Earshot — Musical chairs

Aawaz Ki Duniya on DD 1, produced by veteran singer Mahendra Kapoor, is more famous for its frequent changes in female anchors than for its...

Aawaz Ki Duniya on DD 1, produced by veteran singer Mahendra Kapoor, is more famous for its frequent changes in female anchors than for its quality.

First it was Phalguni Parekh who co-hosted the show with Rohan Kapoor. But the sponsors decided she lacked the zeal to carry the show with her androgynous voice. So Pallavi Joshi stepped in. While Zee TV and Antakshari director Gajendra Singh didn’t mind their anchor doing another show, DD felt that this would lead to unhealthy comparisons with Antakshari and replaced her with Rakhi Vijan of Hum Paanch. Now Rakhi isn’t a great singer but she still makes a good anchor. And she seems thrilled about her new assignment, “I feel obliged to do a show for a veteran singer like Mahendra Kapoor.”

God grief

TV has turned into a virtual battlefield for the Gods — each trying to grab the viewers’ attention. First, it was the war between the two Hanumans on Sony and DD. Then the two Kumars, Gulshan and Dheeraj unleashed Shiv Mahapuran and Om Namah Shivay on DD1 and DD2, respectively. Now Durga has jumped into the fray. Once again, there will be two producers trying to outdo each other: Ramanand Sagar’s high profile serial, Durga has none other than Hema Malini in the title role. And it seems Sanjay Khan is also ready with Jagdambe which centres around Durga.

New age

Tigmanshu Dhulia, the director of Naya Daur on Zee, seems to be a jack of all trades and a master of just one. After graduating from NSD, he tried his hand at acting. Unfortunately, for him, no one thought he was hot enough. So he switched lines and became Shekhar Kapur’s casting director during the making of Bandit Queen. And then he directed a serial called Hum Bambai Nahin Jayenge on TVi.

Now Naya Daur is catching on, so Dhulia is flooded with struggling actors. Also you might have noticed that there is not a single known face in the serial. That’s because the director has chosen his entire cast from NSD. "They are all good actors. Besides, it gives my serial a fresh look," he says.

Channel change

Dinesh Bansal’s Intequaam is sinking deeper into its never-ending troubles. First, it was taken off DD after an unsuccessful seven-week run as Ek Aur Kurukshetra. But even after changing its name and moving to Zee, it is struggling to get noticed. And this is despite the impressive line-up of stars — Seema Kapoor, Shahbaaz Khan, Pankaj Dheer and Gufi Paintal. Rumour has it that it will soon be taken off air, courtesy a low TRP. On the other, Bansal is trying to save his serial and has replaced director Chander Behl with Pritish Nandy’s son Kushan who directs Ek Raja Ek Rani.