The greatest prayers to go to Ganapati Bappa from tinsel town this year must have been for Star TV's Nach Baliye. How else does one explain the number of star pairs from the dance contest organising Ganesh pooja this year.
A case in point here are Shweta Tiwari and Raja Choudhry and Sharad Kelkar and Kirti Kelkar. Not content with just organising the pooja, the telestars pulled in their PR machinery to get the event wide publicity.
Their success is evident in the fact that we are discussing this here. This is what the release from Shweta and Raja had to say, "The entire family prays to Lord Ganesha for its well-being as well as some super success on Nach Baliye 2." Shall we say Chok de, to that.
While on Nach Baliye, here's more on its rivalry with Sony TV with Jhalak Dikhlaja. To counter the challenge thrown up by Jhalak with a heavyweight panel of judges -- Farah Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Sanjay Leela Bhansali -- Star has added hit film maker Kunal Kohli (Hum Tum, Fanaa) to its existing panel of Saroj Khan, Malaika Arora-Khan. Only time will tell who wins the 'battle of the judges'.
Last week's music release function for the maiden BAG Film's venture Zindagi Rocks was a show of strength for hosts Anuradha Prasad (BAG boss) and Rajeev Shukla (Rajya Sabha MP and Prasad's husband). Not only was the entire cast present (Sushmita Sen, Shiney Ahuja, Kim and Mousumi Chatterjee), but biggies like Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Karishma Kapoor were also there to lend their support to the film. Among the last to walk in was Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Desmukh and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray. Also present was the cast of BAG's most successful TV serial till date -- Kumkum: Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan.
Juhi Parmar looked drop-dead gorgeous in a white outfit, save the dark circles under her eyes. A result of overworking in Kumkum? Her on-screen husband Hussain was also there as the compere of the show and did a pretty decent job on-stage.
Remember Rok Sako To Rok Lo, the Arindam Chaudhuri-Planman production that hit theatres amid a lot of hype and hoopla, but disappeared without a whimper?
Karan Kapoor, who acted in the film, tried his hand at a number of other big banners in the last few years and even went on to claim he's signed up for some Hollywood projects as well. Kapoor is now seen on television in Balaji's latest serial - Karam Apna Apna.
Ask him why he's moved to the small screen and he will say, "Television is a very powerful medium today. More so, if you get an opportunity to work with the biggest name in the industry - Balaji Telefilms."
Haven't we heard that one before.
Have you been missing Gauri Pradhan from Kyun Ki ...lately? The stunner has not been very active of late. Apart from the occasional Page 3 picture with hubby Hiten Tejwani, very little is known of what she is up to these days.
Grapevine is that she has been busy completing a psychology course she always wanted to do. Knowing what a bright student she has been, she will no doubt complete the course with flying colours. Then her return to the sets of Kyun Ki is also imminent. Good they will have a counsellor at hand on the sets then.