Telly Gupshup - Going green!

The quirky world of television is full of stars, starry mood swings, the rat race for the stellar roles and lots more... Going green! Guess who's the prime contender for the annual Hottest Vegetarian Alive award hosted by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) this year? Channel [V]'s animated mascot Simpoo, that's who. Among other prominent TV faces who will contest for the honour are Mandira Bedi and Archana Puran Singh, not to mention Bollywood names like Mahima Chowdhary and Amrita Rao. Of course, Simpoo has stiff competition from Amitabh Bachchan (who by the way, definitely returns to KBC and Star Plus by mid 2005) for the title of hottest male vegetarian. Bachchan has retained that honour for the last two years, says PETA. Our vote, of course, goes to Simpoo, who quit butter chicken this year in favour of baingan masala. Do we see his competitors turning a darker shade of green? Sachin in form While Sachin Tendulkar may not have been in rousing form wuith the bat recently, telly Sachin (Krishna of Kahaani...) has a reason to celebrate. While his character in Ekta's soap is developing really large, we hear that the young lad is being considered for Nimbus' project Kareena Kareena for Zee TV. Devang Patel says Smile Please As if there was a dearth of heroes in our film industry! The latest to join the bandwagon is the funny man of music Devang Patel. The film in question is Smile Please, directed by Yunus Patel, produced by Nilesh Mehta, Yogesh Lakhani and Imtiaz Patel. Giving the Gujju Devang company will be Ramola Sikand, err, Sudha Chandran; whose KKR is going off air in early September. We wonder whether those Ramola bindis will continue to sell after that. Smile Please also stars Shakti Kapoor, Awantika Verma, Nylaas and debutante Sajid Ali. Saaksshi going linear Seems Sony is not happy with the way Saaksshi is shaping up. But pray, will it give some time to it for shaping up? It started with a linear story, became episodic (for no rhyme or reason, we thought) and now we hear, it's all set to become linear again! Aisi bhi kya jaldi hai'? Sanjivani getting ready to change Another Cinevistaas' show gearing up for a change! This time on Star Plus. The focus may not shift from Juhi (Gurdeep Kohli) and Rahul (Mihir Mishra), but what Shashank (Mohnish Behl) is to them today, they might soon be the same to some new guys and gals coming into the show. Yeah. Induction of some fresh characters coming up shortly, but definitely no Ekta type 20-year leap. And... we hope that Gurdeep, Mihir, Mohnish, Iraavati, Rupali and Gokhale are not feeling insecure. Bhavna's No to Sony camp; UTV Film actress Bhavna Pani who will soon be seen in Shahid Kareena starrer Milenge Milenge (hope it isn't a cold turkey like Fida) was recently offered a UTV project to be aired on Sony Entertainment Television. But she brushed it aside. Reason? A little bird tells us that the actress feels that if she is available 24 X 7 in our homes, why would people venture out and pay a hundred odd bucks to see her in a theatre? Hmmm... baat mein kuch dam to zaroor hai.