Of late, I’ve been eyeballing a rather charismatic numerologist called Sanjay Jumani on Sahara’s Bolen Sitare where he makes predictions about films. But isn’t it rather self-defeating when he turns around to say Barsaat doesn’t add up numerologically to be a hit? By making such damaging predictions you influence the audience into believing the film deserves to be a non-success. Nevertheless, Jumanji provides able pastime and seems to know about the stars above as much as the ones below. Does he apply Page 3 wisdom to astrology? How else do we explain a statement like, “Bobby and Priyanka don’t jell, she jells better with Akshay”?

Kyunki...Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi... has turned into a masquerade of maudlinism. Tulsi was first detected with a terminal illness. The entire Virani family went into a collective overdrive. False alarm. All’s well with Tulsi. And she’s beaming brightly all over the place coaxing her surly husband (who has dyed his hair lately) to have thepla while driving. Now the problematic zone has shifted to her daughter who’s having marital problems. Ektaa Kapoor’s father Jeetendra has been added to the Saas-Bahu cast.

The music contests are getting unbearably passionate. On Sa Re Ga Ma Challenge we had one female contestant clutching another to sob so hard that you feared for their life and breath. There’s one particular director in Bollywood who’s known to scream, “Aur emotion daalo” at all his actors. Maybe he’s directing Sa Re Ga Ma. I liked judge Alka Yagnik’s response. “I can understand the tears when a contestant loses. But why do the winners cry?” Because tears are a big turn-on at primetime, that’s why! The judges on this talent-scouting thing sure behave like villains in a typical potboiler. They flare their nostrils and throw taunts, fling insults at one another and sneer at their contemporaries.

Quite easily the best Independence Day gift was a whole well-researched segment of CNBC’s Showtime on the completion of 30 years of Sholay. Though the central interview with Ramesh Sippy was slightly callow (why did the correspondent insist on asking so many questions on the Holi song in Sholay?) the cross-section of views on this historic film made it a perfect tribute to a film that refuses to die. Like Tulsi.