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Monsoon bonanza

Menka Shivdasani

It's raining serials at Zee TV, with the Monsoon Bonanza of seven new shows. There's something for everyone -- family game shows, quick money quizzes, social issues, film star interviews, the works.

Zee decided to announce these with a splash, inviting the producers and presenters of the programmes to a bash at a five-star hotel. Some of them did not turn up -- ironically, the monsoon kept them away -- but Mahesh Bhatt, director turned producer and writer was there, getting the most attention.

Even Zee is clearly enamoured with the gentleman, describing him rather fulsomely as an ``extremely warm and loving co-traveller to journey through the stark landscapes of loneliness and pain, with the stars''. Bhatt himself said he was an ``affectionat e interviewer'' who could discuss issues with the stars in a way that no outsider could. ``The film industry is very fascinating, it does not reveal itself to outsiders,'' he declared.

I guess we'll have to take him at his word, though in the excerpts that we were shown, with Manoj Bajpai and Anupam Kher, I thought there was rather too much of Bhatt and not enough of the interviewees. Bhatt butted in when Kher, his ``favourite protege '', was warming up to explain why he was a ``disaster'' as a businessman. As for the Bajpai clip, there was a question about how actors like Bajpai felt when ``we celebrities'' got more attention!

For Vipin Handa, director, anchor and writer of Dastak, the evening had its bad moments. Dastak is a show that allows people in distress to voice their opinions on a wide range of evils, from rape to road rage. "Aren't you cashing in on the miseries of people?" someone asked, in a reference to them getting advertisements, and Handa was incensed.

``This is not a show about TRPs,'' he said. ``This effort has taken me months and years of hard work, labour, passion. The idea is to help people through the Zee Dastak Helpline, which will function for six to eight hours a day. We've compiled a list of 10-12,000 NGOs whom needy people can contact, and if the concept works, in six months' time, we will take problems to the panchayat level to find solutions.'' A senior Zee executive added that with this show, the channel had shown ``moral responsibility ''.

This is all very nice and I hope some people are going to be helped by the effort. Like someone pointed out, however, if people in the TV business are not concerned about TRPs, that's because TRPs can be manipulated. One of these days, I'll make the eff ort not to be too cynical, but in this case, I had to agree.

The other new show, Jackpot Jeeto, is anchored by beauty queen Manpreet Brar and directed by Derek O' Brien. Participants can win up to Rs. 1 lakh in each episode, and this would have been wonderful except that Star Plus spoiled the party launching a sh ow that promised to bestow a crore upon the winner. (``So far we have only heard that people will win a crore,'' said the Zee executive. ``We've not actually seen it. She also said that Jackpot Jeeto had been launched first, on June 23, and asked - so wh o copied whom?) There is no denying, however, that Star has also made life difficult for Jackpot Jeeto with its choice of presenter. Ms. Brar ought to be quite good -- she has been on television often enough before -- but will she mesmerise the audiences as much as Amitabh Bachchan does? With all this easy money floating around, however, life is looking good for television audiences. Even if you do not actually win, there is no harm in dreaming a little, is there? Meanwhile, here is a quick list of all the other new fare on Zee for TV junkies, apart from `Jackpot Jeeto' (Fridays, 19.20 hrs), `Dastak' (Sundays, 12.30 hrs) and `Without Make-Up with Mahesh Bhatt'(Saturdays, 19.20 hrs). Check them out.

Samay: Described as an ``invitation to learn to enjoy, and achieve the same fulfillment from the previous generation that we crave from the next''. Ajai Sinha is director/producer, with Sangita Sinha as co-producer. The show, which began on July 4, airs Tuesdays at 21.25 hrs.

Breakfast With Zee: Starting July 10, Monday to Saturday at 8.00 hrs. Anchored by Roshan Abbas and Smita Malhotra, it promises to be bright and lively -- an alternate to ``grim and depressing news, which hits us daily in the morning papers''.

Khiladi No. 1: A family game show, with two participating families comprising mother, father and two kids. (No room, apparently, for single-child families.) The families play three rounds and go home with an armful of cash. So simple! Pr oduced by Ken Ghosh and directed by Rishi Talwar, this programme starts on July 20 and airs every Thursday at 19.20 hrs.

Sampat & Sampat: The story of a young widow with five daughters to raise. Starring Farida Jalal and Navin Nischal, it airs every Friday at 20.55 hrs, starting July 14.

Little Mirchi Thoda Pepper: What do you know, this is a hot show about emotional problems of men. ``There is so much of male-bashing around,'' complain the producers. ``Is it possible that men are wrong and women are always right?'' Produced by Monika Chandna and Barnali Ray Shukla, this show has quite a star cast -- Vikram Gokhale, Rajat Kapur and Suchitra Pillai, for instance. Every Monday at 20.55 hrs, starting July 24.

The author can be contacted at menkashivdasani@hotmail.com

Pic.: `Little Mirchi Thoda Pepper' - a hot new Zee show about the emotional problems of men.