The third quarter results of media baron Subhash Chandra?s Zee Network are out and they were quite clear on one front. That it was time for Zee to take stock and do a rethink on a number of ambitious projects Chandra had lined up for the group. It appears to be a policy of scaling down and consolidation at the moment.

As part of this exercise comes the report in the Times of India on Monday that the ambitious Agrani Satellite project has been scaled down by Rs 25.5 billion.

The reduction comes soon after his rejection of the Industrial Financial Corporation of India?s (IFCI) tough stand that he pledge his stake in Zee Telefilms and Essel Packaging for availing funds for the satellite project. In addition IFCI had also sought a personal guarantee from him.

The Agrani project as it stands now involves a proposed investment below RS 12 billion. This proposal has been submitted to the Industrial Development Bank (IDBI) for funding but it remains to be seen whether IDBI takes a softer stand on funding than IFCI.

In a related development, the Zee Network has also scaled down plans for its ambitious RS 37 billion broadband project by deciding to implement the project in three phases, the Financial Express reported. The company will now be investing only RS 3 billion in the first phase. The rest of the project will depend on Zee Network finding suitable strategic and financial partners.

Zee hopes to invest RS 23 billion in the second phase. Till such time as the company gets a financial partner in the project, the broadband rollout will be restricted to the laying of ducts in four cities within the financial resources available to Zee Telefilms? wholly-owned subsidiary, Siticable Network.
 

Alpha Marathi, the Marathi language channel of the Zee Network, announced on Monday that the second Alpha Gaurav Puraskar awards for theatre and cinema will be held on 3 February.

The awards, which cover the best of Marathi theatre and cinema across different categories, will be broadcast on Alpha Marathi at 8:00 pm on 10 February. Launched last year at the beginning of 2000, these awards are aimed at giving recognition to the Marathi theatre and cinema industry.

Introduced with the aim to encourage local language and culture, Alpha caters to the local flavours and traditions of Maharashtra and provides a forum for the artistic talents of Marathi film and theatre artists. There will be one male personality and one female personality to bag the Lifetime Achievement award in each category.

Curtain raisers for the show will be telecast on 3 February and 9 February.

Jeeto Chappar Phaad ke A winner All the Way

The first episode of Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke on 26 January 2001 clearly shows what sets Sony Entertainment Television apart from the rest of the programming pack in India - and namely major rival Zee TV. Additionally, it explains why Sony has been racing up the TRP charts.

It had entertainment, it had absorbing quizzing, it had the feeling of family, it had money and consumer durable giveaways and it had interesting twists to the format that has been made popular by Who Wants to be a millionaire? But the two stars of the show were our Virar ka chokra Govinda and the production values. He gyrated, he mimicked, he sang, he chanted poetry and prayers, he quizzed, he goaded participants, he guided them, he stood throughout the show while the participants sat - it was Govinda all the way in his burnt sienna suit.

Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke - belongs to the genre of quiz game shows - but it did not have the sombre and serious feel that a Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) does. KBC, in fact, has begun to drag - despite AB. It is interesting - but it is not fun. Amitabh Bachchan, with no disrespect to him, comes across like the Grim Reaper waiting to grill contestants as compared to Govinda who is there to comfort them and cheer them on.

There was no lock kiya jaye or fix kiya jaye - just a simple placing of a mohur when the contestant answered and finalised her answers. Also she had four friends to guide him/her along: Govinda, Sahi ya Galat (Right or Wrong), Janta Se Maang (Public question), and Chaar se do (Two from four). And the prizes to be won were limitless - not Rs 10 million, not Rs 100 million - but as much as can be won.

On the production front (a pat on Mani Iyer?s Inhouse Productions? back?), there were none of the wildly moving camera shots that a Sawal Dus Crore Ka had in its first episode. Nor the dark foreboding audiences that the Zee TV show did. The sets were a delight and helped build the show instead of being just appendages. Four overhead circle lights coming on and going crazy before every break. Some observers thought they were gaudy - a tad overdone. And yes the lighting can do with a little less of a yellow cast.

According to Dasgupta, what made the show interesting was the giveaways. "You get evidence that you are physically winning something. When Irvender got a Videocon AC and a Compaq computer, viewers could see that she acutally took home something. And that too at a price of Re 1 only," he says.

Additionally, the show was choc-a-bloc with advertising. However, the best part was how the time flew - one hardly got to know when the show got over. Actually, one was regrettably annoyed that it had run out of time.

If Govinda and the Sony programming team led by Kunal Dasgupta and Rekha Nigam can keep up the tempo, we could have another piece of programming history being written. Welcome to some heady days ahead!!! Yo!