Bharat Shah’s B4U in new garb for DD

“Our aim is to provide the latest blockbusters to DD and we stand by the agreement made with the public broadcaster,” Gupta said, adding that the new company had the RBI’s approval.

DD’s decision to let the company take its decision stands in sharp contrast to the spontaneous decision of terminating the contract of producer Shoaib Ilyasi when he was arrested by Delhi Police in connection with his wife’s death in unnatural circumstances. DD had virtually pronounced the producer guilty when it took off his programme, India’s Most Wanted, from the main channel.

DD had, in fact, hinted that it would like to continue its association with B4U minus Shah. A senior official explained the reason. “It is not possible for DD to procure latest films at affordable prices, and when B4U agreed to supply films every third Friday of the month and on public holidays on a revenue-sharing basis with us, we agreed,” he said. It is also for this reason that DD took the decision of awarding huge chunks of Free Commercial Time — nearly 1800 seconds — as against the normal practice of awarding 1,600 seconds when it entered into a revenue-sharing arrangement last October.

In fact, DD’s latest decision to allow the company to market Hum Ek Hain (programme showcasing actors) on six Fridays at one go has also annoyed the National Film Development Council (NFDC) which gets to show its films on other days. “We will suffer a loss of six weeks due to the shortsighted decision of DD officials,” sources said. But no one in DD has any answer to this. DD also can’t explain why it aired the blockbuster, Keemat, instead of a patriotic film on Republic Day.