Sunday, February 25, 2001		Television

The fine art of murder

HERE’s a plot which is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your couch. An upwardly mobile beautiful woman, a rich businessman, a scheming family and murder....all the ingredients for a thriller. A story of passion, commitment, greed and fortune.

Samander on Thursdays at 10 pm on Zee TV, traces the trials and tribulations in the life of Simmi Saxena, a small-town girl who rises to the glamorous and often treacherous world of art and then lands herself in the biggest controversy of her life which threatens to permanently alter her existence.

Simmi comes to a big city and starts working in an art gallery where her job is to handle rich clients. One of them is Kailashnath an ardent art lover but a lonely and bitter man whose family go to any length to take over his business empire.

Despite their age difference, he starts sharing all his dreams with Simmi. His family despises the relationship and sees her as a potential threat. One night Kailashnath is found dead in his house while Simmi and he were supposedly together alone.

Then start the routine investigations that throw up surprise after surprise, making Samander well worth the viewer’s time.

This one’s a pleasant surprise from Doordarshan — a taut family soap which would keep viewers absorbed from the word go.

Aane Wala Pal Monday through Friday 1 p.m. is the story of three brothers — the eldest a senior police officer, the second a lawyer and the youngest an IAS aspirant.

An industrialist’s son is murdered and the youngest brother is implicated. But the industrialist’s daughter masquerades as a crime reporter and helps locate the true killer.

Amidst the backdrop of this theme there are undercurrents of love, hate and deceit resulting first in the disintegration of this happy family and then it re-union by a quirk of fate.

Though a hackneyed story of friendship and passion, intrigue and murder and legal battles but the pace of this Vinta Nanda-Raman Kumar penned script as well as good performances by Alok Nath, Raza Murad and others keeps the interest ticking.

Another talkshow and another opportunity to see Harsha Bhogle’s visage on the small screen. But when it comes to cricket and Bhogle nobody seems to mind the repetitions.

Harsha Online, an interactive cricket show, debated on Star Sports on February 12 at 10.30 p.m. with Saurav Ganguly who answered viewers questions received via e-mail, telephone and video.

Every Monday viewers can dial 9628400400 and ask questions to sports celebrities. They will also have an option of sending their questions via E-mail through the website, www.espnstar.com.

The show has four different formats: First a tribute to the former greats who relive memories of their past glory. Then there is a segment on the issues of the game. The third deals with new and current players and the fourth is on the power brokers.

So all you cricket fans out there it’s time yet again to pad up and play hard ball with Harsha Bhogle.

Technologies are converging. Sabe TV has joined hands with a dotcom company for aspiring stars to audition for a role on Daddy Samjha Karo, Wednesdays at 8.30 p.m.

Daddy Cool Hungama Baskin Robbins is a promotion spread across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kanpur, Lucknow, Calcutta and Bangalore. The reward: An opportunity of being auditioned for a walk-in role in Daddy Samjha Karo.

The activity is extended on the Internet through an e-promo on www.Sabetv.com and www.hungama.com. "We are taking the support of the Internet to increase the popularity of the show," says Markand Adhikari of SabeTV.

Considering that the channel is on a weak transponder, it could make use of all the popularity it can get any which way it can!

For all you music lovers this is a stunning series offering a fresh perspective on the last 30 years of pop music history.

From rock legends to disillusioned ex-musicians, Rock Family Trees on BBC World every Saturday at 8.40 p.m. tracks pop’s musical and human connection through the annals of rock. Focussing on widely different human relationships in a diverse range of bands and using the intricate, hand-drawn genealogical trees, the series offers a fresh perspective on the last 30 years of pop music history.

From Fleetwood Mac to the The Moody Blues and from Deep Purple to Punk Rock the programme charts the formation and development of music legends.

For those who love music Rock Family Trees is a visual experience of the groups whose music has transcended time and space and enthralled generations.

He was named Life Magazine’s 1998 World Photo Winner for his work in National Geographic’s coverage on India’s 50th year of Independence. He was the 1984 Magazine Photographer of the year and in that same year won four other prizes.

Meet Steve McCurry the man who has been associated with National Geographic for the past 20 years and is renowned across the world over for capturing images that cover a diverse range of human relationships and conflicts. His powerful images leave the viewer with empathy for innocent civilians caught up in war.

McCurry who was in Delhi recently, held an interactive workshop attended by die-hard photography fans. They had all come to see the man who has covered the wars in Iran, Iraq, Beirut, Cambodia, Philippines, Afghanistan and the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

His career was launched when he crossed into rebel-controlled Afghanistan in 1979 just before the Russian invasion. The pictures published around the world were among the first to show the bitter conflict there. Since then, there’s been no looking back for this intrepid photographer.

— Mukesh Khosla