Hindi TV Serial - Khatron Ke Khiladi Part 2 / Level 2 - Action continues

This year, the second version of Khatron Ke Khiladi has some great stunts. The show takes place in South Africa with 14 Indian divas (TV actresses, models, etc) along with their selected ordinary male companions. The host for the show that appears on Colors is Akshay Kumar, and the contestants have to undergo a variety of stunts. If the stunt requires only one person, then it is the lady who has to do the stunt, and if the stunt requires 2 people, then it is both who participate. The stunts typically involve activities dealing with water, being up in the air somewhere, animals, etc. As an example, one of the stunts involved being able to withstand octopus in the same helmet as the lady, with water inside the helmet, and the lady has to remove the screws holding the helmet together. The one who did so in the least possible time wins.
Akshay can be encouraging when he feels that the lady is overcoming some internal problems, such as when somebody is afraid of going under water, or afraid of dealing with an animal, or similar problem.
At the same time, Akshay can scold the contestants very thoroughly if he feels that they are not giving their best, and has done so many times. In each show, there are 2 stunts, and Akshay gives one or more of the teams a yellow banner if they are the best in the first stunt, so that they do not have to do the second stunt. The contestants are listed below. Some of them were brought back into the show after being eliminated, and had to go through another contest for this chance.

Shweta Salve
Carol Gracias-Eliminated 6th day (15th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Jesse Randhawa
Shonali Nagrani-Eliminated 1st day (7th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Mandira Bedi - Eliminated 9th day (21st Sept 09)
Rosa Catalano -Eliminated 2nd day (8th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Pia Trivedi-Eliminated 5th day (14th Sept 09)
Bruna Abdalah-Eliminated 3rd day (9th Sept 09)-Rentry Wild card 8th day (17th Sept 09)
Sushma Reddy-Eliminated 4th day (10th Sept 09)
Nauheed Cyrusi
Anushka Manchanda
Rupali Ganguly-Eliminated 7th day (16th Sept 09)
Sonika Kaliraman

Video of one of the shows:

22nd September 2009 - Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi Level 2 (link)



Watch more videos at this link.

Hindi Serial - Na Aana Iss Des Ladoo - Ammaji gets a reprieve from the court

It seemed like Ammaji would rise higher and higher, ensuring that her writ runs in the whole village, and nobody could oppose her. She got the middle son, Avtaar re-married even though his wife Chanda had delivered 2 daughters, and even though everybody was surprised when the police came to investigate, Ammaji managed to get the marriage through by deceiving the police.
And then it seemed that Ammaji was in the most trouble that she had ever seen. She was actually put in jail by the police (after quite a bit of opposition from her family and from other people in the village), on the complaint of Sunita who claimed that Ammaji was behind her beating and torture. The other women in the household were very happy, and it seemed that finally the serial was moving towards some sort of justice.
However, this was not to be. Raghav, in order to help his mother, made a plan to get Sunita murdered before she showed up in court; Sia and the others managed to hide the injured Sunita, but finally, just before she managed to enter the court, she was murdered, and Ammaji was out free.
The bigger question is now about whether in the future, Raghav will become a good guy, away from being the villain that he is now. Sia hates him, and the viewers also hate him.

5 Photo Tips for shooting photos in the sun

Tip 1 (Look for reflected light): One of the problems with harsh sunlight is that the side facing light gets a sharp glare, while a face or profile in shadow is far more reduced. You can either set up reflectors, or look for a place such as a parking lot or in front of buildings, where there is far more reflected light. This ensures that the images don't have unseemly shadows in some parts.

Tip 2 (Use ND Filters): Using filters can really create some interesting photos with different light affects. These filters help in giving a much bluer look to the photos, with a greater contrast in the photos. You can use a graduated ND filter such as this one - Cokin CH250 P-Series ND Grad Kit

Tip 3 (Use the light to good effect in creating silhouette): The strong light may not help in creating soft portraits, but it sure does help in creating some interesting effects such as silhouettes, when you allow the light to be behind the person. The light creates a great outline of the person, and with some creativity around exposure, you can use multiple people to get some stick like effects.

Tip 4 (Shoot in black and white): With the temptation to get good color contrast, and achieve a high color tonality being difficult in harsh light, the strong light actually aids in achieving a good effect in black and white photos. These black and white photographs are great to emphasize structures, shapes, especially when you are shooting something less curvy, and more stark and sharp.

Tip 5 (Shooting indoors or in areas that typically get less light): There are some advantages to having all that light. There are many places such as small alleys, between tall buildings, and indoors, where the amount of light required for good photos is available only when the sun is overhead, and the light is hard.

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Hindi Serial - Jai Shri Krishna on Colors - Krishna finally slays Kans

The serial Jai Shri Krishna on Colors moved away from the child like cute stage some months ago, and started showing the older, teenager age Krishna. In this age, he started showing more of his powers and god behavior, getting rid of the snake Kaaliya from the river (the snake was poisoning the water of the river); it was also becoming clear that his uncle (the ruler of Mathura, Kans) was determined to destroy him by any means. However, none of these plans were successful.
Finally, the inevitable happened. Kans calls Krishna to Mathura, identifying him as his nephew, something that Yashoda would not have easily accepted; however, it was the destiny of Lord Krishna to finally meet Kans, and so it happened. Krishna, accompanied by his brother Balram, finally went to Mathura, and withstood all attempts by Kans to destroy him. Eventually, Krishna over-powered Kans in a single battle, and along with Balram, takes over the running of Mathura.

Videos of Jai Shri Krishna on Colors (on Youtube) - episode where Lord Krishna kills Kans

Jai Shri Krishna [271st Episode] - 24th Aug 09 part 1



Jai Shri Krishna [271st Episode] - 24th Aug 09 part 2

5 photo tips for taking photos at noon

Tip 1 (Learn about the characteristics of shooting at noon): Shooting at noon is normally avoided since the light is harsh and getting the tonal details is difficult, getting facial photos is difficult because of the shadows of the eyes and nose. However, if you learn more about the characteristics of light at noon, you will be better equipped to shoot at such times.

Tip 2 (Get down to avoid the shadows): In some cases, you should literally take the low perspective. Takes photos by going much lower to the ground, and gettting more of the blue sky in the photos. Doing this ensures that the colors of the photo seem richer.

Tip 3 (Keep the sun behind you): Contrary to opinion, the sun is actually overhead at noon only if you are at the equator. Hence, when shooting, try and keep the sun behind you, since that enables a better coloring of the sky.

Tip 4 (Embrace the harsh light and shadows): Sometimes the harsh light and shadows can enhance the look of a photo. If you are taking a photo of a rugged terrain, then the harsh light and consequent shadows can actually make the photo look better, and convey the impression that you are trying to project.

Tip 5 (Watch for colors): Lighter colors tend to get washed out in the harsh light of noon, but deeper colors such as red and blue tend to look more saturated in this light. You should embrace these colors more, since they will give your photos a richer look, if you need to shoot at noon or when there is harsh light.

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Hindi Serial - Balika Vadhu on Colors - Starting to know a secret of Kalyani

Balika Vadhu on Colors has 2 distinct stories going on inside it. One is the story of Shyaam Shyaam and Sugna, the other is the story of what was there in Kalyani's (Dadi-sa's) past. There was a story where Jagdish had got into some bad company, skipping school and making some new bad friends who got him into betting, gambling (cards) and stealing money in some way or the other to meet these needs. However, when Bhairon got to know, he put an end to this story altogether with a thorough chewing out of Jagdish (and even asking Kalyani not to interfere).
The next story ongoing is the story of Sugna and Shyaam. Shyaam finally married Sugna after his parents backed out (when they found that Sugna was already pregnant, even though she had not had her 'Gauna' as yet). In spite of the fierce opposition of his parents, Shyaam went ahead. Right now, he is estranged from his parents who cannot believe that their son is taking somebody else's side rather than listening to his parents. And of course, there is no question of Sugna going to live in Shyaam's house since his parents would not accept her. Sugna however is too much still in love with Pratap, and does not accept that Shyaam is now her husband. She even defies Dadi who wants Sugna to now respect and obey her husband. But Shyaam is still willing to defend Sugna for her independence, and does not want anybody to reproach her. Will Shyaam remain true ? There are persistent rumors that Shyaam will eventually turn into a negative character.
The second main story is about Kalyani's past. Anandi's father, Khazan Singh, had to give his farmland to a money-lender for getting the money for Sugna's marriage gift, and now he is in problem since his farm is being sold off and he does not have the money. The farm is being sold to a rich man in another village who is distantly related to Kalyani, but when this problem is related to Kalyani, she refuses to get involved and instead scolds Anandi when Anandi tries to raise this problem to Dadi. It is slowly being shown that at some time in the past, after Kalyani lost her husband, she had slapped this man, and there is something hidden. One is sure that soon, these hidden secrets will get revealed, especially since Jagdish and Anandi met that man to get the land back.

Videos of Balika Vadhu (August 19th) on Colors (video on Youtube):

Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 1 2009



Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 2 2009



Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 3 2009



Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 4 2009

5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Filters): Explore what camera equipment can do for you. For example, filters such as this Tiffen 62mm Graduated Sunrise Filter can help in making some beautiful sunrise photo.

Tip 2 (Use software): This may seem a bit odd, but if you are not able to get the required effect in a natural sunrise, then try going in for using software such as Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop Elements 7. You will be able to tweak your images to get the exact effect you want.

Tip 3 (Sometimes failure is best): It is pretty hard to expect that you will get the exact result every time. What you need to do is to have a feel for the settings (also, the photo captures the camera settings), and review the settings against the photo that you got. This sort of comparison and review helps you get the feel for which settings work to get you the best results.

Tip 4 (Atmospheric pollution): Sounds bad, but sometimes when you have an extra element of pollution in the atmosphere and it is not gone by sunrise, the photos you get have some additional colors in them, or rather, more shades of colors in the same photo. Not necessary to happen every time, and your photo may not have the clarity with distance, but the colors may be better (or atleast different).

Tip 5 (Keep the sun away from the center): Once I was at a beautiful vantage point on a cliff with valleys in the distance. A lot of photos had no detail beacuse the camera was focused on the sun, and settings for exposure were geared on the sun, sometimes involuntarily. Try and take some photos where the sun is peripheral in the photo.

Hindi TV Serial - Bhagyavidhaata serial on Colors - The marriage happens again

Bhagyavidhaata reached a critical phase. The Sinha family wants to get rid of their unwanted daughter-in-law, but is afraid of what her brother (the man who wields force and guns) will do, and hence comes to a plan whereby Vinay Sinha will leave the house instead of asking Bindiya to leave the house; the idea being that when their son is not in the house and not traceable, they can ask Bindiya to also go back to her house.
However, this plan is not to be, since Bindiya's brother finds out about this plan, and reaches their house with his men, and starts threatening the Sinha household again, and it is clear that the plan for Vinay to go away has failed. It is now that Vinay takes a decision to finally accept Bindiya (till now he has not accepted her, and humiliates her on every opportunity).
Vinay declares to his family that he will accept Bindiya and marry her again, so that his family will be forced to accept that Bindiya is now the proper daughter-in-law and will have no reason not to accept her anymore; they can no longer look for a way to get rid of her. He asks for both sets of parents to be there, and then marries Bindiya formally.

06 29 09 Bindya slaps Raja Bhaiyya (Video on Youtube):

Hindi Serials: Na Aana Iss Des Ladoo - Sia is back to be humiliated by Ammaji

Previously, Sia had been trapped in a major plan in which Ammaji's son had tricked her into marriage, and once the marriage had happened, they proved that Sia's character was not good; this helped Ammaji in getting her revenge on Sia, as well as on Sia's father. As part of the revenge on Sia's father, Ammaji got him beaten up, and then got the village panchayat to blacken his face and put him on a donkey.
After all, Sia is shaken, but very defiant. She promises to take revenge, and as part of that, she has to get back to the haveli and take whatever punishment Ammaji delivers onto her. So, you have the sight of Sia falling at Ammaji's feet and asking for mercy. Ammaji of course gloats at this sight, and decides to let Sia into the house while making her work like a servant, including sleep in an outhouse. Her family members are forbidden to have any sympathy for Sia, and Ammaji still keeps on humiliating Sia at every opportunity, remembering the time that Sia stood upto Ammaji's actions. However, it must only be the arrogance that Ammaji has that prevents her from recognizing that Sia was not the type of person to suddenly show such humility, how could she not suspect that Sia is out for revenge.
The serial has also started showing some divisions in Ammaji's family, with her sons resenting the attention shown to one of the sons, and you also got to hear that one of her sons is actually making sure that he is putting some money aside every month in a different bank account, something that Ammaji definitely would not know.
One is pretty sure that the serial would show the humiliation being depicted on Sia for some more time before they can show how Sia can extract her revenge for the humiliation that her family and she has undergone.

Hindi Serials: India's Got Talent on Colors TV

There are contests on various TV channels, dealing with dance, music, acting, action, stunts, and so on. Some of them could get quite crazy, such as the MTV Roadies, and Splittsvila; now Colors has come up with the Indian adaption of the Got Talent series. The show started on Colors TV on June 27, 2009. The show has been shown as a platform to depict the entire range of talent that people in India have, including such stuff as Music, dance, mimicry, puppetry, magic, anything at all that would enthrall people. The judges for the show are actress Sonali Bendre, Bollywood director Shekhar Kapoor and Veteran actress Kirron Kher. Hosts are Roshni Chopra,Nikhil Chinnappa and Ayushmann Khurana.
Some of the performances do make you wonder as to how people are able to do them, and how long they have been practicing them.

The kind of talent that will be showcased on the show will include:
· Singers
· Musicians
· Magicians
· Dancers
· Folk Acts
· Impressionists
· Stand-up Comics
· Unique Indian Acts, and anything else that will entertain the nation!

The original show debuted in America in June 2006 and since then has successfully completed a couple of seasons. It has been a frontrunner for many television channels in countries including world's major TV markets: the US, Britain, Germany, France and Australia. India will be the first Asian country to showcase this format show

Videos on the official site (link)

Videos of the show on Youtube (click here)

India's Got Talent 4 July Part 1 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 2 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 3 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 4 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 5 of 6


India's Got Talent 4 July Part 6 of 6

Hindi Serials - Balika Vadhu on Colors - Sugna's marriage problems

Sugna seems to be the character used to symbolize many of the problems facing women. She was married off at a young age, and her 'Gauna' (sending off to the groom's (Pratap's) house), an occasion of great celebration and joy, turned dismal when her husband, Pratap was killed by dacoits during the course of a robbery. Her in-laws blamed her for the death of her husband, and as a result, it was quite clear that Sugna could not live in their house; she remained in her parents house, and adapted the lifestyle of a widow (living in a small room, eating simple food, not enjoying life). Soon, it was the presence of Farida Jalal who forced some changes in the way Sugna lived her life, getting her to go back to school, and start enjoying some of the more simple pleasures of life.
And then enters a new character, called Shyam, a young guy, who is actually the son of Madan, a neighbor from the village who has a long standing feud with Kalyani and her sons, and keeps fighting with them over many issues. Shyam likes Sugna and slowly gets more attracted to her (he also saves Jagdish's life once), and eventually proposes to her. Initially Kalyani is not happy over this, but she turns around over a period of time, since it also means that Sugna would get married again. There is a lot of issue about this, since Sugna used to meet Pratap before her Gauna and is pregnant with Pratap's child (even though Sugna was not supposed to have a physical relationship with Pratap before the Gauna, and this pregnancy horrifies Kalyani, given the social problems this would cause).
Eventually, Kalyani agrees for the marriage, and Shyam knows about the pregnancy, and is fine with it. Madanji is not told about the pregnancy since Shyam volunteers to share the information with his father. And soon, it is time for the marriage. However, Kalyani's hopes that the pregnancy would get hidden go for a toss when Sugna is not supposed to do the 7 pheras around the fire because of her pregnancy; and this is when it is realizes that Shyam has not told anyone about this pregnancy. Both his elder uncle and father object vehemently, and make the information (that was supposed to be kept a secret) public. Shyam so far has been not following his father's orders, and sticks to his stand that he has come to marry Sugna and will do so.

BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-1


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-2


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-3


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-4


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-5

Hindi Serial - Sia to stage a fight back in 'Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo'

Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo is portraying the concept of a village where the women are terrorised, where they have no rights other than to portray the role of mothers who give birth to male children, who are thrown into small locker like rooms if they do show some spirit or some sign of resistance. And the surprising concept was that this entire repression is lead by another lady, Ammaji, a strong willed matriarch who leads this effort to maintain the male dominance. It is she who sends her daughter-in-laws to repression, who gets the female babies killed, who breaks up education campaigns for the women in the village.
And then there was somebody who stood up to her, and this was the daughter, Sia, of the new village doctor. She tried to give the women right to education, and then she fell in love with this guy. At that time, there was a hunch, that something would happen such that Sia would eventually land up in the household of Ammaji, and this is what eventually ends up happening. Even though Sia knew that the person she loved was the son of Ammaji, she eventually gave in to his persuasion (they have portrayed as very stupid, in my opinion), and married him.
And then it happened. As per Ammaji's plan, Ammaji hired somebody to portray as if Sia had a loose character, got her hauled before the Panchayat, got the Panchayat to punish her father (after beating her father up when he came to protest) by blackening his face. Now, Sia must be totally destroyed. And this is where the serial now seems to be showing a fight back. Sia vows to destroy Ammaji's house from inside, by acting like a Durga in her house. Will she manage to live up to this promise ?

Bhagyavidhaata serial on Colors

Serials nowadays are trying to be more socially conscious, a number of them saw how the previously popular saas-bahu serials started losing attention, and then saw how a serial such as Ballika Vadhu that takes a social issue can become very popular, and so a number of serials have jumped onto the same league of having socially active serials. So there are serials dealing with child marriage, dealing with the condition of poor in society, dealing with caste differences, and so on.
So, Colors has very recently launched another serial called, "Sabki Jodi Wohi Banaata… Bhagyavidhaata", and the motif of the serial is about, how in Bihar's lopsided society, the difficulty of getting a poor and average looking girl married off is so difficult that people came up with the idea of getting their girls married off by force, through kidnapping the groom, and under the pressure of force, getting him married to their girl. It is not so however for the girl after that, since her in-laws would not readily accept her (after all, if they were looking for nice dowry, then they would feel cheated, and since it is assumed that the boy's side has an upper hand, getting the boy married by force would not appeal).



And so it is in the case of Bindiya, who is an educated girl with morals and values, but is from a not so well off family, and who is average looking. Her brother, using force, kidnaps a valued boy, and gets her married off to this boy, who is not able to forcefully resist because of the guns all around him. However, since he does not feel any relation to her, and because the rest of his household (except for his elder brother) do not like the situation other, they ill-treat her, making her do all the work in the house. Her elder sister-in-law (the elder bahu of the house), in fact, screams at her all the time and otherwise also makes her do all the work of the house. Even her father is not treated well when he comes to their house. However, what will happen now ? Will she ever get proper treatment from a household that feels that they were forced into doing something ?

Videos of Bhagyavidhata on Youtube

Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 1:


Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 2:


Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 3

Indian Hindi Serials - Na Aana Iss Des Laado on Colors TV

As you see shows moving away from the Saas Bahu, a lot of the shows are moving towards stories based on social problems, whether they be about class differences such as in Uttaran, or about underage marriage as in Ballika Vadhu, or about female infanticide, such as in 'Na Aana Is Desh Ladoo' on Colors TV. The show deals with the concept of female infanticide and repression of women in a village. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising), the repression of women is fully supported by another strong woman, Ammaji. Ammaji is the one who decides that a woman has asserted herself too much and needs to be pushed into a small closed and suffocating room, it is Ammaji who decrees that newly born girls would be killed by drowning them in milk, and many other such acts.



However, Ammaji is slowly starting to meet resistance. The daughter of a new doctor in the village, Sia, is slowly starting to rebel against the practices implemented by Ammaji that are very anti-women. In a twist, Sia falls in love with Ammaji's own son Raghav (who has also rebelled against the family - however, we were long speculating that Sia would in fact fall for one of Ammaji's family members and would have to withstand Ammaji's pressures and methods), and finally after some long thought and a lot of drama, decided that she would get married to Raghav.
Against all expectations, Ammaji seems to welcome the marriage, however, you cannot expect this welcome to continue, and so it would be. There will be happenings where Sia will come under a lot of pressure, and Ammaji would seem to gain the upper hand.

Video of Na Aana Is Desh Ladoo on 10 June 2009 on Youtube









More videos of Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo on Youtube (click here)

India - Hindi Serial - Uttaran - the departure and re-arrival of Tapasya

Uttaran had a major scene ongoing for the past 2 weeks. The adored and pampered daughter of the house, Tapasya had been getting very jealous over the treatment that her parents had been according to Ichcha. Ever since the confrontation where Jogi Thakur was discovered to have been in the car when Damini's husband was killed in an accident many years back, Jogi Thakur (Ayub Khan) and his wife Divya have taken on much more responsibility for Damini and Ichcha and have got Ichcha admitted to the same school as Tapasya. Initially, Tapasya is happy, but as she sees that her parents are sharing their love now with Ichcha and her young mind is unable to understand that this does not mean that they love Tapasya less, she starts to hate Ichcha for taking the love of her parents.
In all this, Mausiji also keeps on provoking Tapasya, to the extent that Tapasya is now looking for a way to get Ichcha out of the house. She gets an opportunity when they go to the zoo for a school trip, and is there that Tapasya leaves Ichcha behind deliberately. Ichcha gets left behind, and wanders through the night, scared and dehydrated, entering the forest. She gets found over in the morning, and is then brought home. Then, even though Ichcha does not take Tapasya's name, Jogi Thakur starts believing that Tapasya is behind this, and Tapasya admits this when she is questioned.
Jogi Thakur is very angry at this, and decides that Tapasya has done something extraordinary for which she needs to be held responsible, and decides to send her to boarding school, so that she gets out of her current spoilt behavior. At the same time, he gives a harsh warning to Mausiji to not interfere any more and poison Tapasya's mind even more. Tapasya does not like going to boarding school, but is taken and is not liking the place. Eventually, she gets gets sick and is brought home.