Tele Buzz

Not just music
Last week Zee Network called for a press conference at Hotel Centaur, Juhu Mumbai to announce the nominations for the Zee Sangeet Awards. The evening sprang to life with a sleek laser presentation that spilled musical notes all over. While the host for the evening was television actress Achint Kaur, the guest of honour was veteran music director Naushad. And the surprise of the evening was a live performance by famous qawals, the Sabri brothers. A lot of film and television personalities were spotted, though it was quite sad that most of the guests found the food and liquor more interesting than the qawalis. Among celebrities identified were Gulzar, Penaaz Masani, Parvati Khan, Alka Yagnik, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Anubhav Sinha, Jaspinder Narula and Mahendra Kapoor.

Zee Kids
Zee continues to rise and grow. After introducing their regional channels now they have joined hands with the world8217;s leading channel for kids, Nickelodeon. That8217;s not all: they have also launched Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd., a new company for revolutionising learning in India. They propose to invest Rs.100 crores and in the next five years they expect to touch Rs.300 crores as turnover. The company will focus on the creation of a learning network which will integrate television, multi-media, Internet for providing unique learning solutions to various segments of society.

Wanted: friends
Ajit Pal, the producer-director of the sitcom Hello Friends must be under a cloud of tension these days. The show is not terribly funny and it isn8217;t doing very well, if rumours are to be believed. Pal is trying very hard to boost his TRPs and every week he brings in a celebrity guest artiste hoping it will hook viewers. Niki Aneja, Saahil Chadha, Ritu Raj, Sonu Walia, Eva Grover are a few people who are putting in guest appearances. Even the channel has extended support by pushing him to the 8 pm slot, replacing Dinesh Bansal8217;s Ghar Jamai. Well, now we only hope that Baat Ban Jaaye.