Earshot

Unlucky runThere seem to be problems galore for Jay Mehta son of film producer Pranlal Mehta, who recently turned producer with Vishwas...

Unlucky run
There seem to be problems galore for Jay Mehta son of film producer Pranlal Mehta, who recently turned producer with Vishwas. For starters, Vishwas had an unsuccessful stint of 20 episodes on Doordarshan. It was called Jung then. Then, after a long wait it bounced back on Zee with the new name. But, 23 episodes down the line and it is still to make its mark. The reason was the 10.30 p.m. Sunday slot. As if that wasn8217;t enough, it has now been shifted to 11 p.m. Ramsay8217;s new serial Nagin with Seema Kapoor in the lead role replaces Vishwas.

Changing fortunes?
Whizkid Gajendra Singh8217;s song show Antakshari Zee is in the news again. The buzz is that its time for Pallavi to leave, just like Durga Jasraj and Renuka Shahane. According to grapevine, Shefali Chaya is expected to replace Joshi. Gajendra Singh, however denies this vehemently. 8220;Who says Pallavi is leaving?8221; he questions. 8220;I don8217;t know of any such thing. It8217;s news for me. And believe me if there is some such move, I8217;ll be the first one to inform you.8221; Let8217;s wait and watch.

Comic changes
From the day Mukesh Khanna turned producer and Shaktimaan hit the air, he has been in the news constantly. A few months ago, he launched Shaktimaan Comics in association with Diamond Comics. After his tie-up with Vishwas Mohan in Virat they collaborated with Raj comics and came up with the Virat Comics. But now a conflict between Khanna and Gulshan Rai has erupted and it has gone to the extent that once the sixth edition is printed, the deal will close. Khanna8217;s reasons: 8220;I8217;m not happy with the quality of the comics. There are grammatical mistakes, the English is atrocious. For Gulshan Rai, it is just one of his many projects and he is busy collecting more, but for me Shaktimaan is an exclusive project.8221; He seems quite happy with the quality and design of Raj comics though. He now plans to withdraw his agreement with Rai and probably give it to Raj.

Fun at the fair
There is more on Mukesh Khanna. A Shaktimaan Mela is being organised at Raipur in Madhya Pradesh. Games, competitions and exhibitions will be a part of this three-day carnival and on the last day Khanna will give away the prizes. 8220;I8217;ve always been accused of not being accessible to my little friends. This way I can meet them and we plan to have a Shaktimaan Friends Club everywhere,8221; he explains. He will also launch a few Shaktimaan products like costumes, lunch boxes, watches and T-shirts at the mela.

Cut short
We8217;ve been hearing that lately Zee has adopted a new policy. From the umpteen number of pilots piled up in their office, the murder mysteries and thrillers are being shown on the Saturday Suspense slot. Like on February 6, Dinesh Sansal8217;s Apradh was aired as part of this serial, though it was a pilot that Bansal had shot with Benjamin Gilani and Seema Kapoor a couple of months back. And now Kushan Nandy8217;s Dhundh, which stars Shekhar Suman, Raju Kher, Usha Bachani and Pallavi Joshi, will be part of the serial too. It was actually planned as a soap and he had shot the pilot around seven months back. The shooting was mired in controversy when Niki Aneja was replaced by Pallavi Joshi. All the gossip then doesn8217;t really matter now because the soap has now been reduced to just an episode.