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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#81

Star One dances to a new tune

Launches new show in a bid to move beyond the Saas-Bahu formula

Our Corporate Bureau / Mumbai September 02, 2005

When Star India announced its new channel last November, the channel's idea was to make sure it stayed away from the format that had made Star Plus the success it turned out to be - the soaps format.

The focus shifted on to 'differentiated entertainment', and the channel has, to a large extent, managed to do that by ensuring that its shows steered clear of the hackneyed 'saas-bahu' formula.

Now, with the first anniversary round the corner, the channel - Star One - has announced a new show titled 'Nach Baliye'. The programme is a sort of a celebrity dance-off, where ten real-life couples from the small screen undergo training with a choreographer before facing others in a competition.

Spread over ten weeks, the show will see one couple being voted off the show each week, with votes coming from a panel of judges from the entertainment industry as well as general television audience.

Speaking at the launch of the show in Mumbai, Sameer Nair, chief operating officer, Star India, said when the channel was launched, one of its targets was to be the No. 2 (next to Star Plus) among Hindi entertainment channels at the end of the year, and now the channel is very close to achieving the status. The channel is betting on 'Nach Baliye' to provide it that leap forward to the No. 2 position.

Star One has, all through, been essaying to launch innovative programmes that differentiate it from Star Plus, and some of the efforts like the 'Great Indian Laughter' have managed to attract more eyeballs than even Star Plus on weekends.

"We want to concentrate on bringing home to the Indian audience something quirky and unique through Star One," said Nair.

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#82

Star One gets real with 'Nach Baliye'

By BIJOY A K
Indiantelevision.com Team

(1 September 2005 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: After tapping the comedy genre successfully with shows such as The Great Indian Comedy Show and The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, Star One has now unveiled a big ticket reality talent hunt property Nach Baliye.

The celebrity dance talent hunt show, made on a budget of Rs 200 million approximately, will launch on 11 October.

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'Nach Baliye' will be the first reality show in India to feature married celeb couples competing against each other

Nach Baliye will see 10 real-life television celebrity couples fighting it out in the dance floor to win the favour of the audiences as well as expert judges. The winning couple will walk away with the 'Nach Baliye Champions' trophy.

The half-hour show placed in the 9 pm slot will run Tuesday through to Thursday. The episodes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will capture the reality aspects of the competition while the Thursday episodes will showcase the actual performances by the celebrity couples.

"When we launched Star One ten months back, we had set two internal objectives. One was to present differentiated programming while the other was to reach the number two position in the Hindi general entertainment space within 12 months. As you know, we have fulfilled our first objective and are clearly on track to achieve the second objective, says Star India COO Sameer Nair, adding that Nach Baliye is part of the channel's continuing efforts to introduce variety programming.

Speaking on the conceptualisation of the show format, Nair said it was an original concept from the channel. "While doing our homework, we had gone through various Western dance shows which are of reality formats. But nothing fit our requirements and conditions. During the brain storming, this idea of bringing real life celebrity couples together as contestants evolved. That is how Nach Bali happened," he says.

The channel hopes to explore the reality genre to its utmost by covering the real lives of the celeb couples. The Tuesday and Wednesday episodes will provide an insight into the lives of the couples - how they live, who are their families and friends, how they adapt to normalcy and how, they also go through all the trials, tribulations of any other married couple when faced with a challenge, states an official release.

By selecting stars who are supposedly "poor dancers", the channel looks to make the show more exciting by telecasting the training sessions as well.

Star One's decision to attempt the dance talent hunt genre coincides with the good success some of the international networks enjoy with this genre. The ABC show Dancing With The Stars, an adaptation of the successful BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing, has made dance-learning a craze in the US, according to an AdAge.com report. The show has non-dancing celebs partnering with professional dancers and having a 'dance-off'. Additionally, Fox unveiled its American Idol spin-off So You Think You Can Dance, the search for talented dancers, this summer.

Channel to spend big on promotions:

According to a Star One executive, the channel will be spending about 40 per cent of its marketing budget on Nach Baliye. The promotional activities unfold with a promo series on KBC 2 on 2 September. Then the phase-to-phase campaign will begin with a series of teaser promos.

According to the executive, the promos initially will try to create awareness about the "marital status of the celebrities participating", since the common man may not be aware of that connection. The channel will launch the final leg of the campaign in the last week of September.

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sakshi

@aries_sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#83

Star One to launch reality hunt 'Nach Baliye' from Oct 11
(Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 - 09:00 pm)
Televisionpoint.com Team
Star One has revealed an new concept of Reality and Celebrity Mix, the channel will be launching an quirky and unique reality hunt called 'Nach Baliye', from October 11 in the 9 PM time slot, to be aired from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

Announcing the launch of the show in Mumbai, Sameer Nair, COO, Star India, says "'Nach Baliye' promises to be a dance-off, between ten real life celebrity couples, the couples are from the television, who all will come to undergo training with a choreographer before facing others in the competition to provide the differentiated entertainment of great music, loads of drama, a little bit of romance and lots of reality."

'Nach Baliye' will be hosted by Shabir Ahluwalia and Sangeeta Ghosh, the hunt which is spread over ten weeks will see one couple being voted off every week, with votes coming from television audience as well as expert judges. The winning couple will be awarded with the 'Nach Baliye Champions' trophy.

When Star One was launched on November 1, 2004, Sameer Nair promised to bring the channel to the No. 2 position, next to Star Plus in the Hindi entertainment channels by the first anniversary, the motive which to an extent is also being accomplished as 'The Great Indian Comedy Show' and 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge', did tapped the audiences heart.

Parmeet Sethi and Archana Singh, Rajiv Paul and Delnaaz Paul, Rohit Roy and Mansi Joshi Roy, Varun Badola and Rajeshwari Badola, Apurva and Shilpa Agnihotri are few of the famous television couples.

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#84

"I want to play positive characters…"

Shonali Malhotra Sonii is on cloud nine, and why not? Three projects in three weeks

Married in Miilee: Shonali Malhotra Sonii as Neena

and a wonderful hubby to go home to. What more could a girl wish for? She is doing Sony's Dulhan (as reported earlier by Telly Chakkar, the show was supposed to go on air in September), Star One's Dil Kya Chahta Hai (the buzz is that Madhavi will soon be pregnant in the show), Star Plus' Miilee and SaharaOne's Bollywood Aur Kya.

Shonali comes across as one of the few women in the industry who seem content with what they are doing - varied projects that leave her with time to manage her home and hearth. Simple things as her maid's loyalty and her watchman's appreciation thrill her, Ananya Sengupta met up with Shonali during the shoot of Miilee, where she was getting married to Rahul.

(As I approach the lady, clad in her wedding finery, I realise how cumbersome the lehenga must be, but Shonali didn't seem to mind, she settles herself on the stairs and asks me to join her. Before we start, she offers to write down her complete name - Shonali Malhotra Sonii. She tells me that she now uses her hubby's last name and has added an 'i' to it, courtesy Mr Sanjay Jumani)

So how does it feel to be the third actress to play Neena in Miilee?
I know how difficult it is to replace somebody. You are asked to sometime copy the actress

Pregnant in Dil Kya Chahta Hai??

who had played the character earlier and then that becomes a problem. To be very frank, I was a little lost in the beginning, but I am fine now. My co-stars are great and so are the crew members, I am quite enjoying doing the show.

But how comfortable are you playing a negative character?
(Laughs) I want to do positive roles, and in the beginning I had done shows where I played positive roles, but somehow…Maybe my eyes…people tell me that they speak volumes…maybe my body language that has a certain attitude, that makes me a strict no-no for miss goody two shoes kind a bahu…but really, I would want to do positive.

(I tell her that her kind of a face should in fact get a lot of positive roles….)
But therein lies the challenge, I get to work harder on my looks and my body language! Now people have started telling me that I am doing things right!

Any other shows that were offered to you that were negative…
Well, yes…I was offered the role of Mallika in Jassi…, a character in Le Jayenge Le Jayenge….

Any regrets about not doing Mallika's character…
Well, to be very frank, yes. But you know, I didn't do those roles, but I am now doing others that are equally good…I am doing well for myself and that is what is important.

Your role as Madhavi was appreciated by all…
Yes, it is a fun show and me being the only constant female character, got noticed. Madhavi is a cool character, I love playing her.

Well, you have a good collection of work behind you, why do we see so less of you

off screen…
It is recently that I have started going to parties, I am a very homely person, if I am not working, I am at home with my family. First, my parents were the centre of my life, now, along with them, I have my husband, Ashish Soni, around whom my life revolves.

With so much of work on your plate, where do you get the time to be with your husband?
Oh! That's not a problem. I have ample time to be with my family. I don't shoot throughout the month and the fact that my husband is not from the industry helps us keep that fine balance. Moreover, both of are very secure with what we have and frankly, it is only because of his support that I am here today.

As I bid her adieu, the last thing I see is Shonali in her radiant pink lehenga smiling at me…and I leave, hoping that the lady in question gets better deals than her onscreen negative characters!

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#85

Kavita Kaushik to play tomboy on Dil Kya Chahta Hai

Kavita Kaushik, who recently quit Tumhari Disha, has some interesting roles in her kitty. The

New boy on the block: Kavita Kaushik

actress who has already entered the track of Kesar, and is all ready to leave for Hrishikesh to shoot for Sony's Paisa Bhari Padega, has now been inducted on to Star One's Dil Kya Chahta Hai. The show enters its last month of broadcast with the new reality act, Nach baliye going on air in the same slot from October onwards.

Speaking about her new character Kavita says, "Well I'm doing something that's completely opposite my real life personality. On the show I play the part of Nira, Nitin's girlfriend. She is a very presumptuous girl who is very bindaas and is seen around in dungarees and cargo clothes. She's just like the boys and loves to hangout with them."

"Comedy is always a refreshing change to the usual saas- bahu sagas. I don't have to have a lot of make up, I'm just one of the boys on the show, you see. Its all so hassle free and fun," says a visibly excited Kavita.

Well, after Samir Soni's exit from this show on metro sexual men, Kavita seems to have had it easy, blending in with the boys. "I've already become part of their pranks. They think they're too smart and are always up to some mischief, but these days it's like I'm the one who's pulling a fast one on them each time," she laughs. "I feel like I'm in school again actually, after being treated like such a child on the sets."

Kavita's track on the show goes on air from Thursday. She replaces Samir Soni, who after repeated calls spoke to Telly Chakkar. "The deal is that my contract on the show expired, so I've moved on. It was a good experience and now its time to bid adieu," sighs Samir.

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#86

Samir Soni to do a cameo in Special Squad

After a playing Jassi's emotional anchor in Jassi Jaisi…, and a smart-n-slick metro-sexual man in Dil Kya Chahta Hai, Samir Soni now readies to play a man infected with HIV+ who is Special Squad's latest case. Samir will make an appearance in on 12 September on the Star One Show.

Samir Soni in Special Squad

Monish, the character played by Samir Soni, in Special Squad, is HIV+. He is a suspect in the murder of a social activist, Safina Akhtar. Samir, who had earlier lent his support to Breakthrough's What Kind Of Man Are You? a campaign on HIV/AIDS, by playing the role of the husband who infects his wife with HIV in the evocative music video, Maati, will also be hosting Weekend Popkorn on Zoom. This is not all, Samir has also bagged a fleshy role in Star Plus' Kumkum.

"I am very excited about my character in Special Squad. It is a very different kind of a character. I play a HIV+ guy who gets arrested for murder," says Samir, who has recently opted out of Star One's Dil Kya Chahta Hai.

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#87

Tom Alter enters Siddhanth

Veteran actor, Tom Alter will now be seen in Star One's legal drama, Siddhanth from

Tom Alter : mediator between Siddhanth and his lady love

13 September. The suave actor will play Pooja Rawal's father, who is also a lawyer.Pooja plays Anamika, an agressive lawyer, who has swept Siddhanth off his feet, both personally and professionally. Her father Senior Arekar, played by Tom, will be heading a law firm and will be quite an admirer of Siddhanth, much to Anamika's disgust. This will lead to a discord between the aggressive Anamika and her calm father.

Alter plays a renowned lawyer from UK who has just set up base here and has an eye for young talented lawyers like Siddhanth. The future episodes will have Alter mediating between the two lead protagonists Anamika and Siddhanth as they battle out each other not only in court but also on a personal level.

"It is a very interesting project for me and I am very excited about it. I have started shooting for the show...have only shot for four to five days," points out Tom.

In the later stages of the show, produced by BAG, Siddhanth will be seen joining the firm led by Tom. The buzz was that Kanwaljeet was also considered for the part which will now be played by Tom. Incidentally, Tom is also part of Star Plus'

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#88

Laughing All The Way

It has made people weep — with laughter. It's saved Indians from seeing themselves as a nation of people without a sense of humour. Our correspondent writes on the success of The Great Laughter Challenge

Ritu Pandey

Kolkata, September 11: The most neglected genre on Indian television is finally getting its due. It's a refreshing, new phenomenon and the country's no.1 TV network is the first one to have seen the light.

The two-episode finale of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge on Star One attracted a lot of media attention and the show has managed a 13 position placement among the top 50 shows in C&S category (TAM). Commendable, for a channel which doesn't have a mass base and has to compete with the likes of Kyunki.., Fame Gurukul and Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge 2005 on rival channels in the prime time band.

''It's the only show which has constantly risen from the day it started,'' says Shekhar Suman, one of judges on the show. Not even KBC or Jassi... did that, he adds.

Sensing a future, Star One will telecast The Great Indian Laughter Champions, in which the Challenge finalists work together on scripts provided by the show. Judges Navjot Singh Sidhu and Suman will be present as cheerleaders.

The finalists including Sunil Pal, crowned Hansi Ka Badshah last week, are hot property. Besides appearing in The Great Indian Laughter Champions, they have received offers for independent TV and stage performances. Raju Shrivastav has even bagged a plum role in Ram Gopal Verma's new film Nimmi.

''Star One has made stars out of complete non-entities. Stand-up comedians don't get the respect artistes like Eddie Murphy get in the West. Here, they are relegated to mimicry artistes and left to perform at marriages and small stage shows. And I think the channel has provided a national pedestal for talent from small towns,'' says Suman.

What prompted the channel to turn to talent hunt for comedy, when most channels went for musical skills?

''We realised that the options for a comic host were so limited that we always ended up with Shekhar Suman, Sajid Khan and Johny Lever. That's when we started looking for fresh talent. And then we thought why do it privately, why not on TV as a talent hunt,'' says Ravi Menon, Vice President, Star.

Although the channel does not admit it, there was a high degree of persuasion involved in the show. The initial response wasn't enthusiastic. Most applicants were complete amateurs and the channel had to work hard to find contestants who would make the show truly competitive. Finalist Raju Shrivastav says he refused four times before the channel convinced him to participate.

''The channel people said there were contestants much senior to me — 60 and 70 year olds. I felt it was a bigger platform. Otherwise, I have been performing for the past 20 years. Many of the contestants here have been following me, listening to my tapes. I met so many of them at the contest.''

Judges suggested people: Bhagwant Maan and Gurpreet Guggi's names were thrown into the hat by Sidhu. Pal has been trained by Jimmy, bother of Johny Lever — who appeared as a judge in the final episode. So the contests were sort of ''arranged''.

The judging was tricky, says Suman, because the participants were so varied — in experience and in age. ''There were veterans like Raju Shrivastav — with 3,000 shows to their credit, Sunil Pal and Navin Prabhakar — with a fair amount of stage experience, Bhagwant Mann, Gurpreet Guggi and Meer Ali — with their own TV shows and complete newcomers like Ehsaan Kureshi. And this is the biggest platform a performer in India can get, it's cutting edge. But I am dead against jokes unless it you have a new style. Because anybody can learn jokes from books and blurt them on stage. Without any value addition, I am not interested in stale jokes.''

Perhaps that's the reason many found Suman a tougher judge than Sidhu, who would was seen falling off his seat laughing at every second joke.'' As a judge you can't expect me to enjoy something which I've heard 10 times before. For Sidhu, all that might be new. It's like me sitting in a commentary box. I might be excited about every single ball being played. But for Sidhu that is usual,'' Suman explains.

Menon says there was no editorial restriction on the participants. ''We wanted to see the best of their creative ideas. So all we did was to improve their discipline and presentation skills.'' Was the success the show expected? ''Comedy slots on popular entertainment channels are an open arena, so we did expect some. But we had certainly not expected it to become such a phenomenon,'' says Menon.

''The other day, I got a call from Bunty Bachchan, Amitabh's brother, that somebody gave him a pirated CD of the show. There are pirated CDs all over Dubai and I'm really surprised why nobody has written about it,'' reveals Suman.

For an upmarket, youth-oriented channel, The Great Laughter Challenge Show was a gamble that has paid off. ''In fact, it's the perfect vehicle for countrywide talent with participants from Barabanki, Bhopal and Ludhiana. At least people will watch it for a hearty laugh.''

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#89

'Laughter Challenge' champion wants to do challenging roles

A STAFF REPORTER | Monday, September 12, 2005 14:49:36 IST
Sunil Pal wants to explore acting completely, not just restrict to comedy

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Mumbai's Sunil Pal, titled 'Hasi Ka Baadshah' on Friday night on Star One amongst the six finalists of 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge', will now be hosting the new series of the reality comedy show called 'The Great Indian Laughter Champions'. Tickling the audience with his opening line 'Moje mein...', Sunil's mimicry pieces won him the majority votes. Soft spoken, polite and humble, Sunil is a different person off-screen. "We will continue making the viewers laugh on the new series," he assures. He and the other five finalists - Navin Prabhakar, Parag Kansara, Bhagwant Maan, Ahsaan Kureshi and Raju Srivastav - will be the stars of this new series, "The contest is over. Now this show will have our performance. Since childhood Sunil was able to look at life with a humourous eye and loved to make people laugh. "I would mimic actors and teachers in school. It was for fun then, I didn't think it would become a profession. But I always wanted to be an actor." A fairly good student, Sunil always wanted to be an actor, "I considered acting in films as a career but eventually I took up comedy." As he grew older Sunil became more determined to make stand-up comedy his career, "I was very sure about this. It was only my perseverance that has brought me here. It was very natural that my family didn't really approve of the profession. They could not understand what exactly I was up to. But now they are very proud and happy."
Before competing for the laughter challenge, Sunil has done several stage shows. He was an integral part of the 'Lagaan' tour with Aamir Khan, the tour with Sonu Nigam across USA, UK and Canada. Sunil's TV shows include 'Dhamaal No.1' on DD Metro, where he played the main lead. He will also be seen in upcoming movies like 'Phir Hera Pheri' and 'Dil Saccha Chehra Jootha', "I'm looking forward to being a part of the film industry. I don't approve that people slot actors and comedians differently. These days a lot of actors are doing a very good job with comedy. Like Dharmendra did action, drama and comedy equally well. Similarly, comedians can also act in various roles,"
Sunil believes. He has been showered with film offers already, "I'm taking it as it comes. I want to try non-comic character roles too. I want to explore acting completely, not just restrict to comedy." Even his taste in films is widespread, "I like good films be it family drama, action or comedy."

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sakshi

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Posted: 20 years ago

#90

Nari act in Dil Kya Chahta Hai
By: Tushar Joshi
September 10, 2005

Kavita Kaushik

Even though her track as Porinita in Tumhari Disha (Zee) has come to an end, Kavita Kaushik has begun a new chapter in Star One's romantic comedy, Dil Kya Chahta Hai. She takes on the role of a tapori bhai named Nari, who dresses up and behaves like a goonda.

Tomboy look

Describing Nari as one of the most interesting characters she has played in recent times, Kavita says, "I literally jumped when I was offered the role. I haven't done anything like this so it was exciting and challenging. Nari is a girl who behaves like a man.

She's a perfect tomboy and talks like a man. But her name is Nari (woman), so there are lots of comic situations that arise." Kavita will play Nitin's (Samir Sharma) girlfriend. Describing her boyish get-up, she says, "I wear cargos, dungarees and sport a cap."

Losing disha?

When asked about her sudden exit from Tumhari Disha she says, "It isn't that sudden. The character had to leave the family due to the new track. I loved playing Porinita, and who knows, she may come back some time in the future."

Fear Factor

Apart from Dil Kya Chahta Hai, Kaushik is also seen in Kesar, where she plays Kadambari. The actress is also packing her bags to leave for Fear Factor with the second group. "I love the outdoors and physical activities. I am really looking forward to Fear Factor," she says.

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