Chamatkar has made Anant Mahadevan inaccessible. Try calling him. His domestic help will pick up the phone and if you are not a member of the `arrived' lot of Indian television, then the conversation is as good as over. He will tell you that: Mahadevan is in the bathroom or in a meeting.

No matter what time you call, the answer is the same. Turns out that Mahadevan has been driven up the wall by struggling novices calling him at all hours.

Mixed emotionsRRavi Rai must be going around with mixed feelings. Personally, he is a happy man as his wife recently delivered a healthy baby girl. But professionally, he feels caught in the middle of a channel fight between Zee and Sony. Sony is airing Thoda hai thode ki zaroorat hai on Wednesday 9.30 pm. Zee is meanwhile also airing his Teacher at precisely the same time. Either way, Rai stands to lose. ``What is my greatest fan -- my mother -- going to watch?'' he was heard lamenting.Change in commandThe popular film review show, Chalo Cinema on El TV, is changing hands. It was being produced by UTV and now it'll be produced in-house by Zee. The one thing that won't change is popular anchor, Kunal Kohli. Apparently, UTV was giving the serial step-motherly treatment and so it was decided to change the producer.

Hear ye, hear yeA press conference by Sony is turning out to be highly predictable. Not that any of these events are very different, but Sony takes the cake. At every conference, their marketing representation insists on giving you a run down on all the achievements of the channel. So, he started off with how pathbreaking the Lata Mangeshkar Show was, then moved onto the spooky success of Aahat, then to how Thoda Hai Thode Ki Zaroorat Hai is tugging at emotional chords across the country and finally, to the new serial, in this case Just Mohabbat.

Each conference is yet another peek into the illustrious past of the channel -- a never ending, boring monologue.End of the roadMore going-going-gone. Suhana Safar is no longer suhana. First it was telecast on EL TV. After a few episodes it was shunted to Zee. Where it completed 25 episode. Producer Mehta was planning a bash when he got the red letter from Zee announcing that the serial has been taken off air! Ravi Chopra's Aurat is reportedly going, too. The Chopras could not cope up with the hectic requirements of a daily saga.

On Zee today, gone tomorrow Zee is again on it's murdering spree the latest programmes to be shown the door are Hi Zindagi Bye Zindagi and Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum. Wonder what director, Vivek Agnihotri, has to say about his Ye Kahan... now? What happens to all those tall claims -- ``I'm not like this industry, I'm educated in the U.S. (ho hum). Watch my product, you won't find anything more slick''. The results prove otherwise don't they?Moving onRamesh Sharma's Ajnabi completed three years and has got an extension for one more. Sharma is planning another serial called Usul, which will also star Danny Denzongpa. Danny has an exclusive agreement that when Sharma makes a serial, Danny stars in it. And in return, Danny takes on no other serials.Big time!Guess who made it to the New Yorker's special issue on India? C'mon, guess. No, its not Tara, or Chandrakanta, Raageshwari or even Seema Kapoor.

It's Shanti. Doordarshan's daily serial, produced by UTV, has been showcased by the prestigious American magazine in a piece called As India Turns (a take-off on the name of a popular daytime Amercan serial, As the World Turns). The magazine claims that over 200 million people watch the serial (!?) and cites it as an example of the transformation of TV in India. From providing fodder for farmers, to opium for the masses with its religious epics, it has now been delivered into the hands of a heroine who is hell bent on avenging her mother's rape. ``Now,''says the author, ``...Doordarshan is poised to turn a soap opera into a national epic''. In other words, the idiot box has become a soap box. (Contributed by Deepak Karambelkar, Lata Khubchandani, AnuradhaNagaraj, ShailajaBajpai and Murli Sharma)

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.