Shanivaar, Ravivaar, only for parivaar. Disney Channel, which was so far targeted at children, is now seeking to entertain the family in the weekends. 

“After spending busy weeks, the family looks to spend time together in the weekends. The idea is to entertain both kids and family at the same time,” said Vijay Subramaniam, vice-president, content and communication, media networks, Disney India. 

Five live-action shows have already premiered on the weekends. Of them, Maan Na Maan, Main Tera Mehmaan (Sunday, 12.30pm) revolves around a happy-go-lucky family which discovers an old photo frame which brings to life any person whose picture is placed in it. These guests come for a definite time period and with a fixed agenda, on completion of which they depart. Neither can the frame be left empty. That makes way for characters from mythology (Shakuni), history (Akbar) and pre-history (caveman), other than for the return of the family’s deceased grandmother. 

Another show, Kabhi Aise Geet Gaya Karo (Saturday noon), is a light-hearted drama celebrating the Chaudhury family, where each member has a personality quirk, like a lawyer who cannot lie and an upbeat bahu who finds a silver lining in every cloud. It stars television veteran Renuka Shahane.

The third show, Goldie Ahuja Matric Pass, has a 40-year-old school dropout in the lead who lands an inheritance but has to pass Matric examination first. The only school where he gets admission is the one where his son studies and his wife teaches (see interview). 

Of the other two shows, Zindagi Khatti Meethi deals with two families which are studies in contrast, one belonging to an IAS officer with conventional education and the other, his nouveau riche neighbours. In Lage Raho Chachu, a young screenplay writer raising his dead brother’s three children is pulled in different directions by competing commitments. 
“All are self-contained weekly episodics which you can start watching from any day,” said Subramaniam.

 

You are unlikely to know who Ashwin Kaushal is. But this man does have an unusual career trajectory. He cut an off-beat figure at the launch of the Disney show Goldie Ahuja Matric Pass in which he stars as a pot-bellied six-footer in a school uniform, tugging up his half pant every now and then. Which is why t2 wanted a word with him. 

It turned out that in life too he had studied till Class VIII — at Jamnabai Narsee School in JVPD Scheme, Mumbai, where Fardeen Khan and Rajat Bedi were his classmates. Once he flunked, he took admission in Kamla High School in Khar which takes in, in Kaushal’s words, “outstanding students who fail in other schools. Believe me it was a jail.” 

Even there, he failed thrice. “So the teachers booted me out.” Undaunted, he took private classes and went so far as the examination hall to take his Board exams. “During the second paper, I met a pretty girl and both of us sneaked out of the exam hall.” That turned out to be a misadventure. “Mere marks aur love story, dono flop ho gaye.”

He started a second innings as a villain — playing Rishi Kapoor’s brother in the film Damini. Then followed Barsaat, Ghulam-e-Mustafa, Mere Sapnon ki Rani.... “I did 15-20 films with Mithun Chakraborty. Bahut pitayeen ki meri unhone.”

The next juncture saw him turning to writing horror shows for TV. It started with Zee Horror Show in 1995. “Unnees saal bhuton ki seva ki maine — Maano Ya Na Maano, Shayad, a couple of episodes of Fear Files.... They call me horror king. Ekta Kapoor made me her rakhi brother.” 

From the terrain of fear, he is set to go queer. “I will play Miss Teacher, a gay boyfriend of a professor colleague in a film. I will go around wearing lipstick.” 

For now, he is Goldie Ahuja, attending class alongside his screen son and coming to our screens every Sunday at noon on Disney Channel. “My mother fainted on seeing me in uniform at this age.” One can’t blame her.

Sudeshna Banerjee