[V] Is Like That Only

The writing, the channel will have us know, was not only loud and clear but long on the wall. Indecipherable, perhaps, to the victims till it disengaged from the wall and smacked them hard. But, as Fuller says, one must move on. And along the way, move up. But for the VJs, for whom it is a rude climbdown from the stratosphere, it is groping timeóto rediscover niches. The '96 Miss India-Canada Rishma Malik, the wiser of the lot, who came from Ontario with stars in her eyes before she became one herself, has returned to motherland. India was just a whistle-stop halt between intention and achievement.

Buddies Pillai and Pathak are back where they belongóon stage. Pathak, a graduate in theatre from Stony Brook University and a management school drop-out, is now busy with Rajit Kapoor's play C For Clown in which he plays a clown. Both VJs are also in the zany Hip Hip Hurray on Zee, playing (not as on the channel) their own ageóprofessors for students. Pathak was also in the Sanjay Bhansali hit, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Being tripped out of the party circuit is not bruising him. 'I was never the pub-crawling, partying type.' Since he was already a 'face' on stage, TV and films, he neither misses being on the channel nor mourns the demise of his show House Arrest. Nor does the cup of bitterness run over. 'A VJ should not have a long tenure. For one-and-a-half-years, being on air daily five days a week was sufficient. I'd decided that even if they had plans for me, I wouldn't be part of it.'

But the slap from his favourite channel hurts. 'This is not a complaint, but merely an observation. It was a bad send-off. Very shabbily done, not professional. It could have been more sedate, more graceful.... It was just a scriptless act.'

But all the channel is saying is: 'All ex-Channel [V] staff were given notice in line with their employment contract. We have followed all the policies and practices of a professional organisation.' And not a word on rumours about the channel chopping off its even bigger brandóthe music awards. But underscore this with plans to ensure that the shows are not subsumed by stars, some of who were drawing monthly salaries of Rs 3 lakh. Gone are the halcyon days when an nri VJ could cook a parantha and throw a tantrum if it was not couriered to daddy dear abroad. All the 12 new VJs, including model Nina Samuel, are under 22 and have been selected with the 'profile of the show in mind'.

Also, with mtv increasingly snapping up bigger bites of the 12 million viewership, Channel [V] is looking for a new crop of viewers. It wants to pump its veins with a younger audienceómoving from its earlier target of the 15-34 age group to 15-24. And even icons like Jaaved Jaffrey, it seems, are too grey-haired for this group. When his Flashback wound up, he had to look elsewhere to strut his stuff. Earlier, VJs Ruby Bhatia and Raageshwari, too, had to move out before they started dying their hair. We presume Udham Singh (born Manish Makhija) who had been instructed sternly, through a legal notice, not to hawk his Haryanvi act elsewhere, must behave if he's to continue as a brand of the channel.

While consultants Shashanka Ghosh and Mahesh Murthy continue, the channel is currently cruising along headless, with the general manager's post yet to be filled. But the channel, which has doubled its staff to 150, has also hiked its marketing budget by 51 per cent and its programming budget by 81 per cent. August, it is hoped, will usher in a new dawn for the channel through its 25 new shows. Programming input from its regional officesóset up in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennaiówill be beefed up with the programming itself, under Rajesh Tahil, shifting base from Hong Kong to India.

If Fuller, the one who mothered the channel from a three-man act into a mega one, is miffed at being left out, he's not telling. 'No problems,' he says mildly. He would not even attempt a guess at whether the witch-hunting was actually an attempt to chop off the star baggage he had accumulated. On criticisms that the channel was mismanaged, he offers: 'I think the channel was a victim of its own success. It was put together with chewing gum, a few men, ideas and pretty girls. Some were my best days, others my worst.' Sophiya Haque, the erstwhile queen bee, though she only told Outlook that she still awaits official notice, has been among the loudest complainers. While Haque has immersed herself in Sunil Sippy's film Snip, Fuller will remain in India as a consultant in the TV and music industry.

Pillai does not buy the argument forwarded that the VJs had become too 'old' for the target audience. But just now she's busy rediscovering stardom. She is cutting an album for hmv with music director Rajesh Singh. 'I will be writing my own lyrics,' she trills. Trained in south Indian classical music, she has sung along with French artiste Rachid Taha, international stars Talvin Singh and Kula Shaker. Though jet-lagged after a London show of Mahesh Dattani's play Dance Like a Man, where she has a double role, she's plunged into other shows like Star Plus Best-Sellers (one episode), and interviewing Raveena Tandon for Farah Khan's show. Pillai, for whom the channel was 'first priority'ó'I used to hang out in the office just to soak in the atmosphere'óis just a bit tart about the travesty of trust. 'Personally, I was more hurt than angry. I had not been prepared.' But she'd rather nurse fond memories than muse morosely.