The numbers are good - Jumaani's predictions for the industry in 2004

The numbers are good - Jumaani's predictions for the industry in 2004

SET

The phones haven‘t stopped ringing at Pereira Mansion in Mahim, Mumbai and neither have the cash registers. Especially after the numerologist Sanjay B Jumaani‘s year-end special tete-e-tete with gorgeous Rakshanda Khan on Zee TV.

It‘s been quite a ride since the days the father-son duo added the extra ‘a‘ in Rakesh Roshan‘s Kaho Naa Pyar Hai. "You will have to bring an amount of Rs 3501 for our first consultation, provide us with your name and date of birth and take the services home," is the sentence Sanjay - the partner, assistant and son of the numerologist Bansilal M Jumaani oft repeats these days.

They are the men who rumouredly brought ‘K‘ and hence funds and fame to Ekta Kapoor‘s serials, who were responsible for no 99 being to changed to 24 on Saurav Ganguly‘s T-shirt. While Ganguly scored three centuries, L.O.C bombed at the box office... as they predicted it would (or so they say).

We asked them to do some number crunching, in a numerological sense of course, and here is what they threw up for the Media and Television Industry in particular.

I t‘s going to be a very profitable year for the media. The electronic media would grow bigger. The print media, which is dying, will be revived. India is no.3 and Bharat is no 6. Since 2004 is No 6, both 3 and 6 will gel with 6 beautifully. So rest assured, a perfect smooth sailing is on the cards.

What about the programming front? It is a year for love, fun, frolic and entertainment, since it‘s the year of Venus- the planet of love. Thrillers, horror shows, ghost stories should guard themselves against failure. Reality shows should not be attempted. What would definitely do well is romance.

The saas bahu shows will remain, but care should be taken to show less hatred, backbiting and jealousy. The focus could be on love triangles. Comedy would do okay, but only if the subject is either lovers or married couples. Shows should focus on softer elements like peace and harmony in general.

On the advertising front: Many advertisers, who earlier shied away from the small screen, will now come forward and realise that it is an investment worth making. Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan would do exceedingly well by grabbing a large number of TV commercials. That might eat into the share of small-time models.

Big B is ruled by Venus, which is 6, and Neptune, which is 7. 2004 is 6 and this year Bachchan is 61, which means 7. He would turn anything that he endorses into gold.

However, Bachchan will not do well in his revived ABCL, now AB Corp. His maiden project Ranveer will bite the dust. Actually, he should stay away from all businesses and simply concentrate on cinema and television. Television began his revival with KBC and it would continue to build up his funds by ads. But it is unlikely that KBC, with him as the anchor, will be revived. He shouldn‘t even bother, because KBC is not favourably placed on the numerological charts as far as its second innings is concerned. It would be a mistake, if he does.

Will Ekta Kapoor still be the Queen B? Ekta Kapoor‘s serials would continue to hog the limelight. Kyunki... and Kahaani... will enjoy a decent run till the end of 2004. I think they have luck and stars in their favour, so much that they would go on till Ekta wants them to. Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin will sustain the viewership. It might have seemed that it took off due to the aggressive marketing strategies, but let me tell you that we put the extra ‘s‘ in ‘Jaissi‘ without which the serial would have crashed.

Deeya Singh had consulted us on this show. It would have been a non-starter had it been without the extra ‘s‘, since it totalled to No.7. But now it is on a materialistic number - No.1.

But Kahiin To Hoga will enjoy a better run than Jassi. With the extra ‘i‘ in Kahiin, is equipped to rival Kyunki...‘s popluraity. Even Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand will continue to be popular, as we added the extra ‘l‘ in Niklla... after Star Plus had told Aroona Irani in no uncertain terms to do something drastic about it because it was not working.

But that doesn‘t imply that shows, which have not been spelt by the Jumaanis will go bust in 2004. If any competent numerologist has spelt the name, the show will definitely see success. We have not spelt Saara Akaash, although many people assume that we have a hand in adding the extra ‘a‘ in both words. Yet Saara Akaash is doing fairly nicely, that obviously means that someone who knows his job has done it.

Our spellings do not ‘guarantee‘ success come what may. We gave the spelling Sanjivani - A Medical Boon, earlier it was spelt Sanjeevani. We had named it keeping the medical backdrop in mind. Now, the medical backdrop is hardly to be seen. So, it might suffer unless some changes in its script are made soon.

The naming of a show is done on the basis of its theme. If the theme is of war and you name it in such a way that it comes on a love number, it is sure to be doomed. This happened in Subhash Ghai‘s super flop Yaadein. The film was a love story, but the numerology added up to a war number.

What about channels: I am yet to study this, but as of what I know, Star Plus will remain the King in 2004, as it has come on a fortunate number. Sony will do much better than 2003, but the credit should go to the new entrant in their organisation - Tarun Katial. Katial is a smart guy. Apart from being very nicely placed on the numerological calculations, he has the grey matter to dish out appealing content and safeguard against bad omens by sending the producers to us for a spell check on the names of their serials. That‘s what he and even Peter Mukherjea used to do when he was in Star Plus, and I am sure he‘ll keep up this practice now in Sony where he has joined recently.

Katial‘s stars had a big hand in Star being where it is today. He is a No 7 and Sony is 7. Katial will do wonders for Sony. 2004 will be a beginning towards real success for Sony. Sahara will not do well in 2004 because it has come on No 9 which is the number of Saddam Hussein. It‘s a fortunate number marred by foolishness of some other people.

And Production houses: Balaji Telefilms will continue to prosper, Cinevistaas would do well especially in films, we wouldn‘t be surprised if the hero of their forthcoming film Garv, Salman Khan, bags an award for the Best Actor of 2004. Aroona Irani will have a good year, her Tum Bin Jaaoon Kahan will rise in TRPs though even now it‘s not doing too badly.

UTV has done well in 2003, but we don‘t see much laurels coming their way in 2004. Aaj Tak has always done wonderfully and no news channel can come anywhere near it in 2004.

Zee TV is not happening. Considering the popularity of the channel, TBJK is not doing badly at least. Numerology cannot start making people switch on to a particular channel. It is not as if the channel isn‘t clicking because most of their serials are not spelt with numerology method. Remember, astrology/numerology and quality-work go hand in hand. Star Plus came up because of some wizards like Ekta Kapoor and Tarun Katial who continuously burnt midnight oil to come up with amazing ideas.

How will actors fare? Among the newcomers, Sai Deodhar is the most favourably placed. She is a No.3, which blends with 2004 which is No.6. Tina Parakh and Rajeev Khandelwal are being talked about quite a bit, but they will have an average year. Aamna Shariff holds promise but she quickly needs a change in spelling if she desires to move on to greener pastures, else she might fade away after Kahiin To Hoga. The surprise packet is Aamir Khan‘s brother, Faissal Khan, who has made an entry into television. I expect him to even get married this year.

Of the established actors, Gurdip Kohli who lately changed the ‘ee‘ in her name to ‘i‘ after consulting me, should guard herself from getting carried away. She is getting lots of film offers but should stick to TV only, else she‘ll become another Amarr Upadhyay. Her counterpart in Sanjivani - A Medical Boon, Rupali Ganguly, will not have a good year. Nothing much for her co-star Mihir Mishra either.

Will Smriti Z Iraani do well in politics? Well, I think she will do fairly well. She has the courage to pitch herself against Sonia Gandhi. But I can‘t predict beyond that.

Saakshi Tanwar is one of the most talented girls in the TV industry today. Unfortunately, she has adding an extra ‘a‘ in her name. She needs to remove that extra ‘a‘ immediately if she wants to put her house of 2004 in order.

Among the senior actors, a good year lies ahead for Ronit Bose Roy, Cezzane Khan and Hussain. They will not lose their popularity. Cezzane and Hussain spell their name pretty correctly. It would be a great year for Ronit in particular. We advised him to start using his middle name ‘Bose‘.

It will however be a lacklustre year for Aman Varma, another case of good 2003 but not-a-great 2004. This guy needs to change his spelling if he wants his 2004 to be good and wants to build on his name in years to come.

Raveena‘s serial Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam has not come on a favourable number. But Sreedevi‘s Malini Iyer has. Malini Iyer will provide some respite to Sahara, but still, Sahara will not have much to celebrate about.

What about new Shows: Manish Goswami‘s Ajnabeey and Araddhna, Sapna Bhattacharya‘s Purab Aur Paschim and Aroona ‘s Zameen Se Aasman Tak would be fairly good. Plus Javed Jaffrei is producing a show calling JBC which is a spoof on news, it will be telecast on Aaj Tak.

What about Stocks: Stocks related to entertainment, media will do very good. The index on the whole will be nicely placed. No major crashes. Reliance Infocomm is a dark horse,

Lastly: The title ‘India‘ is just good for the country for it comes on the less fortunate number 3. It should be ‘Bharat‘ for more progress for it comes on no. 6. Then the entertainment industry or any other would do many folds better.

If one may recall, Pune was not at all doing well when it was spelt as Poona. Now Pune is doing extremely well economically and also in other spheres.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of Sanjay B Jumaani and indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)