Archive for the ‘Popular’ Category
Hindi TV Serial – Dance India Dance – Won by Shakti Mohan from Terrence Ki Toli on 23 April 2010
On April 25, 2010 in Competition, Contest, Dance, Dance India Dance, Hindi Serial, Popular, Reality Show, TV, Video, Zee
Dance India Dance is a dance contest that appears on Zee TV, now for 2 seasons. It is one of the few shows (like Indian Idol on Sony) that gives a chance to normal people to show off their skills, in this case, their Dance skills (and in fact, there is no other show that allows ordinary people to show off their dancing skills). It has become fairly popular, attracting a huge amount of attention and ensuring that contestants spend a lot of time preparing for the show, showing dancing skills that are incredible. Now, when you look at some of the finalists, they seem as good as people you see in the movies, and prepare some incredible acts.
Dance India Dance has had a number of celebrity guests such as: Salman Khan, Dia Mirza, Amitabh Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Govinda Ahuja, Helen, Arshad Warsi, Jeetendra, Boman Irani, Ritesh Deshmukh, with the judges being Terence Lewis, Remo D’Souza and Geeta Kapur. In addition, Mithun Chakraborty is the Grandmaster of the show, and even has veto powers to use once in the show to change a decision.
After a lot of steps, the last 4 finalists were:
Shakti Mohan, 24 (Mumbai)
Dharmesh Yelande, 27 (Vadodara)
Punit Pathak, 23 (Mumbai)
Binny Sharma, 22 (Ahmedabad)
The final was a long affair (and maybe the show organizers should ensure that the finals should never be so long that they lose the attention of viewers. We started watching the program, but lost interest midway and switched on again only at the end).
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Two for the price of one – New Trend developed in Television Industry !
On February 10, 2010 in Ads, Channels, Hindi Serial, Popular, TV, Trend
Of late serials have developed the trend of either doing overlapping episodes where the story of two different serials are brought to a common point or where popular characters from one serial do special appearances. A few days back, Star Plus’s prime time serials, Bidaai and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai had one such common journey where Naitik and Akshara (lead pair of Yeh Rishta…) and Alekh and Sadhna (Bidai) had an interesting run in. But why do channels and producers indulge in such gimmicks? Where is the need to bring two divergent story lines on to a similar track?
The obvious advantage is that of time. The extended time limit (normally daily serials run for half an hour) helps to heighten the drama and gives more freedom to the writers to play around with different ideas. It helps to build a buzz around both the serials and thus increase audience interest quotient. Then again it brings in combined viewership, meaning, that those who watch only Yeh Rishta…and those who watch only Bidaai will have to watch both for that special episode in order to stay abreast with developments. And one might never know a non-viewer might be tempted to follow the serial that he/she had not been following because of the parallel track. So it helps to increase or supplement TRPs. Thus it turns out to be a win-win situation for the makers of the respective shows- as it helps to add more drama and generate more eyeballs.
Naitik and Akshara – Trouble in paradise to be resolved soon?
On February 02, 2010 in Channels, Culture, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Marriage, Popular, Romance, Society, Star Plus, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
Askhara and Naitik are perhaps one of the most loved on screen pairs of Hindi serials nowadays. Viewers have been glued to their unique love story which blossomed after their marriage was fixed by the respective families. In fact the distinctiveness of the story lay in the fact that it was attempting to capture a very basic reality of Indian marriages and families- the way love blossoms between two completely unknown individuals once they tie the knot. Akshara and Naitik came to symbolise those millions of young people across India who first marry and then fall in love and not the other way round.
After a very elaborate marriage the couple settled down to domestic bliss. There were hiccups along the way but these two very much in love individuals seemed determined to not let anything come in the way of their own private heaven. Even Naitik’s mother who had concerns giving up space in her son’s life to this new person was handled very nicely by the young couple. However these two lovebirds are now facing the toughest challenge to their relationship. Misunderstood by her marital family who thought that she had deliberately mislead her sister-in-law (Nandini), Akshara tries to plead her case before every family member but without much success. She had expected Naitik to support and stand by her. But his inability to do so breaks her heart. She leaves for her father’s place and Naitik does not stop her.
Manav and Archana-The magic of indefinable chemistry
On January 29, 2010 in Ads, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Marriage, Pavitra Rishta, Popular, TV, Zee
How do you define chemistry? And by that I do not mean the kind taught in school text books. Chemistry is that indefinable, intangible quality that creates magic between two individuals. Pavitra Rishta’s Manav and Archana have chemistry-oodles and oodles of it. In fact such is their pull that they are today undeniably one of the most successful on-screen pairs of Hindi serials. Their love story is so different from what one normally gets to see on television. It is real, down-to-earth, to a certain extent unspoken and endowed with a certain magical charm.
Things have not been too good for the couple for the last few months. In fact things have turned so bad that they even wanted to snap off all ties. Matters were heading for a divorce much to the disappointment of a lot of loyal “Manav-Archana” fans. However at the last moment Archana changed her mind and as a result the judge has ordered them to live together for three months and give their marriage a second chance. He has ordered Archana and Manav to live together as husband and wife much to the dismay of Manav’s mother.
