MUMBAI: Eternal Dreams, a media company promoted by Sapna Chaturvedi, is seeking to honour bards.
And it is doing it in memory of India‘s greatest singer ever, the eternal Kishore Kumar. The company, which has been slowly but surely working on turning around the Rathikant Basu promoted Tara Marathi and Bengali, has initiated the Kishore Kumar Award - which will honour two singing talents each year: one for established singers and the other for a new voice who can recreate the magic of the Maestro, Kishore Kumar.

Some permanent members of the jury who will judge the entries include: Amit Kumar, Kishan Kumar of T Series, Ratan Jain of Venus, Kumar S Taurani of Tips, Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms, Praveen Shah of Time and music directors Dabboo Malik and Himesh Reshammiya. Apart from these, there will be other members who will be decided each year prior to the selections.

Chaturvedi says Eternal Dreams will handle the winners‘ careers for six months. "We hope to present the Indian music industry with some exceptional talents in the coming years,"she adds. The award was unveiled by film star Jeetendra at a musical extravaganza based on the songs of Kishoreda last weekend. Among the singers who turned up and crooned at no cost included Kumar Sanu, Vinod Rathod, Babul Supriyo, Shaan and Dabboo Malik. Making his debut on stage was Kishore Kumar‘s youngest son Sumeet Kumar, who enthralled the audience with his promising performance.

Balaji Telefilms chairman Jeetendra Kappor (extreme left) and Eternal Dreams MD Sapna Chaturvedi (extreme right) at the musical extravaganza last weekend

The surprise discovery of the evening, however, was Pankaj Chaturvedi, a singer who wears two hats with the ease of a magician. Pankaj who evoked nostalgic memories of Kishoreda with the best of his memorable numbers is also the CEO of Baskin Robbins (South Asia), the largest international ice cream chain in India.

The show, a tribute to Kishore Kumar, is to be aired on DD Metro and has the backing of Tide detergent, Dabur and Win 94.6 with Regent Hotels being the hospitality partner.

MUMBAI: UTV Toons‘ animation series Meena in the City has bagged the runner up award in the Asian Technical and Creative Awards 2002 in the Best 2D Animation category.
Meena in the City revolves around Meena, a girl child born in India, who suffers on account of gender inequality. The series, made for UNICEF, has been telecast in several countries in Asia and elsewhere, according to UTV Toons business development manager Jyotirmoy Saha. Meena won the award for the characterization, attention to detail, style and finesse, says Saha.

The five year old wing of UTV Software, UTV Toons ranks among the region‘s top animation outsourcing destinations for both Flash and Traditional animation, with a repertoire of clients from Europe, North America and Asia. The animation production house currently has four projects on hand, three of them for North American clients.

Among UTV Toons‘ other projects, Jo Kilat for TV12 has earlier been awarded the best children‘s TV programme in Bahasa Malaysia. The series depicts the adventures of 12 year old Jo Kilat and his friends. Another series made for Unicef, Sara, highlights problems of teenage pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, which are burning issues in South Africa.

MUMBAI: It‘s a unique way to celebrate a first anniversary. But trust Star Plus to take the innovative route even when it comes to something as simple as two of its shows completing one year of telecast.

The fact that both Khullja Sim Sim and Kya Masti Kya Dhuum will turn one during the extended ‘Independence weekend‘ has probably also prompted the channel into getting the respective anchors to switch roles for the anniversary edition. At 8 pm on KMKD, host Aman Verma will take the place of Sonali Bendre. The lady on the other hand, will take Verma‘s post as anchor of the game show at 9 pm.

Kya Masti Kya Dhuum has had, till date, over 250 children participating with 65 celebrities - Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Salman Khan, Esha Deol among them. Khullja Sim Sim has had 500 participants for prizes worth over Rs 60 million, of which Rs 25 million worth of prizes have been disbursed over 52 episodes (including Rs 1 million worth of cars).

According to Verma, "I‘ve never done theatre before, but the very first schedule of Khullja Sim Sim itself helped me learn to control my voice. I‘ve learnt a lot from Khullja Sim Sim - dealing with live audiences, which is about 400-odd people. This has instilled confidence in me. The popularity I got for Khullja Sim Sim, helped several other shows to come my way. Life has taken a turnaround."