Now, Calcutta as K-stop

After biggies Yuva, Parineeta and The Namesake, it's time for the Mumbaiyya small screen to fall in love with Calcutta's shooting hot spots. Ektaa Kapoor's Balaji caravan parked itself in the city for the whole of Saturday canning important episodes of Kasautii Zindagii Kay, one of the more popular soaps on STAR Plus.

And just like the Pradeep Sarkar film, which is still running house-full in town, the K-juggernaut halted at places like the Victoria Memorial, the race course and the Prinsep Ghat. But unlike the elaborate Vidhu Vinod Chopra production, the pace of the Kasautii... shoot was zip, zap, zoom.

By the time the team arrived at the Prinsep Ghat, a mini-crowd had gathered to catch their favourite small-screen couple, Anurag and Prerna, in live action. Anurag (Cezanne Khan) and Prerna (Shweta Tiwari) have been ruling the airwaves for some time now and their phuchka-eating stint at the Ghat was proof enough of their immense popularity.

"I know they love me here," said Cezanne. "It's not the first time I am coming to Calcutta. It may sound cliched but I just love the mishti doi. Don't go by my size — I don't diet and I am a voracious eater."

For Shweta, too, the Calcutta leg was something she was looking forward to for a long time, the shoot having been cancelled a couple of times before the date was finalised. After a cursory glance at the script, she went and gorged on the phuchkas even as chants of "Prerna, Prerna" reverberated across the trolley tracks.

But it was Ronit 'Rishabh Bajaj' Roy, who was easily the most wanted man of the moment. Ronit fans at the Ghat finally got to see the Jaan Tere Naam star when he appeared for just one shot. He was, however, missing from the Dakshineswar temple shoot later in the evening.

"It's always great to come back to Calcutta but I could only be part of that one shot on the river. Hopefully, I can have a more substantial role in our next leg here," quipped the man who has made silver-streaked hair a fashion.

In the serial, the Dakshineswar scene is the clincher with all the Kasautii... characters coming to Calcutta to be part of a religious gathering as a tribute to Anurag's father. But the real twist in the tale comes when Bajaj goes into coma and Prerna suffers partial amnesia after a car crash.

The Calcutta episode, to be telecast this Tuesday, is being used by Team Ektaa to bolster the recharged TRPs of Kasautii..., which were dropping till the soap was extended to Fridays.

In fact, Kasautii... became the most-watched show on Friday television on its very first Friday with a staggering TRP of 11.97. "The reason for extending the serial to Friday was the need to strengthen STAR Plus's weekends for the return of Kaun Banega Crorepati on August 5," revealed a STAR spokesperson.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050710/asp/calcutta/story_497 2890.asp