NDTV-Imagine

Seen on: YouTube

NDTV-Imagine is a Hindi entertainment-channel by news-major NDTV-Group, led by former STAR-India CEO Sameer-Nair. The channel, which launches in India on January 21, 2008, promises to entertain viewers with its creative-content.

Banning the 'Daughter-in-Law'!

In an echo of the strict religious laws of the Taleban era, the Islamic Council of Scholars won the backing this week of a powerful government minister in its campaign to get dozens of wildly popular Bombay dramas of Afghanistan's television-screens.

The Minister of Information and Culture has written to television executives to threaten prosecution if they show footage that offends morality. He is particularly concerned about Indian soaps.

The dramas have won thousands of devotees in Afghanistan who enjoy the escapist world of the fictional Bombay rich. They have, however, offended the country's new moral-enforcers, who fear that the soaps will fuel a craze of "stone-worship".

Tolo TV shows three dramas, Story of Every House; Trials of Life; and Because a Mother-in-Law Was Once a Daughter-Law Too.

Saad Mohseni, the director of Tolo TV, said:"We have so many problems in this country - kidnapping, terrorism, inflation - so why is the Government making a deal about something which is pleasing to the eyes and ears of Afghans?"

Via The Times

"Desi-Hero"

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a boy, brown of skin and dark of hair, decided to become an actor. Our hero, a big believer in the equality of the land, took on a new name.

A brown face is no longer an oddity in that elusive land of dreams — Hollywood.

“People are finally listening. Studios have realised that casting people from different nationalities also opens up many creative avenues for telling different stories,” says Sendhil-Ramamurthy, 33, who plays Mohinder Suresh in the hit television drama Heroes.

“Diverse shows are more saleable. Look at how successful Lost is,” says Ramamurthy, who struggled for eight years.

Agrees 23-year-old actor Sunkrish Bala: “Hollywood has realised that the international market is an important money spinner. When Zee Café picked shows for their new season, most of the ones they chose had an Asian character in them.”

Via Hindustan-Times

A Desi Scholar

The Airtel Scholar Hunt Destination UK, a first of its kind reality television series on education by NDTV, has opened up a window of opportunity for students.

When 'Atree' learnt of the possibility of pursuing a degree in engineering in the UK through the Airtel Scholar Hunt, he knew he had to give it his best shot. I will be very happy if I win this scholarship. I will get to study at Warwick,'' said a Atree.