Subhash K Jha again criticises Rajeev !!

But yes Zee's Time Bomb is a complete disaster. Last week the villain (Akaash Deep) tied up the hero (Rajiv Khandelwal) and administered electric shocks on his bare torso.

And still, Khandelwal registered no perceptible expression. Some people will never learn. I think he should go back to Ekta Kapoor's Kahiin To Hoga to play Sujal. Since the character has a new face Khandelwal can play Sujal in the flashbacks. That way we get to see less of him… Not that the new Sujal is any less wooden. Maybe he should pitch in with the rakish Vivan in Zee's Rabba Ishq Na Hove. Together the trio can form a wooden almirah.

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I've noticed that Sahara's Kohinoor tries to imitate Time Bomb in format and editing pattern. Guys, the split screen works on TV for Friends, not for desi thrillers where the actors squint so hard that they seem to be searching for the director to tell them what to do next.

Buoyed by the success of the two music hunts Indian Idol and Fame Gurukul - the former's winner Abhijeet Sawant's album Aapka Abhijeet has made him the largest-selling pop artiste of India, ahead of Abhijeet's idol Sonu Nigam! - Sony Entertainment has decided to pull off a massive stunt.

"We've selected 5 contestants from Indian Idol and 5 from Fame Gurukul, put them together for a stunt called Dus Ke Dus Le gaye Dil, informs Sony's executive vice-president Tarun Katial. "Sure, we've no qualms in admitting it's a stunt. But a very viable stunt, you've to admit. Everyone is interested in the Idol and Fame finalists. Look at Abhijeet Sawant and Qazi Tauqeer. Qazi may not be a fantastic singer. But he's a star! We're proud to have produced these bright young stars on these two shows, and now they're going to come together for a whopping finale of sorts."

The Dus candidates ready to croon their arts out are Prajakta Shukre, Aditi Paul, Harish Moyal, Rahul Saxena, Ravinder Ravi, Arpita Mukherjee, Shamit Tyagi, Arijit Singh, Mona Bhatt and Anubhav Suman. The show goes on air from 4th November every evening at 8:30 p.m. till 18th November.

Says Katial, "The idea is to re-package the popular faces and voices in a new experience. We at Sony are definitely into reality music contests. Besides Indian Idol 2, which will be a bi-weekly, we're gearing up for our big game show Deal Ya No Deal , also a bi-weekly, which goes on air on 23rd .We're going easy on the soaps… But we do have a new daily Ek Ladki Anjani Si going on air from 4th November."

It features Kanchi Kaul (the flop actress from Kuku Kohli's WohTera Naam Tha). The show is being produced by Shrey and Nirja Guleri, thereby lending credence to the belief that Ekta Kapoor and Sony Entertainment are no longer bosom buddies.

"I keep hearing about our fall-out," laughs Katial. "But there has been none. Ekta and I haven't met for weeks. But that's because we're both busy and not because we've fallen out."

Indian Idol 2 returns on 21 November. "Everything including the judges - Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan - will be the same. But there will be a huge scaling up of everything - including the excitement level."

Commenting on the popularity of Indian Idol, Katial says, "Some of the contestants from Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma have gone all the way to the top, and then auditioned for Indian Idol. The frenzy at the auditions this time is far more pronounced."