GECs
Five new launches on tube this week
MUMBAI: Good news for couch potatoes. With five new shows slated for a launch this week, there is something for absolutely everybody.
Already, with the ‘guess who’s Jassi’ drama tickling the viewers’ curiosity, the serial Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahi , — an Indianised version of the Hispanic Yo Soy Betty La Fea — has become one of the most awaited launches in the coming weeks. The show will be telecast in Sony.
Also airing next week is Sahara’s Arzoo Hai Tu, Star Worlds’s new season of That 70’s Show, MTV’s Khamosh and NDTV’s World This Week..
Sony’s Jassi…, a drama on life in the fashion world, is a story of a plain Jane with an extraordinarily good sense of humour, who learns to deal with and triumph over the glitzy world of fashion.
The show targeted at the average female audience launches on 1 September at 9:30 pm. A special one hour preview show has been scheduled for 31 August.
According to the Sony sources, Jasmeet ‘Jassi’ Walia’s strong values will appeal to the middle class while her career goals will draw the modern Indian woman. The reworked Cinderella is likely to offer tough competition to the Sahara’s big ticket Karishma – The Miracles of Destiny, which airs in the same time band.
Meanwhile, Sahara Manoranjan is ready with its next launch Arzoo Hai Tu. The show, produced by Sahara India Mass Communication Ltd in association with Sagar Entertainment, will launch on 1 September at 10 pm.
This daily boasts of big names in the television industry like Mohnish Behl, Aman Verma, Mrinal Kulkarni, Lata Sabharwal, Uday Tikikar, Sheetal Thankkar and Suddha Shivpuri. Based on a story about family values, conflicts of ideals, ambitions, aspirations, jealousy and hate, Arzoo… is essentially a dramatic love story.
Next in the pipeline is Star World new season of That 70’s Show. Set in the era of Led Zeppelin 8-tracks, Tab colas, and Farrah Fawcett posters, the nostalgic and funny flashback to the “Me” decade, starts on 1 September at 8 pm.
Set in the Wisconsin suburbs, That 70s Show is about 18 year old Eric Forman (Topher Grace), who lives with his parents — Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and yearns for his independence. Also in the frame is Eric’s ex-girlfriend and neighbour, Donna (Laura Prepon), a knock-out who’s been forced to deal with her parents’ recent split and her dad Bob’s (Don Stark) new life as a swinging single.
Beside there are his friends, who spend most of their time hanging out in the Forman basement and pondering their lives, their parents and their future.
The gang includes Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), a good-looking but gullible guy, especially when it comes to dealing with his controlling on-again, off-again girlfriend Jackie (Mila Kunis); Hyde (Danny Masterson), a conspiracy theorist who thinks Xerox will take over the world; and Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), a foreign exchange student who’s soaking up American culture like a sponge.
This season finds the gang maturing during their senior year of high school as they prepare to graduate and head off to college. Eric and Donna are back together again, while Jackie and Kelso have finally split up for good.
Kelso meets a new California girl, played by guest star and pop singer Jessica Simpson, while Jackie finds comfort in the arms of Hyde, much to the gang’s dismay. Fez even finds true love when he shifts into high gear and falls for an older woman who works at the DMV.
As for MTV Roadies , they are still roaring on the road, making some good television coverage. Viacom’s music arm has dished out yet another music band to their programming line up Khamosh , which launches on 1 September. Khamosh will replace MTV Bolti bund from Monday to Friday at 9 pm.
Last on the list is NDTV’s flagship show The World This Week, which was previously scheduled to launch on 29 August at 9:30 pm. After exactly a week’s delay, it will finally be out on 5 September in the same time slot.
Voted as one of the five all-time best shows in India, the original anchor Dr Prannoy Roy will make a comeback on NDTV 24×7. The show, back on popular demand, will take a look at international events from a clearly Indian perspective.
GECs
Sahara One reports financial results, notes director exit and business realignment
Muted revenues, steady expenses and strategic adjustments shape company’s current phase
MUMBAI: In a tale where the sands seem to be slipping faster than they can be gathered, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited has reported another quarter of wafer-thin income and widening losses, even as a boardroom exit adds to the unease.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board, in a meeting held on April 4, approved its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. The numbers paint a stark picture. Total income for the quarter stood at just Rs 0.13 lakh, unchanged sequentially and sharply down from Rs 0.26 lakh a year earlier.
Losses, meanwhile, deepened. The company posted a net loss of Rs 24.16 lakh for the quarter, compared to Rs 18.81 lakh in the June quarter and Rs 39.69 lakh in the same period last year. For the six months ended September 2025, the cumulative loss stood at Rs 39.69 lakh, while the full-year loss for FY25 was reported at Rs 60.72 lakh.
Expenses continued to outweigh income by a wide margin. Total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 24.30 lakh, led by employee benefit costs of Rs 6.51 lakh and other expenses of Rs 17.78 lakh. Earnings per share remained in the red at Rs (0.11) for the quarter.
The balance sheet reflects a company with significant assets on paper but limited operational momentum. Total assets stood at Rs 23,065.57 lakh as of September 30, 2025, broadly unchanged from March 2025. Equity share capital remained steady at Rs 2,152.50 lakh, while total equity was reported at Rs 18,004.85 lakh.
Cash and cash equivalents saw a modest uptick to Rs 6.75 lakh from Rs 4.68 lakh earlier, supported by a positive operating cash flow of Rs 180.01 lakh for the period.
Yet, beneath these numbers lies a more complex narrative. The company’s auditors flagged their inability to obtain sufficient evidence to form a conclusion on the financial statements, citing lack of access to records. They also raised concerns over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to insufficient funds, delayed recoveries, and stalled content investments.
Adding to the governance overhang, the company disclosed that Rana Zia has resigned as whole-time director, effective October 16, 2025, citing other professional commitments. The resignation, noted and accepted by the board, also brings an end to her role across company committees.
Regulatory pressures continue to loom large. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has already initiated penal actions for non-compliance with listing norms, with trading in the company’s shares remaining suspended. There is also a risk of promoter demat accounts being frozen.
Legacy legal issues remain unresolved. A substantial deposit of Rs 694,027.88 thousand linked to the long-running OFCD dispute involving Sahara group entities is still under the purview of the Supreme Court of India. Restrictions on asset disposal continue to weigh on the company’s financial flexibility.
Operationally, challenges persist across multiple fronts. Advances worth Rs 1,92,916 thousand given for film content remain stuck, with delays in project completion and uncertain recoverability. The company’s YouTube channel, despite being operational, has generated no revenue for over three years due to compliance lapses. In a further twist, management has indicated that revenues may have been fraudulently diverted through unauthorised changes to its AdSense account, with a police complaint in the works.
There are also missed revenue opportunities. Television content rights continue to be used by a related party despite the expiry of the licence agreement, with fresh negotiations still underway.
For now, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited appears caught between legacy disputes and present-day operational hurdles. As losses linger and governance questions mount, the road to recovery looks less like a sprint and more like a slow trudge through shifting sands.
