Sunday, January 7, 2001		Television

THE producers should seriously consider changing the name of the series. Once again a woman triumphed at the BBC’s Mastermind India held at Jodhpur’s ornate Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur.

Interestingly this time all the four finalists were from Delhi. A 29-year-old manager, Jai Zende, a 24-year-old website editor, K.E. Priyamvada, an ad executive, Ali Imran and a civil servant T.K. Manoj Kumar.

At the end of the intense interrogation round, K.E. Priyamvada was pronounced winner with a whopping 43 points, the first participant ever to reach such a high score.

" In the final round I knew my specialised subject would need to be international in scope. Around this time, the Nobel Prizes were announced. It got me wondering about how many women had won the Nobel Prize. That led to my topic Women Nobel Laureates.

A copy editor at Encyclopedia Britannica’s website, Priyamvada was ecstatic at winning the sought after title saying the effort she put in has finally paid off.

The silver trophy engraved with the ‘Tree of Life and Knowledge’ in the Vijayanagaram tradition was appropriately, given away by supercop, Dr Kiran Bedi, a role model to many young women achievers.

DD’s game plan

Finally Doordarshan has succumbed to the pressure—and easy moolah. Even as channel after channel jumped on the game show bandwagon after Kaun Banega Crorepati , DD sat back waiting for someone to come up with an idea.

And that idea has now come from Cinevista. Knockout, which goes on air from January 28 (Sunday, 9 p.m.) holds a special promise....." Out here, everyone wins. Even the audience."

While Rs. 1 crore is on offer every week, the producers say there will be a number of winners in every episode. The show is being hosted by Kabir Bedi the star who began his career on DD and who can match the Big B voice for voice.

" I started by hosting a show over Delhi Doordarshan while in college. Three decades later, this is a homecoming for me in more ways than one," says Bedi star of numerous movie thrillers including James Bond film, Octopussy.

The sixties will always be remembered as the decade of revolution, the defiance of the young against the mores laid down by the old, the hippie culture, flower children, woodstock Festival, events and trends that changed the next generation.

But 90’s saw the birth of the artist cult. Never had music become so synonymous with thoughts, protest and expression of a whole new generation.

It was this nostalgia which was revived recently at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by Channel V’s show, Live. It was a night full of dance as some of the best-known names in Indipop took the crowds on a powerful journey of music.

Sukhbir, Mehnaz, Euphoria, Silk Route, Pentagram and a host of VJs alongwith thousands of shrieking and screaming fans joined Channel V in this extravaganza the first of 12-city tours.

" The idea was simple," says Sameer Nair, executive vice president, Star Plus," The plan was to rock the city." And rock it did in a way which set the mood to wrap up the beginning of the new millennium year with fun, fiesta and fabulous music.

In the strict sense of the term this is not a serial but three rambling stories rolled into one. And unlike some cleverly crafted tales it doesn’t flow one in the end.

Khushi on b4u is about three house holds. The first is the family of Prashant Rai who lives off his father’s wealth. Wife Sundari’s main goal is to marry her daughters. But gloom descends after Prashant’s rich father dies and he loses all his wealth.

Now the story moves on to the family of Sanjay, a section officer who becomes a minister’s secretary and starts exploiting his new power and position. He wife becomes a high socialite who gets busy with her kitty parties and gambling.

The third story is about a widow, Malti Bua whose son, Birju commits a murder but is saved by a politician who uses him as his muscle man. Soon enough he is killed in a clash with the mafia and his widow and Malti Bua begin re-building life.

What does fate have in store for Prashant Rai? Do Sanjay and his wife mend their dishonest ways? How does Birju’s widow support Malti Bua? Find out the answers in this rambling three-in-one serial.

If Amanat is a hit then it has to have clones. That seems to be the latest corporate philosophy at Zee. A number of the channel’s serials have started looking suspiciously alike.

The latest to cash in on the Amanat success is the Monday-to-Friday soap Babul Ki Duwayen Leti Jaa. The story (yawn) revolves around five girls whose sole occupation is to daydream about the kind of husband they want.

Sheetal wants to marry a multi-millionaire. Naina desires a man who will shower her with love. Malvika wants someone who can share responsibilities with her. Renu dreams of a live-in relationship before rushing into marriage. Preeti has no dreams.

In time all their dreams are realised and they live happily ever after. Or do they? Even when dreams become reality, problems persist. That’s what the serial is all about. But the feeling at the end is the same — seen one, seen all!

In June, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales sold 79 of her dresses at Christie’s in New York. It was a glamourous and glittering event, with buyers paying up to $200,000 for a single dress.

Later that summer, when Diana was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris, the new owners realised they had something quite different on their hands — they were now in possession of what to many are, effectively, sacred relics.

Diana’s Dresses January 14, 5.40 p.m. on BBC World tracks down the dress owners and meets top royal designers Elizabeth Emanuel, Murray Arbeid, Christina Stambolian and David Sassoon who designed them for the late princess.

With archive footage of Diana, and reminiscences by those who knew her or admired her from afar, this unusual film is an evocative account of her legacy which has the potential of making millionaires of those who possess it.

— Mukesh Khosla