Indian fashion will be the loser if the government follows through with Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj‘s threat that fashion channel FTV will be banned unless it "synchronises with Indian culture", B4U Managing Director Ravi Gupta said on Wednesday.

"If it (FTV) does not synchronise with our culture... I am getting it monitored for a week. After that we will show the highlights to the parliamentary consultative committee so that a joint decision can be taken," she told PTI on 31 December, 2000.

"FTV is a channel for the fashion industry. And should be seen as such. What is aired is actual ramp action both in India and across the fashion capitals of the world. It has nothing to do with pornography, Gupta stressed. He clarified that as there had been no direct communication from the government on the matter till now, whatever was being debated was purely speculative.

He also made the point that FTV provided a platform to bring Indian fashion to a global audience through its daily 10pm screenings devoted to the Indian fashion scene. "If the channel goes off the air Indian fashion stands to lose a great deal," he warned.

So how will B4U respond if there are moves to ban the channel? "We will seek legal redress," said Gupta. He however added that B4U did not plan to get into a dogfight with the government on the matter if it was adamant in its stand. "If they insist we will simply take FTV off. We won‘t make an issue of it, he said.

MUMBAI: Zee News continues to pack its anchor team with personalities from diverse fields. This time, for a show featuring young parliamentarians, the channel has roped in former Times of India editor Dileep Padgaonkar, who follows ex-finance minister Yashwant Sinha and actor Abhinav Chaturvedi as anchors.

Padgaonkar, who has done some television programmes through his company APCA mainly for pubcaster Doordarshan earlier, will be seen in a new avatar on the news channel anchoring a personality based show on the young parliamentarians.

The show has been defined by Zee News as a breach of traditional shows revolving around dhoti-pyjama clad politicians. The show will capture the parliamentarians like Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Navin Jindal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, to name a few.

According to Zee Telefilms news director Laxmi N Goel, "Dileep Padgaonkar has been roped in for the show, Neta Tum Hi Kal Ke Ho (working title), as he possesses the stature and has worked in close quarters with politicians. He indeed can bring righteousness to the show."
  
As of now, the channel is still working on the title of the show. The personality driven show is scheduled to go on air by month-end.

Elaborating on the thing behind the show, Geol states, ?It is mainly a breakthrough for the Indian mindset on the politicians. And, also to show the changing faces of Indian leadership."

According to Goel, the show will provide an insight to young parliamentarians with a new vision for a better tomorrow examining their work culture, family values and other aspects.

The show is under production and around 35 episodes have been planned.

MUMBAI: This Friday, that is 5 August, at 9 pm, as Amitabh Bachchan re-unites with Computerji to rekindle the KBC phenomenon yet again on Indian television, Star?s Tamil channel Vijay TV will also have for its viewers its own dubbed version of KBC 2 with the tagline "Nambikku Mele Double" (twice more than you hope).

The Big B?s familiar deep baritone voice is being dubbed by renowned Tamil film artiste Nizhalgal Ravi who made it big in Kollywood with a reportoire that includes Nayakan, Nizhalgal, Indian, Kandukondain Kandukondain and Annamalai

The channel has already kicked off its aggressive promotional

activities for the big property. On ground activities which had participation by school kids, the distribution of KBC 2-branded merchandise, outdoor and print campaigns are being employed to create hype.
 
Says Vijay TV DGM Harsh Rohatgi on the upcoming biggy, "The show which made television history is back again and this time it will create a bigger impact among the Tamil audience."

Regional advertisers who have been roped in by Vijay TV for KBC 2 are confident that the dubbed version of the Hindi show will be accepted by Tamil viewers. "KBC 2 is a property that re-defines Indian television?s regional spirits. The show targets all segments of society whether it is the youth, the family or the kids segment. So I think the experiment will really work," says Chennai-based retailer Pothy?s Ramesh.

Other regional advertisers figuring in the Tamil version of KBC 2 include Univercell. The channel has also national advertisers Airtel, Fairever, LG Electronics and Chlor-Mint in its line up.

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Vijay TV spins separate story around ‘KBC 2‘