That‘s Life! It took all of 14 years of litigation for the rights of the popular eighties comedy Yeh Joi Hai Zindagi to finally land with the creator of the TV programme - the late filmmaker S.S. Oberoi.

And the irony of it all is that quite a few people associated with the serial are no more: Shafi Inamdar (who plays the harangued but loved and loving husband of the beautiful Swaroop Sampat), writer Sharad Joshi and Oberoi himself.

The series - which ran successfully on DD National in 1984-85 - was sponsored by toothpaste maker Vicco Laboratories (owned by the Nagpur-based Pendharkar family which makes Vicco Vajradanti and Turmeric cream) for all of 52-54 episodes.

Thereafter DD increased the rates it was charging for the time slot, and the Pendharkars decided they could not continue with the sponsorship. Oberoi, who had made successful commercials for Vicco and Nirma, then approached Brooke Bond for a sponsorship and got its backing. The series continued for another 13-15 episodes before it was pulled off when the Vicco promoters said they owned the rights to it as they were the sponsors.

They took the matter to the City civil court in Mumbai in 1986 which turned down its plea. Vicco then approached the Mumbai high court in 1990, which once again ruled in Oberoi‘s favour in 1998. Vicco finally went to The Supreme Court in 2000, which also dismissed its special leave petition seeking ownership of Yeh Jo Hain Zindagi on 13 August 2001.

"There were no contracts signed; no one knew anything about copyright then," says Ujwala Oberoi, Oberoi‘s daughter. "The Supreme Court ruling is a vindication that the ownership of a creative product lies with the person who creates it."

The rib-tickling series featured other actors like Satish Shah, Rakesh Bedi and Tikku Talsania drew nearly 93 per cent viewership in 1984-85.

Ujwala says that the series has since been upgraded to digi beta format (it was shot on low band) since then and quite a few channels have evinced interest in buying up the rights. Well, that‘s life once again.

Four days into Zee Television‘s journey to reinvent itself and the news is good for the Subhash Chandra-promoted channel.

According to Partha Sinha director-marketing Zee Network, its new interactive programme was "Aap Jo Bolein Haan to Haan, Aap JO Bolein Naa to Naa" captured 90,000 calls on Day 3 (Wednesday) despite clogging of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd‘s exchanges. This was even after the phone lines were substantially enhanced.

An obviously elated Sinha said that such was the demand on Day 2 that people were using STD lines to Mumbai because it was easier to get through. The show debuted on Monday with a staggering 50,000 calls. Zee estimates indicate at least four times that number failed to get through. Speaking on this Sandeep Goyal Zee Network‘s Group broadcasting CEO was quoted as saying: "We are thrilled by the success of the show. We have a sure winner on our hands."

Touted as India‘s first audience participation fiction show, the daily live drama on morals, ethics and emotions has had executives from rival channels admitting that Zee may well be onto a good thing. Produced under licence from GloboTV of Brazil, it is called "You Decide" in its English avatar.

All in all, a show which appears to have potential. So long as good scripts are maintained. One complaint though. The anchor, Sohail Seth, hasn‘t got quite the as enthusiastic a response as the show itself.

Because of the sheer number of shows on offer some have called the new line-up a "Gujarati Thali" and how the rest of the package has been received has not been ascertained as yet. But even if four or five of the 24-show lineup hits bulls-eye then the current top gun channel Star India may well have a dogfight on its hands.

SABe TV, the Hindi entertainment channel promoted by the Adhikari brothers, which had announced a new programming schedule earlier in the month, will introduce the new roster on 3 September.

Paisa Vasool - Thursdays at 8 pm.

The new programming (click here for earlier report) is centred around three shows - Office Office and new shows Dial 100 and Paisa Vasool, part of a rejigg that the channel carries through every quarter, Markand Adhikari, vice-chairman and managing director Sri Adhikari Brothers Televison Network Ltd, says.

SABe TV, which lays claim to the the number four spot in the Hindi channel stakes after Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television, is steadily closing the gap on the the Big Three, Adhikari says.

The new programming is set to kick off on 3 September and is marked as a weekdays line-up. Divided into two bands - an afternoon and a prime time band - the first (12:30 pm to 3 pm) is targetted at housewives while the prime time band (6:30 pm to 10 pm) is for the whole family.

Office Office - Monday to Thursday at 8 pm.

Dial 100 - Monday to Thursday at 8:30 pm.

The launch of the new shows will be also see a major promotional push, Adhikari said. Towards this end, 50 commuter trains have been booked in Mumbai, and over 500 kiosks in Delhi.

Can the industry finally look forward to the Convergence Bill seeing the light of day, at least in Parliament? Well if clued-in sources are to be believed it well may. The date: tomorrow, 31 August 2001, the final day of the monsoon session of Parliament.
It is the communications ministry which will reportedly steer the bill on the floor of the house. And it will be done at the hands of minister Ram Vilas Paswan, so say the sources. Apparently, the law ministry has gone over it with a comb and the final bill is in the process of printing today.

Presidential clearance is likely to be organised today from his secretariat.
The only delay to the introduction of the bill tomorrow could be the passing away of Trianmul Congress leader G.K. Mopanar this morning.