Earshot 8212; Chandigarh

Action!It was celeberation time for Sony Entertainment Television last week, as it launched channel AXN -- the world's first 24-hour action ...

Action!
It was celeberation time for Sony Entertainment Television last week, as it launched channel AXN 8212; the world8217;s first 24-hour action and adventure satellite channel. AXN is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Hollywood8217;s most innovative studio and makers of movies like Godzilla, The Mask of Zorro and Men in Black. And the big launch party was attended by big stars, including Jackie Shroff, Panaaz Masani, Anuradha Paudwal, Parvati Khan, Shekhar Suman and Sajid Khan, just to name a few. The action packed channel was launched with a fifteen minutes live action show by actor Mahesh Anand.

Another first
It was also party time for rival channel Zee Network. The occasion was launch of their film magazine, Premiere on Saturday surprisingly it has no television section in it and is priced at Rs 50. While more than 80 per cent of the television industry were at the party, those spotted from the Bollywood camp were thespian Dilip Kumar, evergreen Dev Anand, Shashi Kala, Rekha, Sharukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Juhi Chawla, Mahesh Bhatt, Subhash Ghai and Iamp;B Minister Naqvi.

Plus is minus?
Problems at Plus Channel seem to be multiplying. After their films flopped miserably, Swabhimaan was pulled off DD1 because of the delinking of regional kendras. Now Kabhie Kabhie which was bi-weekly soap Saturdays, Sundays 9.30 pm. on Star Plus being directed by none other than Mahesh Bhatt is being terminated. Though it was actually planned for 104 episodes, it8217;s reportedly being axed after 78 episodes due to low TRPs and lack of sponsors. Plus Channel had erected a huge permanent set at Film City which is now being dismantled. Two Plus Channel serials 8212; Swabhimaan and Mouthful of Sky 8212; are being retelecast on STAR Plus.

The End?
If there were a few more producer directors like Ravi Rai and Ajai Sinha, TV would no longer be called an idiot box. After Ravi Rai8217;s decision to wind up his serial Thoda Hai Thode Ki Zaroorat Hai Sony now its Sinha8217;s turn. While Hasratein Sony, in its fourth year, is still going strong and the channel is granting him an extension he doesn8217;t want to go ahead and drag out the serial. He plans to wind it up as it completes its fourth year at the 208th episode. quot;I don8217;t want to take it to a point when people are fed up of it. Even its 4th year its doing well and my story according to the novel finishes at 208, so why should I unnecessarily drag it out?. I want people to remember it for ever.quot; says Sinha.

Love amp; marriage?
On the romantic front the buzz is of an affair between Amit Behl and actress Vaibhavi of Betaal Pachisi, Mujhe Chaand Chahiye fame. They met at the sets of Raja Bundela8217;s Mujhe Chand8230; in Bhopal and these days they can be spotted together quite often at parties. Behl candidly admits his affairs and seems pretty serious about it. quot;Yes we8217;re going steady. She is very nice person and I8217;m planning to get married to her.quot; On the other hand Vaibhavi is taking it quite lightly and laughs only saying. quot;Amit is getting married to me, I8217;m not.quot; Well we only hope all goes well as Behl has had quite a bad experience earlier with the marriage to actress Richa Behl which ended in a divorce.

Marshall II
Gautam and Markhand Adhikari of Adhikar Brothers Pvt. Ltd. are always on a move. They are making news again as their detective series Marshall with Mukesh Khanna in the title role which was earlier a weekly on DD8217;s prime is coming back as a daily serial 8212; Monday to Friday at 2 pm on DD2 ! And if insiders are to be believed, their other detective series Commander which made Ramesh Bhatkar a household name is being revived on Zee.