From Sharmila Tagore and Urmila Matondkar on Doordarshan's "Zindagi" two decades ago to Hema Malini in the double role of Kamini-Damini on Sahara One, cine-deities have been forever lured on to the small screen.

But at what cost? Film icons never seem to find their métier on the home-viewing medium. The filmy fiascos on the medium of casual dramas are innumerable.

Take a look -- Karisma Kapoor in Sahara One's "Karishma: The Miracle Of Destiny", Raveena Tandon in Sahara's "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam", Sridevi in Sahara's "Malini Iyer".

If we go back in time, Nutan was the first screen-queen to really use the miniature space in that corner of your living room with grace. That was in Rakesh Chowdhary's treatise on feudal failings "Mujrim Haazir" where she showed how effectively television can be used to convey emotions too large for a 27-inch screen.

Post-Nutan, big screen divas stayed away from television until some channels made them offers they couldn't resist.

"Frankly, I did the game show 'Sawaal Dus Crore Ka' for the money. It was tempting and the work was quick," says Manisha Koirala in hindsight.

This was after the stupendous and pioneering success of Amitabh Bachchan on "Kaun Banega Crorepati". The game show turned around the fortunes of Star Plus, making it the frontrunner in the TRPs.

Thereafter the me-too syndrome took over, with Zee launching "Sawaal Dus Crore Ka" with Anupam Kher and Manisha Koirala and Sony going for Govinda to host "Jeeto Chappad Phaad Ke". Both were miserable channel-devastating failures even though Govinda got his pals from the industry like Raveena Tandon and Mahima Chowdhary to sit on the hot seat.

Govinda refuses to believe "Chappad Phaad Ke" failed. "According to me, success and failure are relative terms. I enjoyed my stint on television and wouldn't mind going back to the medium."

Barring Bachchan's "KBC", all the game shows with big stars flopped, prompting the channels to invent other ways of putting big-screen stars on television. Sony Entertainment came up with a matchmaking potential moolah-machine called "Kahin Na Kahin Koi Hai", the channel's biggest fiasco to date. Sony licked its wounds. Madhuri shone her pearlies all the way to her American bank.

Raveena, who did a watchable adaptation of Bimal Mitra's "Sahib...", loved the experience. "I don't know how well the series did. But I didn't look at it as full-fledged serial. It was more on the lines of a mini-series, like the one Sophia Loren did called 'Sophia Loren: Her Own Story', or BBC's wonderful adaptation of Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice'."

Karisma Kapoor who starred in television's first multi-starrer, "Karishma: The Miracle Of Destiny" (with Sanjay Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Jugal Hansraj, Arshad Warsi etc) is richer by many millions. The same cannot be said about the parent-channel Sahara.

No wonder television tycoon Ekta Kapoor shies away from signing big-screen stars. "Big stars want big money. But that's not the main reason why I don't want stars in my serials. It's a proven fact that stars don't work on television. And that's because they come with fixed and powerful larger-than-life images. After watching Shah Rukh play 'Badshah' no one would want to see him as Mihir in 'Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'. I've taken Amrita Singh in 'Kavyanjali' because she's been away from acting for so long. It's a new beginning for her."

And never mind if 'Mihir' Amarr Upadhyay found no takers in cinema and had to slink back into the medium he tried so hard to shrug off.

Star's head honcho Samir Nair agrees with Ekta. "We at one time planned a serial with Shah Rukh Khan playing a kind of Superman with lots of special effects. We had to drop the idea. The serials demand their own faces. Stars are created on the soaps through the characters they play. Everywhere, Smriti Irani and Amarr Upaddhyay are known as Tulsi and Mihir, though the latter gave up playing the character long back."

The latest star entrant on TV is Hema Malini in "Kamini Damini". Hema is no stranger to the home viewing medium. She did a lengthy dance-based series called "Nupoor" for television years ago. And when her "Baghban" makers B.R. and Ravi Chopra offered her a tempting cheque, Hema fell for it.

Whether "Kamini Damini" will do a turnaround or not, big-screen stars are likely to get rare on television. Except, of course, Amitabh Bachchan who's all set to return with "KBC" in June.

Says Bachchan: "When I did 'KBC' everyone including my wife discouraged me. But there were financial compulsions. Besides I wanted to explore the new medium. We never knew 'KBC' would work in such a big way. It opened up new doors to my own creativity and for the channel (Star). I don't know why other stars haven't worked on TV. But I would have no problems returning to television, provided I find the time."

There's talk of Sahara roping him in. "Several ideas are being discussed. But nothing concrete as yet," says the man.

Will he encore his game show's success on fiction programming on TV? Or are cine-icons too big for the idiot box?