Earshot

Lady Luck
We8217;ve not had many lady producers except a few who have actually been successful in an industry dominated by men like Sattee Shourie, Neerja Guleri. And now the former8217;s daughter, Mona Kapoor and Boney Kapoor8217;s wife, in case you didn8217;t know is coming up with a ribtickler called Hera Pheri, premiering on July 6 on Star Plus. Directed by the new comedy king Ananth Mahadevan no, now it8217;s no longer Rajan Waghdhare, it stars Shekhar Suman, Rakhi Vijan, Asrani, Rohit Roy, Divya Seth, Amit Behl and Bhavna Balsaver. Sounds good: a strong producer, an efficient director and an impressive star cast. Hope they manage to leave an impression on the viewers.

Second coming
Talking of Mona Kapoor, her earlier production Vilaytee Babu has always been in the news. Because of the change in directors, it is going off the air for a while. Now the serial starring Rakesh Bedi, Seema Kapoor, Navneet Nishan, Sheeba among others would be directed by Raju Parsikar. Parsikar also directs the Sony sitcom, Hum Sub Ek Hain. The slot has also been changed from Saturdays 8 p.m. to Sundays 10 a.m. on DD-1 and Kapoor been granted an extension of 26 episodes.

By chance?
Most actors and actresses here happen to become actors by chance. Strange, eh? We met another one recently at Club Aquaria in the suburbs of Mumbai. Shweta Keswani is a commerce graduate who8217;d never thought of acting until Raman Kumar8217;s La Bela happened years back. 8220;I was pathetic as an actress then,8221; she admits now. But these days she8217;s doing a lot of work. You can see her hosting So let8217;s Yahoo on Star Plus and she is the sprightly Tanya in Zanjeerein on Zee. She8217;s also done a Tamil telefilm for Kutty Padmini don8217;t ask us how she managed the language.

She8217;s done ads like Walls icecream, Fanta, Bajaj Sunny apart from some thirty odd pilots. She is quite excited as four serials of hers will hit the air, shortly: Customs File, Abhimaan, Yeh To Hona Tha and Maryada which means she has her hands full. But she wants us to believe she never wanted to become an actress. Well, we can8217;t!

He8217;s back
Zee8217;s only countdown show, Top Ten has again been revamped. Recently it was Rajan Waghdhare directing Ashok Saraf and Rakesh Bedi, then Himmesh Reshamniya brought in Farouque Sheikh and Nishan. Now it is Satish Shah donning different roles in a stand-up act being directed by Kunal Kohli. And surprisingly the show has been cut down to half an hour 8p.m. to 8.30 p.m. instead of an hour as the new series Basera comes on 8.30 p.m. on Saturdays. Satish Shah who is very choosy on television and only has Ghar Jamai on the box, took up this one mainly because Kunal was doing it. They had earlier done a few episodes together, when it was called Philips Top Ten. 8220;Satish will be anything from Bhiku Mhatre in Satya to an agony uncle to a cricket bookie. But the show will be topical,8221; promises Kunal.