Game shows are losing their fizz. Star‘s Kaun Banega Crorepati‘s viewership has been slipping. Zee‘s Sawaal Dus Crore Ka came and went without a by your leave. Sony‘s Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke is not living up to its promise. So where does that leave Sabe TV‘s Jab Khelo Sab Khelo?

The buzz is that host Shekhar Suman may not renew his contract with Sri Adhikari Brothers Entertainment Television Network Ltd (SABTNL) when it expires in the next two months. Should that happen, the show is likely to be given a burial.

Suman is believed to be concentrating more on movies this year. He has close to five movies planned. Two with Kundan Shah and one each with Kalpana Lajmi, Mani Iyer‘s Vipul Films, and David Dhawan.

SABTNL vice chairman Markand Adhikari denied any such moves were afoot. Said he in a telephonic interview: "Shekar Suman is the show. So far there are no plans to bring in any changes. It has proved highly beneficial to our channel. It was quite popular amongst viewers considering the million or so phone calls it was generating."

He added: "There is no truth to the statement that Shekhar Suman will be leaving the show. Call me tomorrow and we will talk."

Suman was not available for comment.

However, the grapevine is pretty strong that Suman, while keen on continuing with the show, may not find the time to give it the attention it needs on account of the film offers coming his way. According to a source, the show takes a lot out of him, his gift of the gab notwithstanding. He has to be constantly on the ball with repartees et all for the hour he is on the show and that is proving a little too much for him.

For more on this watch this space.

It was another wild day at the bourses today, with the Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensitive Index (Sensex) swinging through the day in a 24 per cent band. Opening 8 per cent down, recovering almost all its losses by midday, losing another 8 per cent during the day before closing at 3,549.06 to a new 52-week low - a loss of 227.24 points, or 5.81 per cent.

Reports of a concerted backlash from across the country to the 1 March increase in Star‘s subscription rates appeared unlikely on Monday, with company officials confident that most cable operators would accept the Rs 30 monthly price tag on the Star bouquet.

However, reports that the Cable Sena of Maharashtra had scheduled a meeting for tomorrow (Tuesday) could not be confirmed. The Cable Sena is affiliated to the Shiv Sena, the party in opposition in the western state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located.

Senior Star officials said except for Calcutta and a few pockets, over 80 per cent of the rest of the country had accepted the new rate structure. There were some reports that operators in six districts in southern Karnataka were planning to black out Star from the 15th but that has been sorted out, the officials said. The problem actually related to mode of payment rather than anything else, it was pointed out.

But 30 cable network owners of north Chhattisgarh region of India are firm in their resolve to black out Star. The have vowed to remove all channels of the Star bouquet because the channel had "revised it‘s subscription fees twice in the current year." A statement put out by the operators said: "Moreover all cable operators are angry with the marketing policy of the Star TV as they were forced to subscribe to Star Gold channel by the dealers of Star TV, which is a costly channel with no ratings at all."