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A face sells and sure it does when it's popular. Today is the trend for actors getting quick bucks for non committal work which requires less work pressure what with the news of actors fainting due to the killing work schedules. An actor's popularity and the amount of work he will have in the episodic decides his remuneration for the show. The actors are footloose and fancy free as its quick money and less commitment and bridges the time gap when they are on the look out for greener pastures and new work.

For Mona Vasu who worked in Shh Koi Hai recently it's the free time she gets in hand while trying her luck in films that she likes to shoot for such episodics.
" I can't take up a daily which requires thirty days a month while episodics keep me busy for four to five days a month and fetches in quick money which we are able to negotiate as well. The stories are nice, crispy and get to play varied interesting characters. As it is there are no weeklies left so its dailies and short horror stories which are far from being mundane work."

And so is the case with Shweta Gulati who is out of the work circuit and was seen in Ek Chabbi Hai Padoss Mein. "I wasn't ready to commit to a daily soap and I got to play a different character for a short while. For me money has never been an issue to sign up the episodics but yes the money is definitely better than dailies."

Anupam Khalidar, the producer of Ek Chabbi Hai Padoss Mein points out that it's a combined effort on the channel and production house's side to pin down on the popular face.
"If I take a popular actor and cut a promo around her, it immediately builds in a curiosity factor and creates a buzz for my episodes. Our area of concern is the budget and the dates of the actors and for these actors it's basically less commitment and easy money. It's almost like working in a small film. It's a combined effort as far as finalizing on the actors for the characters in the episodes." The producer has worked with Sonia Kapoor, Shweta Gulati and Ashish Kaul in his shows.

Tina Parakh worked in Man Mein Hai Vishwas with for the sheer love for the

storyline of the episode.
"I get to perform a varied range of emotions in a short span of time which looks like a short story. A television star gets into such episodics for good money and if it's an interesting story and post the show one can easily get back to doing what he was doing."

Yash Patnaik, ex-supervising producer at Fireworks thinks the new actors add freshness to the show.
"In episodics when we make the promos it's essentially face centric and the ability to tell a story well which adds value to the show. For these actors its work outside their routine job besides some quick money and some actor friends call us up when they have a few days off from their dailies to work on episodics. At times the channels give us a story or a character to work on and accordingly we weave our episode." The producer has worked with faces like Abhijeet Sawant, Mandira Bedi, Aman Verma, Kapil Dev, Amar Upadhyay and Kashmira Shah to name a few.

Coming in from Canada a couple of years ago for an internship with MTV in Mumbai, Teejay Sidhu was hooked to India, line and sinker. This graduate from the University of British Columbia at Vancouver has never left Mumbai after that and she's not regretting it either. Earning a living in the city ("I didn't imagine Mumbai would be so progressive") she has modelled for Pears soap and FTV, hosted a breakfast show on Red FM, edited a music magazine - Rave -and is now a VJ with Channel [V] where she hosts a program called [V] Workouts. Unbelievably she doesn't drink or smoke and gets her relaxation from meditating and praying. The man of her dreams is "a man with a beautiful heart and someone who can handle a working woman". Here's a truly fizzy babe.

And she is now married to the long-time boyfriend manoj bohra.

Ekta Kapoor may not be losing her grip on TV as she is still considered to be the prime time queen with hit shows in her kitty, but she is losing her actors, their loyalty and some of her recent soaps have shut shop due to poor TRPs. Her protg Smriti Irani is making Viruddh for Sony under her own banner. In fact, Smriti is planning to launch as many as six shows this year on different channels. Sandiip Sikcand, another Ekta protg who quit Balaji to join Sony as senior creative head is said to be busy poaching Balaji actors with huge contracts to work exclusively for Sony. And actors like Iqbal Khan, Cezzane Khan and actor-producer Anuj Saxena too have left her production house. These frequent walkouts are making many industry watchers ask the question, 'Is Ekta losing her touch?'

Unlike her golden period between 2000 to 2005, where only her saas-bahu formula clicked, today competition is swiftly emerging and shows like Saat Phere have proved to be as successful as her own soaps. Shobna Desai who produces Thodi Khushi Thode Gham for Sony and is ready to launch her new show Durgesh Nandini on the same channel feels the saturation point has already set in. With saas-bahu K-soaps not mopping up the good old TRP numbers, the unreal and larger-than-life soaps are losing their appeal. "Change is definitely round the corner," she says.

Sanjay Upadhyay, ideation head of BAG Films and creative director of Kumkum too agrees that competition for Balaji has emerged but in his opinion the competitors are not making any distinctly different programmes from that of Balaji. "They have successfully copied Balaji's formula," he feels. Even though everyone is following Ekta's footsteps and doing nothing new, they are coming up with shows as good as hers. This is worrying because her serials Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka, Kaavyanjali and K Street Pali Hill shut shop and shows like Kahin to Hoga and Kasuati … are said to be losing their steam.

Another factor is that there is a lot of competition. "I think we have had the saas-bahu family dramas for bit too long and viewers are asking for a change. Family dramas will be the mainstay of prime time TV for some time but the format of story telling and characterisation will not be same. Different stories and ethos will replace the current regressive content and I can see the change coming with television going back to the good old days of 80s and 90s when stories and characters were more real," says producer Sunjoy Wadhwa (of Saath Phere, Betiyaan... and Saathi Re).

Anuj Saxena who's making Kulvaddhu for Sony says, "Competition is always healthy. It is good for everyone, be it makers, channels or viewers. But it's too early to say how new competition will stand up to Balaji's one-way march." Producer Kinnari Mehta of Sindoor Tere Naam Ka doesn't disagree with Upadhyay. "The elements of saas-bahu soaps are still there because change cannot happen overnight. But channels and producers have realised that change is the need of the hour and will happen gradually. My new show for Sony coming in March is a far more realistic drama than Sindoor," he says emphatically.

Wadhwa says competition helps break the monotony of routine entertainment fare that comes from one source. "When one person does lot of work all shows look similar. But when different players tell different stories they give variety and quality," he says adding, "However, Ekta is too strong to be threatened by newcomers. But you never know."

Although Upadhyay argues that given Ekta's success story it is too early to say whether someone can stand up to her, he does admit that if emerging competition results in better quality and variety there will be trouble for her. Several attempts to reach Ekta Kapoor proved futile. Sandiip Sikcand who is said to be building an alternative base to break Ekta's monopoly declined to comment.

Name, fame, money and adulation turns an actor into a star overnight. And if a reality check isn't kept, narcissism creeps in. Such a trait is normally found in the entertainment industry where conceit in the wings of success can make any head spin. But have our TV actors too fallen prey or is it just a mind set of a perceiver?

Prashant Golecha speaks to five different actors who are as different as chalk and cheese and finds out the truth.

Rohit Roy

Most actors are little vainer than normal people. In public places, they pretend to be what they are not. See everyone, be it an actor or a person from different profession is obsessed to a certain degree. But actors get self-obsessed because of the life they lead. There is another person behind the image of an actor. Take my example, when I saw first saw limelight after becoming an actor, I got carried away initially. But now I have equilibrated my life. I am what I am, take me or leave it. No dual image, what's inside is portrayed as it is.

Chetan Hansraj
Acting for TV is demanding. The working hours are crazy so where is the time for yourself. The 'I am somebody' attitude happens in the glamour industry. Only people who are not confident end up worrying too much about what the world thinks of them. But I will also add that a little bit of attitude is necessary otherwise people just walk over you. Self-obsession is healthy to an extent and is necessary. If you don't like yourself then how will the world like you?

Moulli Ganguly
Not all actors are not self-obsessed, only a select few are. It's like the adage that 'all models are dumb', which we all know doesn't hold an iota of truth. The acting profession is insecure. Age factor is a vital issue in our industry. Actors want to hold on to their youth, which is just not possible. The pressure to look good is constantly hanging. Say if one notices an ordinarily dressed actor in a market; it won't go down well with the on-lookers. Actors who go to public places expect people to notice them and flood them with autograph requests. If you are taking it too seriously you are inviting trouble!

Shaleen Bhanot
Actors are not self-obsessed but they do like to like themselves. I'm getting good feedback for my role in Kulvaddhu. I makes me happy to see my photographs in papers. It feels very nice inside, as my work is being noticed and recognized. Fame is an elusive term and one grows and learns with time. Obviously freshers don't have experience of handling instant fame. If one gets the right career guidance and has friends who give you fair feedback, then one remains grounded and strives for the better.

Ashish Kaul
By and large actors are not self-obsessed. Actors who have struggled hard to reach a high don't get swept off. But if one gets instant success and fame one gets carried away. It happens quite often with so many shows, so many production houses and so many channels. The entertainment industry is not organized unlike the corporate sector and you don't get genuine friends easily. Rather there are chamchas who hound you and butter you with false appreciation, and then you get trapped in an illusion. A lot of actors try to fake in public. One needs to remain grounded in life rather than running after glamour. One needs to value this field as it gives you back much more than any other profession in every sense.

http://us.tellychakkar.com/y2k7/jan/27jan/feature.php

Hiten Tejwani is the new Anurag Basu. Cezzane Khan who used to play the main lead in Kasauti… has quit the show since he feels he is stagnating in it. Since replacing stars is quite the norm in tellyland, instead of panicking Ekta merely called up her loyalist Hiten and asked him to step into the show.

Must say Hiten appears to be some sort of lucky charm for Balaji because he invariably lands up making an entry into most of the production house's soaps. The serial is also set to take another 20-year leap to spice things up as many feel it's quickly losing its charm. Kyunki…, Kasauti and Kahaani are Balaji's most successful soaps so far and Ekta doesn't even want to think about ending them anytime soon because none of her other shows have proved to be as successful as these three.

http://www.deccan.com/Sunday%20Chronicle/Sunday%20ChronicleD escription.asp#Hiten%20to%20play%20Anurag%20Basu