"Aamir (Aamir Khan), my son, normally does not accept awards. I am in a dilemma. I don‘t know what to do. But because I believe it is a genuine award, I will accept it on his behalf."

With that statement, Aamir Khan‘s father and film maker put the stamp of approval and paid respect to the Zee Network organised Lux Zee Cine Popular Awards. The Junior Khan got the award for Best Actor, through a poll process that directly involved viewers of Zee TV, for his role in Sarfarosh.

The best actress award went to Aishwarya Raid for her able essaying of the role of a young girl forced into marriage by a doting father, her rebellion, and her final reconciliation to the fact that her husband is a much better choice for her than her lover (played by Salman Khan), in the box office success Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

The best director award and best film award went to film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Veteran actor Pran was given a lifetime achievement award. Ditto with film maker Nasir Hussain. Both have been associated with roles and films which have become bellwethers for the industry.

The awards function was held at a sports stadium, the Andheri Sports Complex, in northern Mumbai. A packed house - a crowd of at least 10,000-15,000 - which included the film trade, advertisers, the corporate world, media and the general public went agog with excitement every time a star got on stage to perform.

And there were perfomances aplenty by matinee stars Govinda, Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan, Juhi Chawla, Lucky Ali and the hearthrob of the nation, Hrithik Roshan. Anil Kapoor, Govinda, and Salman Khan stole people‘s hearts. As did Hrithik Roshan but one expected a lot more display of his dance talent when he performed on stage along with singer Lucky Ali.

Among those who presented the awards included: the breathtaking Rekha, Sushmita Sen, Akshay Khanna, Namrata Shirodkar, Shammi Kapoor, Alka Yagnik, Renuka Sahane, Sultan Ahmed, Baba Sehgal.

Among the other winners of the Lux Zee Cine Popular Awards figure:

Keep logging for further developments relating to Mr Murdoch.

Like they did it with the channel they are at it again. And this time around it‘s the net venture. Sony Entertainment Television is looking out to join hands with several portals and Net companies to make a foray into the net business. And even this time it‘s a rather quite and hush hush affair unlike their competitors Star & Zee. Zee is already way ahead of the pack but then Sony, which made a late entry into the television business, might give a tough time to the rest of these entertainment channels which are venturing into the net business. This is because Sony is in talks with 15-20 Internet companies and is also looking for alliances with ISPs like Pacific Internet, Bharti-BT and Mantra Online. To discuss their net ventures Sony held a high level conference which was held in Japan.

Ever thought of making an eminent cricketer dance with a click of a computer mouse or a phone call? Chucking them in and out of a one-day cricket match as and when one wished if he‘s messing up on the field.That‘s precisely what Sony Entertainment Television has promised to cricket buffs while announcing its entry into what CEO Kunal Dasgupta termed a new genre of television programming with cricket as its centrepiece.

Close on the heels of Zee Telefilms announcing its entry into reality television with POW, Sony is brewing its own unique version of reality television centred around cricket, whose driving force would be a great level of interactivity with the viewing public.

Something akin to the rolling substitutions in hockey, here the public would be able to decide who should be on and off the field during timeouts seems to be the general drift of what is being conceptualised.

Bidding to dispel media talk that Sony was planning a new version of masala cricket a la Kerry Packer in the early eighties, Dasgupta said the matches would be held only during the off season. There was no question of taking on any national cricket boards by putting together rebel teams, Dasgupta said. He, however evinced the hope that the endeavour will "generate unparalleled entertainment for the cricket loving public so that the cricket establishment will recognise Sony‘s innovation and contribution to the game.

The programme is to be aired over a 10-15 day period per season over three seasons in a year live on MAX. It is aiming for a nationwide audience and says it is hopeful people would participate in this made for television cricket game. According to Dasgupta, they were working with a group of associates to develop an innovative, transparent "made for television" cricket format using the latest available technology. Subject to their availability, Sony was planning to rope in the best national and international cricketers, Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta was unable to provide details of the format, who were the players who had signed on, or even when it would take off other than saying that it would be sometime in April or May.

A problem Sony will have to get around is the problem of uplinking. Sony has no uplinking facility in India but uplinks from Singapore. For the live feel of viewer interactivity this will have to be addressed. Anand Desai, senior vice-president corporate development, who is responsible for the show, admitted as much and said they were working on it. Desai, however, gave a categorical assurance that the programme would be real time live.

Referring to the interactive element of the game, Dasgupta said one of the top cricket portals would be hosting details on the match through which viewers could participate. Dasgupta admitted that Sony was entering uncharted territory with this effort but said it was worth a shot anyway.

The Seven of the top 10 programmes among the music based channels are blaring from the stables of etc, a company press release said on Thursday. According to INTAM reports for the period 19 February to 25 February in all India 4+ Cable & Satellite (C&S) homes, the shows of etc have superior channel share compared to other music based channels. Bhakti Sangeet - a compilation of religious songs - on etc tops the table with a channel share of 1.45. Bhakti Sangeet is telecast every day at 7.30 am.

Rounding up the top 5 are another four etc programs - Mix Masala, Bhakti Sudha, Bollywood Bazaar and Pop Unlimited, the release says. MTV‘s Cinemascope comes at No. 6. This is followed by Once More (etc), Geet Gata Chal (etc), Just request (B4U) and Baar Baar Dekho (MTV), it further adds.

In 15-minute day-part reach category etc‘s reach is 5.62, followed by MTV (4.7), B4U (3.21), Channel [V] (2.88) and ZEE Music (2.7), the release goes on to say.

Talking about etc‘s lead, Pradeep Dixit, CEO etc says: "The recent figures of INTAM prove the fact that whether it is film music, pop numbers or religious songs, it‘s pure unadulterated music that has more takers than mindless shows with VeeJays babbling about everything but the music. Bhakti Sudha and Mix Masala - the top grossers are music compilation of sensible and good music."