Telly Gupshup - Nandu - Destiny's stepchild

The quirky world of television is full of stars, starry mood swings, the rat race for the stellar roles and lots more... Star N Style ! Star sure knows how to launch its new shows in style. Last night, at a glitzy do to introduce its new shows for the coming season to the media and marketing fraternity, the channel mingled performances by lead artistes of all the new series, with a live Khullja Sim Sim for the assembled folk. Needless to say, the show was hosted by Khullja's new face, Hussain. Amid some witty banter, Hussain proved his mettle as a capable game show host, while the Open Sesame doors opened to live performances from upcoming shows like the Nausheen starrer Kaalchakra, the Asit Modi production Saarthi and the Sagars' new Hello Dolly and Vinta Nanda's mega series Mili. Plenty of standard Khullja goodies exchanged hands, the music rocked and the booze flowed.... Mukul Dev made his first official entrance as the replacement for Aly Khan in K Street Pali Hill, although Aly continues to be present on the hoardings and on air promos. One must admit though, that Mukul looks a tad less sinister than the intense Aly in the required dark shades of the character he plays on K Street.... Vinta Nanda was present too, bursting with enthusiasm over her feature film venture White Noise that releases December. Pssst....Look out for the Mili debutante protagonist ...Mona Vasu....she's a stunner! Yudi returns to TV with 'Men Maange More'! He left Channel [V] with Bollywood dreams in his eyes, but he's returned to the tube, although in a different avatar. Yudi, better known as a [V] veejay till April this year, will soon be hosting the first ever lifestyle show for men called 'Men Maange More' on the soon to be launched StarOne. Produced by Anita Horam (the former programming head for Fashion TV in India), MMM will be a location based show, in which Yudi will explore all the possible lifestyle activities, gizmos and destinations that the upmarket Indian male aspires to. "Bikes, gadgets, all the hi end exclusive stuff that men want to possess, will feature on MMM," says Anita. Yudi too has been given a different look for MMM, a sporty outgoing look, a 20 something, aspirational feel. Celebs form a part of the show, too. MMM went to filmmaker Kunal Kohli's house to check out his new plasma TV set and to actor Rohit Roy's place to test drive his swank new Cherokee. And ahem, style divas too form part of MMM - they will pop in to offer fashion tips and the like, for the half hour magazine show. Sounds good? We are waiting to see what Zoom, that out and out lifestyle channel, comes up with to counter this one! Nandu - Destiny's stepchild Bechara Nandu, sorry, Gaurav Gera. Did you know that he was all locked up and ready to enter Sohail Khan's home-production Fight Club, to be directed by Vicky Chopra? If all had gone well, he would've been rubbing shoulders with Suniel Shetty, Sohail Khan, Dino Morea, Ashmit Patel, Amrita Arora and Dia Mirza. One fine morning he was told that he was doing the project. The same evening he was informed that Ashish Choudhary had stepped into his shoes. We do not know who fitted Choudhary in, but our heart certainly bled for Jassi's working partner. Your's? Shaking a leg Saturday nights are meant to let your hair down. Balaji Telefilms set the dancing floor on fire at a night-spot in Mumbai last weekend. Occasion: Celebrations to bring in the new show K. Street Pali Hill. We saw Ekta Kapoor, Shabbir, Hiten Tejwani, Gauri Pradhan, Kiran Karmarkar, Sakshi Tanwar, Sumeet Sachdev and Ronit Roy. The Queen of Soaps (she's made a thriller for a change) walked in late but stayed on more than she normally does. The drinking and dancing went on till nearly 2.30 in the morning. Manasi's new catch If you thought that Ekta Kapoor would take only new faces in Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi, this one is for you. Sexy Manasi Varma who delivered a baby boy out of wedlock in Kahaani... will play a negative character called Kittu in the MTV Balaji show. According to industry sources, Varma will start shooting next month onwards. Violence on Star One? Get ready for a revenge saga with an underworld backdrop on Star One. The show produced by Goldie and Shrishti Behl will star Aly Khan (just out of K.Street...), Amit Sadh, Niru Bajwa, Sadiya Siddique and Murli Sharma. Directed by Punit Gandhi, it is expected to see the light of day by 26 October. Guess the enterprising title. Guns and Roses! Terrorists on 'Sanjivani'! Gurdeep Kohli could well have been doing two more roles by now. One, Purva Gokhale's role in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. Two, Sonal Sehgal's role in Kasautii Zindagi Kay. But the Sanjivani girl refused both. Meanwhile, the Sardarni has done two advertisements- Pride for London and Anchor for Sri Lanka. And just in case you're interested in knowing what's going to happen in Sanjivani: The hospital will be attacked by a group of terrorists. No prizes for guessing who the saviour's gonna be! Bakul's dilemma Bakul Thakkar's paralysis torture may have been put to a permanent end (by his wife Priyanka and dad Alok Nath) in Zee's Piya Ka Ghar, but the guy is intrigued (read, peeved) that paralysis seems to be following him and terminating him from serials. "I am still young and fit. Why am I being inflicted with this agony?" he wants to know. Not so long ago, Thakar was paralysed and sent to the US in Sony's Kkusum as well. And of course, there is no sign of his return as yet. One of Ekta's ways to dispose off someone? Anyway, he is back on his feet and doing BAG Films' forthcoming show Siddhant where he plays a wily lawyer pitted against newcomer Pawan Shankar in a 40 episodic hourly series. One can only pray BAG Films doesn't inflict paralysis on him too. Besides, he is also doing a film Kaun which co-stars Purab Kohli and newcomer Sonali.