Good bye, farewell, so long....

So what's the a la carte menu offered by the channels as a new year special. Here's our countdown...

Hindi entertainment mangta hai... For all the avid soap watchers, Star Plus isn't really letting down its viewers. But surprise, surprise, instead of the usual emotion packed tear-jerker episodes the channel plans to start its new year by tickling the funny bone. Unlike last years special musical gameshow AKA 'antakshari' fare, this year the year end special is interwoven in the soap line up.

It all starts with the Khichdi characters getting ready for the new year party at 8 pm. In midst of the hoopla, a few members of this madhatter family get lost and the rest start off to find them. Then begins the journey from Kasutii Zindagii Kay, Sanjivani, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahiin To Hoga and finally meet up at Kaahin Kissii Roz. While this interserial comedy caper is on the party with all the favourite characters from the soap begins after 12 pm. So the audience can watch Tulsi bogeying with Ramola or Prerna jiving with Om.

Sajid Khan in action on Zee

While its regular fare with twist, Zee for the first time is slotting a two day festivity for the New Year celebration. Subhash Chandra's channel has Jalwaa Unlimited a bonanza spanning two days, comprising shows hosted by stars from the Zee family.

It might have distanced itself from the numerology craze, but not for long. Starting the festivities is numerology show anchored by Rakshanda Khan with Sanjay B Jumani predicting future of celebrities like Faisal Khan, Vikas Bhalla, Smriti Z Iraani and Nigar Khan. Following the number game, is Sajid Khan's Bye 2003, a cockeyed look at the hits and misses of Bollywood 2003. With what seems like more the merrier avtaars dictum, Sajid will present the segments as Randira Bedi, Father Khan and Love machine Shudir. The channel will bring in the New Year with a musical fare Shaan Se. Hosted and performed by Shaan, the show will also have singers Sagarika and Sanjivani.

The New Year fare, to be aired on 1 January 2004, starts off with an Antakshari special with the homegrown stars like Varun Badola, Varsha Usgaonkar, Faisal Khan, Nigar Khan, Gulrez, Vikas Bhalla, Narayani Shastri, Vishal Puri, Pankaj Beri and Prachi Shah, hosted by Annu Kapoor and Pallavi Joshi. Sajid Khan will be back with Hi 2004 offering his take on the best of the Hindi films lined up for 2004. The channels will be ending the festivity with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa special, where Zee's finds- Sa Re Ga Ma Pa's 2003 winners will be show casing their talent.

While both Zee and Star Plus have a different fare, Sony true to its tradition has slated Non Stop Hungama on 31 December at 10 pm to bring in the new year. Sajid Khan seems to be travelling across channels for this one; he anchors the show along with a gang of secretaries from Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. The show boasts of performances by Fardeen Khan, Salman Khan, Govinda, Aarti Chabbria, Ishita Arun, Yana Gupta, Kanta Laga girl - Shefali Zariwala and Kaliyon Ka Chaman Meghna Naidu. Besides dance performance, there are music performances by Sunidhi Chauhan, Kumar Sanu, Anu Mallik and Sudesh Bhosle.

Meanwhile Sahara has a filmi fare line up. The channel will be airing a live show from Durban, South Africa, on 30 and 31 December from 8:30 pm onwards. Boasting of acts by the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Hritik Roshan, Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherji, Sushmita Sen, Karishma Kapoor and Kareina Kapoor this promises to be a totally filmi fare.

In the national interest... The national channel DD 1 will telecast Choddo kal Ki batein on 31 December, 2003 from 9 pm to 10 pm on Delhi plus relay transmitters. The programme designed for Delhi viewers will have local flavour with song and dance from Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi and a humour and satire segment.

Anchored by popular television actors Jaya Bhattacharya and Jitin Lalwani, the skits and jokes have been enacted by Anjan Srivastava, Dinesh Hingu, Asha Sharma, Sahgufta Ali, Amita Nangia, Jitendra Trehan, Rajesh Puri, Shakti Singh, Mehul Kajaria, Hemenat Choudhary and Tuhina.
Anchored by Ruby Rubby Bhatia, Jhilmil - 2004, telecast from 10pm, will have Alka Yagnik, Abhijeet, Richa Sharma, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Band of Boys, Usha Uthup and Vaishali Samant, along with danseuse and television actress Prachi Shah's perfomance. Just like last year, the special programme has been shot at a specially constructed set in the Mumbai Doordarshan premises against the backdrop of the TV Tower

While the news arm, DD News will air Images - 2003 on the New Year's Eve from 10pm to 11 pm offering a round-up of the News Events that happened during the year.

Khabre aur bhi... The regular soap shunners, have already have started getting their dose of year end bonanza. While Aaj Tak has started off its spoof on the misadventures in 2003 with Charsobisi Ka Saal, Star News does a more serious version with Yeh Silsile Hue.

On the English news front... CNBC has an elaborate New Year plan for its viewers. With That's Entertainment CNBC- to be aired at 11 pm, CNBC will offer a candid and comprehensive look at the entertainment industry.

The business channel will be extending this theme further in a bid to provide viewers with a deep and insightful look at the business of entertainment in India; films, television, radio and more. The programme will run as a series of six half hour episodes to be aired every Thursday and Friday at 11 pm.

In addition, CNBC-TV18 will focus on specific areas of Indian entertainment with Trendmill, Bazaarand India Business Hour. The channels move is to keep a tab on the entertainment industry, which is in the midst of a paradigm shift where the largely unregulated industry is increasingly adopting business systems and processes to provide a corporate-like structure with a focused eye on the financial aspects of entertainment.

While CNBC will look at the entertainment sector, the Brit news channel BBC World will take a look at the year that went by. The channel has already started airing the slew programming from 24 December, which will run till 4 January. The series includes The Dividing Line that offers a perspective on obstacles and road to peace in the Middle East, a quirky guide to life inside, and on the margins of, the European Union in Club Europe and Hostage To Fortune, examining the issues affecting the trials and tribulations of post-war Iraq.

Hot and Wild on AXN

Action time on telly... While its more news on news channel, action adventure channel offers you action. AXN will herald the new year with an 84-hour movie marathon and Continuous Wild On marathon. The action adventure channel will begin the New Year celebration with a marathon broadcast of hit-hot show Wild On on 31 December from 11 pm till 7 am on 1 January '04. Sexy American model, Brooke Burke will take the couch adventurers on a wild ride around the world in search of some of Planet Earth's most exotic and beautiful locales.

Following the hot and wild action is the New Year Special - 84 hour movie marathon from Thursday, 1 January at 8 am to 4 January at 8 pm. The channel will treat its viewers to an eclectic mix of some of Hollywood's biggest titles including Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Hard Target, Mission Impossible, Prince of Egypt and Sliver (Uncut Version).

For the musically inclined... If its party time should the music channels be left out? MTV will start off with the countdown to the year with what else?... a musical countdown of course, right from the partyland Goa. Channel [V] on the other hand has New Year Bash (Best of 2003). Star's music channel will launch 48 hours non-stop music that kicks off at 12 am on 31 December and continues till 12 am, 2 January.

etc plans to telecast SMS-2003, a countdown show of top 30 songs from the library of 2003 on 31 December at 9 pm. It will have 20 filmy songs and 10 Indi- Pop songs all selected by the viewers of etc. The viewers have to message their choice to the channel. Besides this, SMS-2003 will also have an on-air contest.

The musical countdown will be followed by astrology show Kahani Kismat Ki, in a one hour special where anchor astrologer Arya Guru Bhagawan Das Ji will predict the horoscopes for all the twelve Sun Signs for the coming year.

Cher: Spreading the festivity cheer on Star World

Movies, shows on English entertainment channels ... While Star Movies will premiere Star Wars 2 - Attack of Clones as New Year special at 9 pm, its English entertainment arm has Cher:The Farewell Tour airing on Wednesday, 31 December at 8 pm. Her farewell tour, which pulled in 16.6 million viewers in America, was recorded live in Miami in front of 20,000 fans. With spectacular staging, dancers, acrobats and, of course, the most glittering costumes, this show features all her hits.

While Star World has one, Zee English has lined up six events of 2003 from around the globe.

Punjabi MC flaunting award on Zee

The channel will presents all world class events back to back from 1 pm to 1 am on 31 December. Screen Actors Guild Awards 2003 (SAG) will be aired from 1 pm to 3 pm, followed by Original telecast of Miss Teen USA from 3 pm to 5 pm. After the teen contest, the channel will air the Miss USA pageant, followed by Miss Universe 2003. The 55th Annual Emmy Awards will air from 9 pm to 11 pm and the highlight of the evening will be debut telecast of The World Music Awards 2003 from 11 pm to 1 am.

With so much action on the telly, lets hope that the audience start of the year with telly bang.