MUMBAI: Jay Mehta, the son of film producer and distributor Pranlal Mehta, will be producing two new TV shows: Vishwas in the afternoon slot for Zee and another one for Sahara TV which is in the early stages of conceptualisation.
Mehta has acted in films such as Muskurahat and produced feature films such as 100 Days. On TV, he has earlier done shows such as Mujhe Door Koi Kiche (Zee), Jung (Doordarshan), Zara Suneye To (Sahara) and a Gujarati serial Karo Kankuna for Alpha Gujarati. Mehta is also waiting for the right script for his Gujarathi theatre project which he bills as his dream.
"Vishwas is a social thriller which will be aired in the afternoon. I have already finished shooting some episodes and am waiting for Zee's officials to give me the exact telecast timings," says Jay Mehta. Mehta however, states that that the Sahara project is in the early stages of conceptualisation.
Vishwas stars Vijayendra Ghatge, Gautam Chaturvedi, Anang Desai, Raju Kher and Usha Bachani amongst others. Mehta states that he has worked with Zee and is comfortable working with the programming team.
When queried about the difference between feature films and TV productions, Mehta says: "Both are similar in the sense that the hard work and creativity are part and parcel of the two separate mediums. On TV, one has to make some adjustments as the channel officials have a say in the scheme of things. In the case of films, one has a lot of freedom."
Mehta also states that the channel's creative team provides the independent producers with invaluable inputs about the look and feel of the show. "It is a combined effort. However, the independent producers have to assert themselves in certain creative aspects. The channels' programming team shouldn't interfere much in the scripts," he adds.
Mehta has his own creative team and script-writers. The panel of experts comes up with various story ideas based on current affairs, literature and other sources.
When asked as to why he has no projects on DD, Mehta states:"I have had some good experiences during my earlier stint with Doordarshan. However, I don't have much time on hand now to complete the extensive paper work and formalities. Also, I used to visit DD's headquarters in Delhi often but haven't done so in a long time."
Mehta's afternoon show on Zee will be eagerly awaited as it would fill in the void created by Balaji Telefilm's production Kohi Apna Sa!