Worth the wait?

Whatever happened to NDTV’s general entertainment channel? While rival broadcasting companies such as TV Today and TV-18 have added new channels to their bouquet this year, there is no sign of NDTV’s entertainment channel which was scheduled to be launched a few months ago. Insiders say that initially the company had plans to launch an Indian version of the Oprah Winfrey show on its new channel. So has the project been shelved? NDTV’s president K.V.L. Narayan Rao is quick to dismiss the suggestion: there’s been no change in the company’s plans, he says. “The channel will be a mass entertainment channel with a mix of innovative and quality programming in the areas of fiction, reality and lifestyle,” he says.

Bong connection

Marathi serials director Dasbabu is finally making a full-fledged feature film. The Bengali babu who left Calcutta for Mumbai many years ago says he’s never thought of making a Bengali film ? so his film Tahaan is also in Marathi. Joining him in the venture are two fellow Bengalis ? dance director Subal Sarkar and cameraman Shankar Vardhan. The three Bengali artistes are coming together for the first time to work on Tahaan ? a film based on farmers’ suicides. Dasbabu’s choice of subject is not surprising considering he touches upon contemporary social issues in his serials as well. His serial Ek Dhaga Sukhacha on Sahyadri Marathi channel dealt with the gender issue.