamour world completely by surprise. But even more surprising is the fact that she is turning to television.

The six-foot-one-inch Claudia Schiffer, in her decade-long career as the reigning queen of the ramp, has had many more enconiums showered upon her after her chance discovery at a Dusseldorf disco in October 1987. Ever since then it’s been a fairytale of multimillion dollar contracts, bright lights and non-stop partying for the blue-eyed, blonde German stunner.

But Claudia 28, is not likely to suffer from any retirement blues. What’s going to keep her busy for years are the TV shows for Entertainment Tonight, and also a serial about her life which is said to have already been bought by 17 TV channels.

Learn while you play

Here’s a brand new show for kids and the best part is it’s not another countdown show. The Monster Quiz on Sony is a quiz show with a difference. It’s about ‘Roadblocks’ and ‘Monsters’ which participants have to overcome. Anchors, Atul and Sheeba don various disguises of monsters and pose the problems.

The children are ‘trapped’ in a haunted school from where they have to escape from one of the secret passages which include a drain, a graveyard, a freezer and a boiler. Each of these secret passages has a ‘roadblock’ where the kids have an encounter with a monster.

The monster asks questions relating to a variety of topics like general knowledge, physics, chemistry, mathematics and other school subjects and also challenges them with mental games. If the kids can answer the questions and win in the games they escape and are victorious.

A must-see show for all school-going children as it’s both exciting and educative. A kind of a modern-day Vikram Aur Betal.

War of the grannies

It’s a daadi versus naani, a mother versus mother-in-law war which goes to make Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai on Zee TV a riot of laughter. Simply because daadi happens to be the God-fearing, but hypocritical, Shashikala and naani is the modern and fashionable Bindu.

It’s all spades and axes when the naani comes to stay at son-in-law’s house to bless her grand-daughters. Inevitably the two cultures clash and battle lines are drawn between the two sterling actresses of yesteryears. Sandwiched between the two are all the family members most of whose time is spent solving the problems between the two ladies. Their efforts too end up in one holy mess after another. An absorbing serial to watch for laughs. One just hopes writer Malhar Singh can sustain the humour.

Paa Jee’s coming back

Ever since Satish Kaushik and Pankaj Kapoor left Philips Top Ten, the show has been reduced to a farce. Now with its TRP having fallen to dismal levels, both Zee TV and its sponsors have got really worried and have been persuading the chubby Paa Jee to come back. And the good news is that Kaushik has agreed.

But why did he leave the show in the first place? The reason is simple. Kaushik who doubles up as a comedian and a director had a number of assignments to complete in Bollywood. There were the cameos in Pardesi Babu, Bade Mian Chhote Mian and Bade Dilwala. More than that he had a directorial venture in Hum Aapke Dil Main Rehte Hai, the film pairing Anil Kapoor and Kajol.

Kaushik has been keen to erase the memory of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, his late 80s film which turned out to be one of the biggest flops of recent times.

Now having successfully completed Hum Aapke Dil Main Rehte Hain, he is ready to go back to his first love — comedy. And the news has suddenly brought smiles on the faces of Zee officials who must have been tearing their hair at the fast-eroding viewership of their one numero uno music countdown show, Philips Top Ten.

This fusion band is euphoric

Euphoria, they say, "is a state of manic high and in this state creativity is at its best." For those who don’t know, Euphoria is a new rock bands which has recently come up with a pulsating mix of rock-n-roll and retro packed together in an album titled Dhoom. It’s lead single, Dhoom Pichuk has already started creating ripples as far as music channels go.

The video, shot in Varanasi, blends together the character of the city and the earthiness of the song. The theme revolves around a young man pursuing his love through a myriad of colours and emotions, scenic ghats, narrow alleys and quaint shops.

The song, depicting a NRI girl seeking her roots in India, has been sung by lead vocalist, Palash Sen. This folksy ballad also features Shubha Mudgal and blends the sounds of 12 ethnic Indian percussion instruments all done live.

Though before this album, Euphoria has performed live at many shows, including the MTV awards night, all the members say they are very excited about Dhoom and have a ‘gut feel’ it’s going to be a huge success. With the video of the lead song, Dhoom Pichuk high on most countdown shows, the album is racing to the top.

Old wine...

Why did the much-hyped Sansui Viewer’s Choice Movie Awards held in Delhi and aired on Sony on October 19, turn out to be a bit of a damp squib? Simply because the choice of the films which received the awards was outdated, to say the least.

Imagine Border being declared the best film and Madhuri Dixit and Shah Rukh Khan bagging the best actress and actor awards for their over one-and-a-half-year old films Dil To Pagal Hai and Mrityudand respectively. Or even imagine Dilip Kumar getting another Lifetime Achievement Award.

One would have hoped that the awards were more original and far more contemporary. Shah Rukh would have been happier if his new release Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai was the choice and Madhuri could have got the award for briefly pepping up the otherwise drab Bade Mian Chhote Mian.

And by now Dilip Kumar must be feeling rather old and fossilled because of all those lifetime achievement awards he’s been receiving. At least the audience looked bored and greeted him with catcalls. The veteran actor left the stage in a huff.

Surely where awards are concerned it’s not necessary that one good turn must deserve another!
— Mukesh Khosla