Sunday, December 31, 2000		Television

And now Neena’s third avtaar

SUCCESS often goes in circles. One good turn deserves another. And that’s the case with Neena Gupta who seems to have struck a long-term deal with good fortune.

There’s heartening news for those who can’t have enough of the lady. In fact they are thrice blessed. Saans, Pal chhin and now Siski.

Siski is about Anoushka Saxena and Colonel Baldev Sethi (Neena Gupta and Kanwaljit Singh for those who didn’t guess it). She’s a career woman and he an army veteran who faces life with the same stoicism that won him medals in war.

Pixie (Sumeet Saigal, a young fun-loving, carefree Sardar) is the colonel’s best friend. Their friendship knows no secrets until Anoushka comes into their lives. The serial is about their relationships and their choices in love and life.

True to the title there’s plenty to sob-sob stuff around here. If you enjoy such melodrama Neena Gupta won’t disappoint — thrice in a row.

The unprecedented popularity of game shows has set the cat among pigeons in other viewer-participation programmes. Most of the shows which begin around the same time have either shifted time slots or are announcing new attractions.

Close Up Antakshari, too, has followed suit and decided to become more up-close and personal. The show is now offering Rs 1.28 crore in prize money every Friday at 8.30 p.m. on Zee TV.

It will now have "stand-alone episodes" where four teams will compete against each other for Rs 4 lakh. The winning team will be eligible to play the Jackpot Round titled Close Up Encounter, which begins with Rs 4 lakh.

From then onwards the money starts doubling with every correct answer. A wrong answer halves the prize money already won. The question would then be passed to the audience and anyone giving the correct answer would get two per cent of the money.

Needless to say, in these hurried times where quick money rules the TV channels, Close Up Antakshari is getting back most of the viewership and more it lost out to the game shows.

Roshan hua Hrithik on Star Plus

Hrithik Roshan, who has the nation wrapped around his little finger was seen dancing to the tune of Simi Garewal on Star Plus on December 6.

The marathon 2-hour interview was divided into two main sections. The first half was a family portrait and the second devoted to Hrithik, Hrithik and just Hrithik.

The show revealed some interesting vignettes about senior Roshan’s struggle to establish himself as a director, his successful films and the murderous attempt on his life.

Viewers hung on to every word of the heart-throb — his childhood, life as a child star (Bhagwan Dada), his role models, friendship with Salman Khan, how he built his Greek God body and his marriage to actor Sanjay Khan’s daughter, Suzanne.

Perhaps the only negative side of the show was that it had all the right ingredients to push down the ratings of Star Plus’ most watched KBC.

Mom-in-law trouble

This is no picture-perfect marriage. In Saas Pe Sava Saas on B4U the snake in Prashant’s paradise is his saasu-ma who is hell bent on ruining his life. The reason: Prashant fell in love and married her daughter, thus thwarting her budding modelling career.

But there is one thing that this conniving mom-in-law has overlooked — divine intervention. A benign angel comes to the rescue of Prashant and begins putting his life back on track.

The funny parts come when the angel’s dislike for the scheming old woman takes the better of her instinct. A pinch here, a tweak there, moving her bindi or ruffling her hair. Since the angel is invisible the harassed saasu-ma ends up blaming Prashant.

This cosmic turning of tables would have you in splits. Don’t miss this trio week after week on B4U every Saturday.

More than just art

BBC World takes a tour of the Royal College of Art, the world’s only wholly postgraduate college of art and design.

The college is generally associated with fine arts but 70 per cent of the students are more likely to be coming up with creative ideas for domestic appliances, motor vehicles or millinery.

Explains producer Jill Nicholls, "The series focuses on the work of the students which the college claims will dream up the cars we’ll drive, the images we’ll see, the chairs we’ll sit in and the clothes we’ll wear in the coming years."

Rector Christopher Frayling strives to get recognition for the college as an institute of design but he is well aware that the success of the painting school, easily the most popular and over subscribed department, is crucial to its reputation.

But how can a college today ignore all the broken artistic boundaries of recent years — sharks and tanks, digital imagery — and justify a department devoted purely to the art of painting? Find out in this absorbing programme.

— Mukesh Khosla