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 - CID - Long running detective show on Sony

There have been many detective shows on TV, with some specific character based shows such as Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi, and others similar to these making a name for themselves. These have been shows about gifted detectives who are essentially individuals with the gift for determining motives, and deducing human action. Sony went on a different track and created a show that showcases the role of a Government agency in solving heinous and dangerous crimes. The result is the show called CID (Crime Investigation Division) of the Mumbai Police. The people in the show are dedicated, but not individually brilliant; instead they use modern science, forensics and the power of the law (interrogations, authorized searches, etc) to find clues that will help them to solve the crime.
The team is currently headed by ACP Pradyuman (Played by Shivaji Satam). A dedicated officer, he will not let anything come in his way to solve the crime, and can drive his team to solve these cases. The other 2 main detectives of the force are:
Abhijeet : Inspector Abhijeet (played by Aditya Srivastav), has been a long standing member of the show. Recently, in an episode, he was replaced by an impersonator, but by the end of the show, the reality came out.
Daya : Inspector Daya (played by Dayanand Shetty) is one of the more likable members of the show. He is a huge man, and can be quite a force in terms of subduing criminals and intimidating them.
The show does not show other policemen, assuming that when a serious crime occurs, the CID is the one called immediately to the screen (and normal citizens can directly call the CID). In addition, one shows them entering houses and intimidating people without a search warrant. After some detective work, some forensic work, the criminal is normally caught, many times, the criminal is surprised at being caught.

Cast:
Shivaji Satam ... ACP Pradyuman
Aditya Srivastav ... senior Inspector Abhijeet
Daynand Shetty ... Daya
Dinesh Phadnis ... sub-Inspector Fredericks (Freddy) Comic element in the show
Narendra Gupta ... Dr. Salunke
Vivek Mashru ... Vivek
Shradda Musale ... Dr.Tarika

Videos of the serial on Youtube:



Other videos of the serial CID on Sony TV (link)

Hindi Serial: Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao - the last week

Now, we are in the last week of 'Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao', and there are just 4 participants left in the serial. For the past several weeks, it would seem that the serial is bent to put more exposure, more fight, and more scare tactics in the show. First, the show separated the male and female participants and made them compete against each other. There were lots of fights in the show, with Akash Sehgal being the worst element in these shows. He used bad language with abandon, tried to portray all the female participants in a bad light, and considered himself superior to the others.
Anaida and Mona Wasu were the ones who fought the most with Akash, although they also fought with Chetan, and a few others on occasion. The show made participants do a lot of things that seem pretty horrible such as cooking insects, rats, and other such creatures on an open flame and then making the male and female contestants contest to see who would eat the fastest. In other contests, the participants would have to withstand time while all sorts of creepy crawlies such as rats, cockroaches, wasps, ants, scorpions, frogs, etc were raining on them, or were all around their legs, heads, or bodies. Takes a lot of courage to do that.
Many participants came and left during the course of the show, with Nigar Khan being there for very little time, Marc and Aman were there from the beginning and then were finally evicted. Kashmira Shah came for some time, did a lot of gossiping, strutted around in a bikini, and then finally left. Jay Bhanushali came in, got overawed by Akash and Chetan, and finally left. Mika came in for a short time, and so did Chitrashi. In the end, the following four are left:
Aakashdeep Saigal
Anaida
Chetan Hansraj
Mona Wasu

Videos of the show from Youtube:

Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao 1st September 2009 Part 1



Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao 1st September 2009 Part 2



Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao 1st September 2009 Part 3



Negar Khan and Chetan Hansraj in swimsuits taking a bath:



Kashmera Shah in a bikini taking a bath:

Hindi Serial - Basera on NDTV Imagine - tale of parents being deserted by their families

A lot of people would have seen the movie called 'Baghban' starring Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, as a couple whose children eventually go tired of supporting them after Amitabh retires and with whom they are no longer comfortable. The new serial 'Basera' on NDTV Imagine also goes down this path. Ram Kapoor, fresh from his role as the host on Rakhi Ka Swayamwar, is the head of one family with loving children. The serial is about 4 such families, these being the Sanghvis, the Parikhs, the Deshmukhs, and the Manchandas.
The parents in all these families have done a lot for their children, given that whatever they could, all in the expectation that when they are older, their children will take care of them. In all this, they have not made adequate provisions for their own life when they are much older. So, what happens when their children do not live up to this faith, when they desert them and see their parents as burden upon them. When life deals them such harsh lessons, these 4 friends and their wives provide a lot of support to each other, and enable them to be strong in such adverse times.



Videos of the serial on Youtube:

Basera - August 31st - Part 1 (link)



Basera - August 31st - Part 2 (link)



Basera - August 31st - Part 3 (link)

Hindi Serial - Aapki Antara: The attempt to explain the life of an autistic girl

Aap Ki Antara is a show that is somewhat unusual. How often have you seen a show about something serious, and an issue that is not known to a large number of people. Hence, the effort to introduce the concept of what an autisitic child is, what is the behavior, how they are not crazy, what are the efforts that are needed to bring up such a child. The serial has tried to show these challenges, but they are introducing many twists that a normal serial does (maybe to increase the drama, but that tend to take away from the serious nature of the serial.
Antara is the daughter of Aditya, a loan manager of a bank. He is married to Vidya, and they have a son as well. Things are fine, and then they discover that Aditya had been unfaithful, and there is a daughter called Antara from the relationship. The woman with whom Aditya had been unfaithful has now died, and Aditya has to take care of Antara, who is autistic. They are slowly starting to learn what being autistic means, and Aditya is facing a lot of problems in trying to do good for Antara (with Vidya being somewhat cut off from him, but slowly starting to accept Antara as her daughter as well). Antara in the meantime is seen as crazy by those who do not know, including other mothers (and the serial unnecessarily shows some of the mothers as being very bitchy). Antara shows off some special skills in terms of artistic prowess.
Currently, Aditya is getting stuck in several problems. He was trying to earn some money on the side, but that is not working out. Further, most critically, Antara is now lost, and Aditya is going mad looking for her. Will he be able to find her, or will the serial go in for a time leap ?

Videos of Aapki Antara on Youtube:

Aapki Antara - 28th Aug 2009 - Part 1 - HD



Aapki Antara - 28th Aug 2009 - Part 2 - HD



Aapki Antara - 28th Aug 2009 - Part 3 - HD



Links that point to autism / autistic resources in India:
http://www.autism-india.org/afa_helpline.html
http://www.autismindia.com/
Autism Society of India

Cast:
Zynah Vastani (Antara)
Prabhleen Sandhu (Vidya Verma )
Darshan Pandya (Aditya Verma )
Rupali Ganguly (Anuradha)
Aarav Velhal (Billu Gupta)
Sujata Kumar (Anatara's grandmother)

More about autistic children:
Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood. Although early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills, there is no known cure. Overt symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months, become established by age two or three years, and tend to continue through adulthood, although often in more muted form. People with autism have social impairments and often lack the intuition about others that many people take for granted. Autistic infants show less attention to social stimuli, smile and look at others less often, and respond less to their own name. Autistic toddlers differ more strikingly from social norms; for example, they have less eye contact and turn taking, and are more likely to communicate by manipulating another person's hand.
Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior such as:
- Stereotypy is repetitive movement, such as hand flapping, making sounds, head rolling, or body rocking.
- Compulsive behavior is intended and appears to follow rules, such as arranging objects in a stacks or lines.
- Sameness is resistance to change; for example, insisting that the furniture not be moved or refusing to be interrupted.
- Ritualistic behavior involves an unvarying pattern of daily activities, such as an unchanging menu or a dressing ritual. This is closely associated with sameness and an independent validation has suggested combining the two factors.
- Restricted behavior is limited in focus, interest, or activity, such as preoccupation with a single television program, toy, or game.
- Self-injury includes movements that injure or can injure the person, such as eye poking, skin picking, hand biting, and head banging. A 2007 study reported that self-injury at some point affected about 30% of children.

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

Hindi Serial - Things start to get better in Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hain

Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hain on Star Plus must have seen the longest wedding ever, much longer than even the Rajshri's would have made it. The days before the wedding, the events during the wedding, and the post-wedding festivities have lasted for several weeks of serial time (I could be sure of missing any particular day and not have missed more than 1-2 functions). They should record some of those parts, and turn them into a cultural thing to show tourists, the wedding functions practices by one section of the population.
Anyhow, for most of the past few weeks, the whole thing was about how Naitik had discovered that he was not the first person that Akshara had seen, and had put on a twisted face ever since then. The fact that he wanted to be the first one to whom she had said (and then he discovered that it was his cousin, one with whom he keeps on fighting, which made it even worse). It got so bad that people in the wedding could not help noticing that he was not so happy as you would expect somebody to be who has just got married. Even his wedding photos showed him as grumpy, something his cousins kept on pointing out.
Eventually, it lead to Akshara crying in front of him on their wedding night, the time when they are supposed to make the first steps in building their relationship. It also meant that Rituraj, his cousin, wanted to quickly leave since he knew that this entire issue was all about his earlier proposal with Akshara. In the end, however, things turn out fine and Naitik resolves his problems. He also helps Akshara resolve her problem with making the traditional sweet on the day after marriage, since the kheer she makes is too sweet, and they get kheer from outside to save the issue.

Videos of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain on Youtube

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 21st August 2009-part1



Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 21st August 2009-part2

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

Nintendo DSi

The Nintendo DSi is a high-powered handheld video game system in a sleek, folding design-loaded with features designed to create a unique gaming experience. Like the DS and DS Lite before it, the DSi features Nintendo's trademark stylus-driven touchscreen technology, but determined to make portable gaming simultaneously larger and smaller in all the right places, Nintendo has also created the DSi with significantly larger screens and an even slimmer body design than its earlier cousins. Other features include the ability to snap photos with built-in cameras, edit and send them to friends, play back your music with Nintendo DSi Sound, or browse the Internet with the Nintendo DSi Browser. From playing games to just playing around, the Nintendo DSi does it all.

Product Features :
* Enjoy the largest screen size, best audio quality and thinnest design of any system in the Nintendo DS family.
* Download exclusive games, clocks and calendars via the Nintendo DSi Shop.
* Take pictures using either an inward or outward facing camera and chose from 11 different lenses to customize your shots.
* Connect wireless to browse the internet, share photos and play with others.
* Access your music in the AAC format off any standard SD Card.



FEATURES :
- The DSi's Two Digital Cameras : The most noticeable feature of the slim Nintendo DSi system are its two cameras - one camera is situated on the external body pointing away from the user, and the second one points at the user when the device is flipped open.
- DSi Sound : Another enhanced feature is the Nintendo DSi Sound application, which serves as both an interactive voice recorder and music player that allows users to play with their music while they listen to it.
- The DSiWare : Nintendo DSi will be the platform for the most relevant and fun on-the-go games and applications. The Nintendo DSiWare application will populate Nintendo DSi with software that can be downloaded using Nintendo DSi Points directly to the portable system, just as WiiWare has with Nintendo's Wii console.
- Games and Backwards Compatibility : In addition to downloadable games, Nintendo DSi is able to play games made specifically for the system and sold at retail.

Pros:
+ Bigger and slightly brighter screen.
+ New interface is easy to navigate.
+ DSi Ware is a nice implementation.
+ Digital camera to take photos with.
+ Internal memory and SD card slot are nice for storing data.
+ Downloaded games are inexpensive and the service has a lot of potential.

Cons:
- Photos taken on camera only really look good on the DSi screen.
- Shorter battery life.
- Web browser isn't the greatest.
- The lack of a GBA slot means you can't play GBA games, use some of the DS Lite's accessories (such as a rumble pack) and makes some games like Guitar Hero World - Tour virtually unplayable.

Hindi Serials: MTV Roadies: A hugely popular reality show

MTV Roadies is a long running show on the Indian music channel MTV. The show is a reality contest that believes in subjecting the contestants to many contests and tests, getting them to fight each other and compete strongly with one another. It is exceedingly popular, and has a dedicated audience who try to view each episode when the show is running. The show has had 6 seasons so far, and the interesting thing was the change in presenters. The first show had the presenter being Cyrus Sahukar, but from the second season, the winner of the first show, Rannvijay Singh Singha, has hosted the show from the second season onwards.
The first 4 seasons were held in India, with the 5th season going abroad, being held in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and the 6th season was held Down Under, in Australia and India. The show is created by Raghu Ram, and they also do the interviews to select the participants on the show, with Raghu and his twin, Rajiv Laxman, doing the interviewing. They have been known to reduce cocky contestants to being nervous, asking people all sorts of questions, humiliating them, and so on.
The people participating on the show are provided with bikes, and asked to go onto a known route. In between, they are asked to perform on many challengers, some of which can seem very difficult, or even yucky. For example, I saw one round where the male contestants where strapped to ropes in an upright position, and then a stick came and whacked their balls. In other tests, contestants had to eat all sorts of horrid stuff, and so on. At the end of each episode, one contestant is voted out.

Winners till Date:

Season 1 : Rannvijay Singh from Delhi
Season 2 : Ayushmann Khurana from Chandigarh
Season 3 : Parul Shahi from Delhi
Season 4 : Anthony Yeh from Kolkata
Season 5 : Ashutosh Kaushik from Saharanpur (also the Big Boss winner after this)
Season 6 : Nauman Sait from Bangalore

Audition of a contestant on MTV Roadies: Mtv Roadies 5.0 Nihal audition



Audition of Ashutosh on MTV Roadies:



More videos of MTV Roadies on Youtube (link)

Hindi Serials: Mood swings of Ratan Rajput, heroine of Agle Janam Mohe Bitiyan Hi Kijo on Zee TV

“Ratan doesn’t know how to switch off!!!” – Rupa Ganguly
According to senior artists on the sets, Ratan Rajpot though a fine actor, cannot really handle pressures of her character of Laali due to her young age. Since Ratan’s character involves a lot of suffering and depression, she stays with the same mood even after the camera goes off coz of which she is found cranky and cribbing most of the times. Sometimes she doesn’t even interact with the co-actors and locks herself in the makeup room. In her depression, she misses her family and starts crying. While a lot of times, co-stars act supportive towards her, sometimes they find her mood-swings unbearable.




Ratan says, “Though it’s only in reel life, it’s very difficult to let people trample all over you. I am treated very badly in show as Loha Singh uses foul language while talking to me and the women mistreat me as I belong to lower caste. I start imagining an actual life of this kind and the sufferings that poor people go through and that the reason I am not my chirpy-self on the sets.”

Ratan Regrets Missing Out on Personal Life…
Unlike most of our stars who enjoy the attention and glamour that the showbiz offers, Ratan Rajput, Laali, of Zee TV’s, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiyan Hi Kijo, says that she regrets missing out on her personal life. According to Ratan, “Though the industry has given me lot of fame and good amount of savings, I sometimes crave for simple things in life. I am in the industry because I love acting and not only for the materialistic things that it offers. I wish I could make weekend plans with my freinds or catch a movie or a walk on the beach whenever I feel like. What I miss the most is the roadside chaat. She also admits that due to ungodly hours of the shoot, it becomes difficult for her to connect to her family members and talk to them on a regular basis.”

Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo Title Track



Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo August 3, 2009



Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo August 4, 2009

Strange twist at the marriage in Pavitra Rishta on Zee

Now the twist in the story in Pavitra Rishta is becoming clear. The show however is not original, since it is based on a Tamil show called 'Thirumathi Selvam', which Ekta Kapoor bought the rights for.
The show is about the strange case of a marriage where circumstances change just after the marriage has happened, but the girl has not yet left with her husband. This is the story of Archana and Manav. Maanav owns a garage, while Archana's mother, Sulochana wants to get a good educated well-off boy for Archana, something that has been difficult in the past because Archana by herself does not have very good credentials. She is a very good person, but is not very well educated; at one point she almost gets married off to a rich educated and good buy, but this breaks off when Manujsha (Archana's sister-in-law) and her brother plot against Archana and create doubts in the mind of the boy and his family. This makes Sulochana mad and she vows to get a good boy for her daughter.



Maanav makes an entry in their life by saving Archana and her father, and they look at Maanav as a prospective son-in-law, thinking him to be a well earning mechanical engineer. Maanav is not comfortable that they do not know the truth about him, and tells Archana's father about the truth, and gets the go-ahead to proceed with the marriage. Sulochana does not know about this, and she only gets to know at the end of the marriage about this truth; she is shocked to the core and berates everybody for this. She refuses to acknowledge the marriage and Archana comes home with her.

Videos on Youtube of Pavitra Rishta:

pavitra rishta 31st july part 1



pavitra rishta 31st july 09 pt2



pavitra rishta 31st july part 3

Hindi Serial - Rakhi ka Swayamwar on its last legs - Marriage on Aug 2nd

Finally the spectacle seems to be getting over. There is a lot of speculation that Rakhi will do something to avoid getting married, including declaring in the end that she does not like any of these grooms and does not want to get married to any of them. In addition, it is very much possible that the prospective groom also realizes that some publicity is not enough to actually get married to Rakhi. Anyhow, the serial is in its last few days, with the marriage supposed to happen on the 2nd of August, 2009.
The show started with a huge number of people signing up, and then being whittled down to a field of 10. From these 10, Rakhi would evaluate them on various parameters, including how they walked over hot coals for her, whether they could bear having her name tattoed on their hand. A few of them were obvious publicity seekers, such as this guy called Manmohan who was there till the last 4, but who was probably a bigger drama-seeker than Rakhi. As the number of people reduced, Rakhi also met their families, went to their home towns, had live dates with them, and so on. But you could see her drama everywhere.
Now, it is down to 3, with the hot favorite being Elesh (from Canada, willing to settle down in Mumbai).

Present Contestants are:
Manas Katyal
Chittiz Jain
Elesh Parujanwala

27th July 2009 - Rakhi Ka Swayamvar [Special Epiosde] - Part 1



27th July 2009 - Rakhi Ka Swayamvar [Special Epiosde] - Part 2



27th July 2009 - Rakhi Ka Swayamvar [Special Epiosde] - Part 3

Hindi Serials - Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao - Not very exciting

In this age of reality shows all over, Sony Entertainment Television copied another reality show appearing outside (called 'I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!') India, and setup the local equivalent called Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bacha0 (Starting from 13th July, 2009 at 10pm. Mon-Thurs at 10pm & Fri 9pm for 1 hour). The show took 10 celebrities to a jungle in Malaysia, and makes them live there without the usual comforts (and most of them are people who either needed the glamour, or who are without much work). They are forced to do tasks over there that can seem pretty horrible:
- such as being forced to spend minutes in a coffin with water coming in and 60 frogs provide company (Shweta Tiwari)
- having a glass helmet over one's head while different insects and other creepy crawlies (snakes, scorpions) are also in the same helmet (Akash)
- having to break pots to get the stars hidden inside the pots while the pots contain vile animal stuff, and so on
If they complete such tasks successfully, then they earn food.



Every contestant gets a handful of rice and some soyabean for food every three days, which is clearly not enough for survival. Therefore, they must participate in various physically challenging contests and win "food credits" for themselves and their team members. Each day, the team must nominate one participant to play in the day's contest and be the so-called bread-winner for that day.
Audiences can vote for their contestants and people have started getting nominated for eviction, with Chand Fiza Mohammed becoming evicted after losing a contest with Anaida.

Hosts:
Mini Mathur
Yudhishthir Urs aka Yudi

Contestants

Marc Robinson - Fashion Choreographer
Chetan Hansraj - Actor
Akashh Deep Saigal - Actor
Shweta Tiwari - TV Actress
Anaida - Singer
Mona Wasu - TV Actress
Aman Yatan Verma - Actor, Presenter
Palak Kaur Johal - 2nd Runner-Up in Roadies (Hell Down Under)
Fiza Chand Mohammed - Famous Personality in marriage, divorce, re-marriage case (out)
IshQ Bector - Hip-Hop Singer (out)

Video of Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao on Youtube

Iss Jungle se mujhe bachao 16 july - Shweta Tiwari looking cool and sexy



Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao contestants walk out of the show! (A reality show that has been scheduled to last for two months saw 8 of the 10 celebrities on Sony Television's Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao have walked out of the show. It seems this came after Akashdeep Saigal, a contestant on the show, performed a task called 'Fill your Face' where he had to put his face into a jar filled with snakes, meal worms and bugs. When Akashdeep returned to the camp, his face was swollen after being bitten by the bugs. The incident shook the rest of the contestants and eight of them reportedly decided to walk out of the show, and came back only after talking to the contestants)



Marc's confession about Priety



Videos of Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao on Youtube (link)

Hindi Serial - Sach Ka Samna on Star Plus - Face the truth

Sach Ka Saamna is a new show on Star Plus, with the aim of asking real hard questions on national TV to people, who will answer such questions in the hope of making a cool Rs. 1 crore. This show is the Indian version of the international reality show, 'The Moment of Truth (wikipedia)', and revels in asking a huge number of questions that test the person's ability to answer truthfully. The show started on July 15th, and runs on Star Plus weekdays at 10:30 - 11 PM. The show is hosted by Rajiv Khandelwal. The show features a combination of celebrities and normal people, with the first person on the show being Smitha Mithai, followed by actor Yusuf Hussain, and ex-cricketer Vinod Kambli.



The show is literally equivalent to opening up yourself in public. People are put in front of their families and friends and asked whether they have betrayed them, or felt anything for their family, or even more direct questions related to their sexual habits (such as a contestant being asked whether he had sex with a girl younger than his daughter). One shudders to think as to how long this show will go on before questions and outrage in Parliament will force a crackdown.
The show has contestants appearing in front of a polygraph (lie detector machine) and being asked 50 questions. This happens behind the scenes. When the participant appears on the show, they are asked 21 of these questions in increasing order of hardness and as they proceed successfully, the amount they earn increases until they reach the sum of Rs. 1 crore. However, if they answer a question incorrectly (if the polygraph judges the answer to be incorrect), they lose all the money they have earned. They can withdraw before the question is asked.

Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 1



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 2



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 3



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 4



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 5



Sach Ka Saamna star star tv shows show 15th July 15 Part 6



View more episodes of the show on Youtube (click here)

Hindi Serial - Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur - Historical Saga on Sony TV

From time to time, the channels make shows that deal with historical figures, such as serials on Rani Jhansi, Prithviraj Chauhan; as a part of this, there are also shows with a religious fervor such as the serials on Sai Baba. The story of Rani Padmini, and her Jauhar (self sacrifice in a fire) rather than be dishonored by Alauddin Khilji (the Sultan of Delhi) is a part of the history of India, and the tales of her beauty and valor are incredible. So, the serial takes the story of her life (read an article on Wikipedia about her story). The few reactions that I have got from people about the serial (not too many people continue to see the serial after some time) are that they expected more drama, and that the serial seemed to have very colorful costumes, but was lacking in something.



The serial is about the story of Rani Padmini and Prince Ratan Singh of Chittod. King Ratan Singh is already married to Nagmati, but falls in love with Padmini, the daughter of the king of Singhaldweep. He appeals to her parents to let him marry her, even without the permission of his parents, and they finally agree. After some drama where Padmini is kidnapped and then rescued by Ratan Singh, she enters the Chittod royal palace against the wishes of Nagmati, and has to face some rivalry from her.

Cast:

Tejaswini Lonari...Rani Padmini
Rohit Bakshi...King Ratnasen
Mukesh Rishi...Allah-ud-din Khilji

Videos of the serial "Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur"

Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 1



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 2



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 3



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 4

Hindi Serial - Ladies Special on Sony TV - Story of 4 different ladies

Ladies Special is a show that started fairly recently on Sony TV (premiered on May 25, 2009). It is shown on weekdays, Monday - Thursday at the prime time of 9:30 PM. The name of the serial is based on the train service only for ladies, called 'Ladies Special'. The show takes 4 ladies from different age groups, and covers their daily challenges, problems, accomplishments. It is yet another quest to make a serial that is different from all the family drama that used to dominate serials earlier.
The serial tries to take an unromantic look at life, a theme that was started with Nukkad and has been shown in several other shows; the concept is still relevant if the shows are realistic and do not drag.



The 4 ladies that are the main characters of this show are (details at this link):
1. Neena Gupta (plays Shubha Joshi). Her life gets upset when she realized that her husband (Akash Khurana) had a second wife in Pune, and she decides to leave and move into a separate flat. She had left her job and left the Ladies Special, but now needs to find a job and resume travel on the train.
2. Shilpa Tulaskar (plays Nanda Shinde). Middle aged, mid 30's. Has 2 children, including a daughter in school (15 years old). Her life in the serial is geared towards meeting the challenges in her children's life, as well as forming a wonderful husband-wife pair.
3. Ashita Dhawan (plays Bubbly Chaddha). Is Bubbly like her name, works in a private company as a receptionist, and lives a life based on EMI's and installments. Always boasting about riches she does not have, her life is getting into a trap of money repayments and money problems.
4. Payal Sarkar (plays Pooja Singh). Newly married, Pooja is in the honeymoon like period of early marriage, but her marriage to Harsh Chhaya is slowly revealing that her husband is dominating, and abusive. She slowly gathers the courage to make an independent life.

Videos of Ladies Special on Sony (on Youtube)
Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 1:



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 2



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 3



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 4



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 5

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

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