Serial suspense
A lot seems to be happening with producer Ashok Shekhar of Parivartan, aired on Zee. Last week, he threw a bash at a Mumbai hotel to launch three new serials. Shan is being directed by film director Vijay Sadanah, and will star Sumeet Saigal and Vaidehi. Ali Baba, based on Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, is being directed by Vijay Pande and has Shahbaaz Khan, Roopa Ganguly and Raza Murad in the lead roles. The third serial is Daday, again being directed by Vijay Sadanah. It has Rajeev Verma in the title role. Shekhar also held a sneak preview of his episode, Forest Officer to be telecast on September 19, in the Saturday Suspense slot.

The party was well attended by television stars like Pallavi Joshi, Rajeev Verma, Ravi Gosain, Pooja Madan and Sumeet Saigal. It went on till two in the morning. "By the end of this year all the serials will be approved. I only hope all goes well," said the obviously excited Shekhar.

Ghazal-ling away
While we already have more than half a dozen singing competition programmes like Meri Awaz Suno, Antakshari, Sa Re Ga Ma, Geet Gata Chal and Star Yaar Kalakaar, to name just a few, Sony has decided to go in for yet another one. Called Aadaab Arz Hai, produced by Cinetek Pvt Ltd, it is directed by Akaashdeep. This one not only also promises to be different -- like all others -- it actually is. It's a ghazal-based competition which will provide young and talented singers a platform to sing some of the most entertaining film and non-film ghazals. It is being hosted by the king of ghazals, Pankaj Udhas and giving him company is ramp model, Rakshanda Khan. The most interesting part is that apart from the weekly prizes, there is a bumper prize for the final winner. He or she gets a chance to sing a ghazal on CD for Sony Music. So, all you bathroom singers catch up with Aadab Arz Hai, every Monday at 8 pm.

Singing success
Another person who cannot stop beaming is Gajendra Singh, producer-director of Sa Re Ga Ma and Antakshri. Recently, he held a bash at the Hotel Centaur to launch his album Sapnay. It has eight numbers by Vishal Bharadwaj of Maachis fame that are sung by Sa Re Ga Ma discoveries Mohammed Vakil and Bela, who recently won the final. "I'm extremely happy that my show has reached this stage, but there is a lot more to be done," said Singh. Among the celebrites spotted there were Naushad, O P Nayyar, Khayyam, Dipti Bhatnagar, Sonu Nigam (who specially flew down from Hyderabad where he was doing a show) and Vishal Bharadwaj. Now SaRe.. goes international. Singh plans to shoot a few episodes in London where participants would be flown down from all over the world.

Pay the price
Kicky Suhas Prayaschit(DD2) is in the news again for the wrong reasons. First it was because actress Vaidehi was replaced by Anita Kulkarni. Now, director Vijay Pande has called it quits. Well, the buzz is that there was a lot of interference from the producer and his wife. "They used to interfere a lot in everything. I never used to interfere in their production matters," fumes Pande. "They think being producers they are my bosses. I can't work like this. When it comes to my work I can't compromise so I walked out," he added..

Brotherly talk
Adhikari brothers may be churning out 15 hours of entertainment in a week with nine serials on different channels but that doesn't stop them from coming up with two more. Tea Time Manoranjan, a daily chat show, directed by Vijay Saraih and hosted by Divya Seth premieres from September 14, every day (Monday to Friday) on DD1. And the other one, Saudagar is a soap based on Harikrishan Mehta's novel Mukti Bandhan directed by Gautam Adhikari.