Pop the bubblies. Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi completed 1,000 episodes. This called for a celebration. Dropping the glycerine routine Tulsi decked herself in flamboyant finery to strut around the opulent set looking like a matriarch beyond the camera. But the most innovative feature of the celebratory episode on Thursday was the way TV tycoon Ektaa Kapoor?s entry on the sets was announced. We first saw a mysterious figure descend from a car and saunter towards the venue of the celebrations. We saw the look of awe, pleasure and surprise bordering on ecstasy on the faces of the soap?s various couples as they opened their bedroom doors to this mysterious VVIP. The camera panned the gently smiling face of the TV tycoon herself. As she did her simpering namaste to one and all on the sets Ektaa is no longer just a woman behind the scenes. She?s a hotshot celebrity who gets mobbed more than the icons in her soaps.

In his interview with Prabhu Chawla on Aaj Tak?s Seedhi Baat Abhishek Bachchan was visibly uncomfortable answering squirmy questions on how he would react to doing a nude scene and what it feels like being his father?s son. The nude query was squirmy for its outrageous hypothesis and the question on papa, well, hasn?t Abhishek been there before, and so many times? When non-film journalists do a film personality they should make sure the questions don?t sound like repeats of gossip columns from film glossies.

Drama and life go hand-in-hand on the boxed screen. I saw a TV awards function on Sunday on Sony where Rohit Roy and Anjan Shrivastava did a takeoff on Ruchi?s sting-operation from India TV. For the record, Ruchi was played by Tanaaz Currim, a delight, who was also one of the guests on Sony?s Batliwala which is becoming watchable, thanks to the chemistry among members of the Batliwala clan who bring out a Parsi humour without going overboard.

Enjoyed a news story Naach Par Aanch on Star News about the impending closure of beer bars. Said a dancer, ?Will you be happy if we come out and stand on the roads? Should we dance on the streets? And who says we wear skimpy clothes? Have you seen these girls who visit pubs??

Subhash K. Jha