Pradhan Mantri - a drama series on Indian politics - from the Zee TV stable has got a lot of media pundits confounded. They have been questioning Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra‘s motive behind backing a political drama which dares expose the machinations of hardcore politicians against a naﶥ and honest prime minister appointee who dares to defy the corrupt political system.

Subhash Chandra

Does he have a political agenda now that he has lost his media star status? Is he trying to bring about a revival of the Congress (I) by projecting a Rajiv Gandhi type innocent political novice as prime minister now that he has reportedly fallen out of favour with the BJP-led coalition government? Does he think of himself as a king maker?

Chandra has a repartee to all these. Says he: "The Zee Network has 14 channels. One of them is Zee TV, which is an entertainment channel. We cover other genres like information, news, edutainment, education and children‘s programming. Please don‘t read that we have lost out in the media stakes. We are the largest in viewership. We have 30 per cent of all cable and satellite eyeballs in India. By far, we are leaders in entertainment and we will remain so."

On his political ambitions he says: "There is no need for me to take shelter behind a programme for furthering my political ambitions. I have no political agenda. It is just a show. When we were discussing a new show to get our audiences, this idea came to us. And the idea was to create a series that would cover what we would like our country to be, what is wrong about our nation, what brings about a feeling of helplessness in us. What is there that can take us forward to the kind of nation we wanted to be when we won our freedom more than 50 years ago. MJ Akbar tells (he co-ideates and co-writes the script) me you need 50 per cent MPs who are honest in Parliament who genuinely care about the nation to make a difference. I say you need just one. And that is what Pradhan Mantri is all about."

Asianet Kaveri, the Kannada language channel which has been struggling to make its presence felt ever since its launch in June 2000, is lining up a number of serials, comedy shows, tele-films, talk shows and game shows in the coming month to shore up its fortunes.

Kaveri also plans to introduce a mega contest (Monday to Friday) to viewers shortly. The viewer will be able to call a given telephone number and the results will be announced on the same day while the 10 PM programme is on air.

Kaveri will be introducing state-of-the-art technology so as to guarantee quality in transmission and programming, a company release states. Kaveri is also roping in icons of the entertainment industry who will be at the helm of affairs, the release adds.

And in another effort to raise the profile of the channel, the first EXO Asianet Kaveri Film Award‘s 2001 was held on Sunday at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bangalore in the presence of popular personalities from the Kannada Film Industry. The nominations were selected from the viewers through a poll form published in various newspapers and among cable operators.

"Kaveri needs some dedicated nurturing because the market out there is still untapped and I see it as a challenge," Asianet COO Mohan Nair had said in February when queried about his plans for the channel.

Kaveri is a 50:50 joint venture between Asianet and Zee Telefilms. data.

Lashkara, part of the eight-channel bouquet of Reminiscent Television Network (RTV), has just completed two years in existence and is currently the No.1 Punjabi language channel, a company release states.

Lashkara has a C&S penetration of 80 per cent in Punjab and just under 50 per cent in Delhi, the release states, quoting AG Nielsen‘s TAM data.

"In this short span of two years, Lashkara has not only emerged a market leader amongst Punjabi channels but has also carved out a niche for itself with the non-Punjabi audiences all over the world. This has been a remarkable achievement for us and we plan to build further from here, by focusing on mainstream entertainment programming in the near future," says Subhash Menon (managing director, India operations, RTV).

Some of the brands associated with Lashkara include Pepsi, Coke, Colgate, Wipro, Marico, Johnson & Johnson, Dabur, Tata Tea and Cadburys, according to the release.

The channel has also announced the presentation of its first ever annual Punjabi music awards - the ‘Lashkara Punjabi Music Awards 2001‘, to be held on 22 June at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.

RTV beams in Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Tamil and also reaches South East Asia, Africa, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In India only the Lashkara and Gurjari (Gujarati) channels are available.