Hindi films and television have always shared a very ambiguous relationship. While few TV stars have managed to graduate and make it big in films (Shah Rukh Khan being one of the exceptions), a lot of our Bollywood veterans have managed to give their flagging career a new lease of life, as it were, by appearing on television.

The trend continues and gains in strength as television content moves from soaps and tearjerkers to reality based shows. Our Bollywood celebs make appearances as judges or anchors and take home a hefty packet of moolah, besides ensuring that they are seen by every household in the country. It seems to work wonders for them. I mean, everybody knows about how even Amitabh Bachchan actually needed the TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati, not just for the money that was offered to him, but also for the popularity that it gained him, all over again. That was years ago and it was probably the turning point for television as it was no longer treated as a prodigal child by Bollywood celebs. With a spurt in TV channels, and the battle for TRPs rising, channels too are leaving nothing unturned in trying to come up with content which warrants the presence of these celebs. Take the case of the current Big Boss show. Besides Bollywood wannabes and has beens like Poonam Dhillon, Vindoo Dara Singh, Kamal Khan, Aditi Govitrikar and Shamita Shetty, the reality now wants to feature Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia. Rumours are running wild about how the two have been approached and offered money to the tune of 1.5 to 3 crores per episode to be a part of the house. Of course, neither have confirmed as yet. But if it does happen, it will be quite a coup as the old rivals Kaka and the Big B will again be face to face after so many years. Incidentally, Big B is being paid Rs. 1.5 crore per episode for anchoring the Big Boss show. Leaving Big Boss aside, actress Rani Mukherjee too is all set to make her debut in the DPL as a judge. The scenarios has become such that every actor and star wants now to be a part of television. For a medium which started out as a poor cousin to cinema, Indian television has certainly come of age and how! Even as this piece gets plugged, there must be so many new shows being chalked and so many more of our B Town celebs who must have hopped on to the bandwagon.