ITV

Category: Movie Channels

  • Diya aur Baati hum: Two years on, the flame continues to burn bright

    Diya aur Baati hum: Two years on, the flame continues to burn bright

    MUMBAI: An educated girl with big aspirations is married off to an illiterate boy from an orthodox family is not something out-of-the box. We all have heard, read or seen such stories year after year. But what is it about Star’s primetime show – Diya aur Baati hum – that has caught everyone’s fancy?
     

    Prompt comes the reply from Star’s programming head (fiction) Danish Khan that there are various aspects which have led to the success of the show that completes two years on 29 August. “The most important thing about the show is that even though it is set in a small town, it has broken the stereotype that one cannot pursue his/her dreams after marriage.”

     

    Khan goes on to give the credit to the strong and evolving story and the actors for integrating well with all the elements, “The writers and producers have been able to keep the horse running for us. The story is so simple yet day-after-day it has been able to connect with its audience. Even the actors have portrayed the characters so well. They are reliving their lives as those characters.”

     

    Agreeing with Khan, Shashi Sumeet Productions (which is producing the show) founder director Sumeet Mittal adds, “As an inspirational story of a halwai (sweet shop owner) wanting to make sure his wife becomes an IPS officer, it was amazing how the audience accepted our show. Furthermore, the extremely relatable characters have helped give this show a sense of realism to which our audiences can connect.”

     

    And the numbers are proof enough of that. The drama series, which is based in Pushkar (Rajasthan), has been a consistent No 1 for nearly a year and a half for Star Plus. Its launch ratings of 1.9 TVRs (the metric used nowdays is TVTs) were not oo impressive. But it grew on its audience which took a fancy to it as reflected in the ratings climb to 6.7 TVR (week 34 of last year). A year later in 2013 in week 33, Diya aur Baati has reported TVTs of 11,166 TVT, which is way higher than any other primetime show on the competition. Rival Zee TV’s Pavitra Rishta which airs at the same time slot has a relatively leaner TVT of 4,959 TVTs for the same week, while ratings of shows on other channels don’t even merit a mention.
     

     

    Industry sources say that adverising commercial air time on Diya aur Baati comes at a high sticker price thanks to its continuing stellar performance and connect with its loyal viewers. “The premium attached to the show is almost 30-40 per cent more than the second ranking show, as per ratings,” says a source.

     

    Any other channel worth its salt would love to replicate the prime time series success. What is that makes Diya aur Baati tick? It’s all about staying true to your roots and understanding why you are making a show and for whom, feels Mittal.  “Having an audience connect doesn’t just mean making a show with good television ratings, but also creating a beautiful amalgamation of what we want and what the audience wants,” he elaborates.

     

    Star Plus vice president (marketing) Nikhil Madhok avers that effective marketing during the show’s high points and brand integrations are something that have worked well for it. “When Suraj went for the ‘Top Chef Competition,’ we got the entire nation to give their best wishes to him. If you look at the recent activation, we got Shahrukh Khan to the show in the ‘Master Quiz’ episode. We do such activities regularly to connect to people,” states Madhok.
     

     

    The producer of the show doesn’t think retaining stickiness is a cakewalk . “Today, people are spoilt for choice and one has to maintain the connect with audiences for them to keep coming back every day,” says Mittal.

     

    Fiction show audiences on GECs expect high drama. Some of the tools programming and creative folks in channels have been using to keep viewers hooked are generation leaps and unexpected twists and turns in the story plot. “The idea is to the audience guessing and looped-in otherwise there is always another show where they can find drama. Also, it helps the show to stay fresh, all the time,” says a media observer.

     

    To keep freshness going after 500-plus episodes isn’t a difficult task if the entire team is driven to make each episode work, believes Mittal. “We have to treat every episode as a whole and give it equal importance. Each department, from writing to direction to actors, to camera persons each and every member of the crew has to work with the same amount of passion and that’s what will translate into a beautiful episode on screen. I strongly believe that in a daily soap, where your interface with the audience happens every single day, the philosophy that small parts make a whole applies aptly here. We have to see that imagination and execution go hand in hand.”

     

    Lodestar UM’s general manager Hema Malik agrees but adds that it is impossible for a show to keep reigning forever; unless of course the team is able to continually come up with interesting and entertaining elements. “Overall, if a show has been getting good ratings, it means it has a strong storyline and characters which one can relate to. And if at a certain stage the storyline becomes boring or predictable, people will take even less time to get off it than they took to get hooked on to it. It is here that one needs to take up the challenge and bounce back.”

     

    Malik goes on to say that the show portrays the channel’s philosophy Rishta Wahi Soch Nayi perfectly. “Star’s values are very much in the storyline of the show. Hence, it’s a perfect match.”

  • Zeel launches Anmol; to be available on TV, mobile and WAP

    Zeel launches Anmol; to be available on TV, mobile and WAP

     NEW DELHI: Zee network has launched Zee Anmol, a free-to-air channel, taking the number of Zee channels to 34. The new entrant will be available on both mobile phones and on WAP zeeanmol.tv from 1 September.

    Denying the charges of it being a channel of repeats on lines of Star Utsav, ZEEL chief creative and content officer Bharat Kumar Ranga in a press meet here said that not only will the channel reach those areas which were hitherto covered only by DD and DTH DD Direct Plus, but also be re-packaged to suit the audiences in smaller towns and semi-urban and rural areas.

    He said a series may even be cut from the original number of episodes to lesser episodes if research showed people did not want it to be too long.

    He said that this marked the first phase of the channel, which may have new programming in the second phase expected sometime next year.

    Ranga told indiantelevision.com later that Zee was presently spending around fifty per cent of its normal marketing budget for other channels for this particular channel. Asked to be more specific, he said around 15 per cent of the revenue from Zee Anmol will go into its marketing. But he admitted that this was going to be tough going since the aim was to reach unreached areas and even those where there was no television. He said he was prepared to advertise the channel on all platforms, including Doordarshan if the pubcaster accepted this.

    Four persons who have excelled in different programmes on Zee TV – Kratika Sengar who played Jhansi ki Rani, Sayantani Ghosh who was Naagin, Binny Sharma who won hearts in Dance India Dance, and Jasraj Joshi who won the SA RE GA MA PA 2012 were present at the press meet.

    ZEEL marketing head Akash Chawla said the new channel was more of a video brand than a television brand, and the expectation was to reach places where cable and satellite TV had just begun to make inroads, or where broadband was available. He said the mobile penetration had reached 100 million and was bound to catch on, particularly if the programmes are re-purposed.

    Asked if the ad cap could affect the channel since it was not based on subscriptions, Ranga said even advertisers had products they wanted to reach out to small consumers.

    Ranga said Zee Anmol was the only channel to have up to 39 hours repackaged programming for a week.

    Head content Ajay Bhalwanker said that the research had taken many months because the network wanted to know exactly what the people in small towns wanted. Ranga added that the channel had been astonished to discover that people were aware of serials and names of characters even in places with limited TV viewing.

    In the initial phase, the channel will have series like Maayka, Pavitra Rishta, Dance India Dance, India’s Best Dramebaaz, Chhoti Bahu, Saat Phere, Naagin, Kasamh Se, Sindoor, Jhansi ki Rani, and Shabaash India among others.

    Interestingly the press meet was attended by mediapersons from smaller cities like Ahmedabad and Jaipur who had been brought here to see a preview.

  • Big Brother enters Vietnam

    Big Brother enters Vietnam

    MUMBAI: Endemol has sold Big Brother into Vietnam for the first time, with VTV commissioning 65 episodes to air later this year.

     

    The local version will run over nine weeks on VTV6. In total, more than 20 series of Big Brother will air this year in more than 70 countries, including the US, the UK, Spain, Israel, Latin America, CEE, Asia and Africa.

     

    Endemol managing director of Asian operations Fotini Paraskakis commented: “Big Brother continues to be an unstoppable blockbuster more than a decade since it first launched. Following the format’s proven success in other Asian territories we are proud to be bringing it to Vietnam for the very first time and we’re in no doubt that VTV6’s audience will love it.”

  • Max goes maxi on its campaign

    Max goes maxi on its campaign

    MUMBAI: Have you ever, in the middle of some important discussion got up and said something completely out of context and people thought it was too filmy. If it happens often, well you can easily blame the movies for it. Cinema has become a part of our lives which easily influences our thoughts and also adds drama, but in a cute little way. And this is what Sony Max, is trying to cash on through its newly launched three TV campaigns.

     

    “We wanted to take a step forward and discover the cuteness of this deewanapan that people have within themselves,” says   Sony Max senior VP and business head Neeraj Vyas. “All the three creatives are cute and whacky, but at the same time they are not over the top and not overtly dressed up to sound funny.”

    The campaign is Max’s tribute to the effect cinema has on people

     

    The three campaigns have tried to keep pace with the current trend of cinema. “The TVCs capture the deewanapan that remains as a residue of movie viewing,” he adds.

     

    The first of the three TVC’s which went on air on 15 August features a police officer who while describing the action of a criminal in a photograph, promptly says, “Shayad who poochh raha hai agar usne Aashiqui 2 dekhi”. The second TVC is about a girl who confesses to his parents that she is in love with a guy from a different religion, though the girl expected some drama around this revelation, she is upset that her parents are cool with her relationship and goes on to say, ‘Toh kya humare pyaar mein ek bhi kaanta nahi.’ The third TVC shows a boy who questions his mother on the death of his father and is disappointed to know that he died of a heart attack and says, ‘Ab main kiske khoon ka badla loonga’.  All the three ads conclude with ‘Deewana deewana deewana, jahan dekho wahan deewana.’

     

    “We use filmy tones and dialogues in real life situations to say something funny or nice. And that’s all the campaign is saying,” comments Vyas.

     

    Eyebrows do go up with the timing of the campaign. One may smell some competition coming in from the launch of Zee TVs new movie channel &pictures. So is it this which forced Max to connect with audiences through new campaigns? Promptly answers Vyas, “Well! This is mere co-incidence, that the launch of Max’s new TVC and &pictures happens at almost the same time. In fact we hurried the campaign because of the October deadline for implementation of ad cap.”

     

    Explaining further he adds, “We had campaigns even the last year, around the same time which was called Shuruwat Yahin Se, this was more of a sub tribute to deewanapan .  We have at least three creatives per campaign every year.”
    The campaign is Max’s tribute to the effect cinema has on people

     

    The key insight for this year’s campaign was to demonstrate the latent deewanapan in everyone’s life. “It is communication from the point of view of people. None of the TVC’s asks the audiences to watch Max, they are all talking of their personal issues which is a derivative from the residue of movies.”

     

    Max has bought space on 22 channels from other networks to promote the new campaign. These include news, music, kids and regional language genres. “It is a part of our massive media plan. It is a media need to reach out to ‘x’ number of people in ‘x’ number of times, which is what we are aiming at by tying up with these networks,” informs Vyas.

     

    The campaign has been created by JWT, the production house is Kerosene Films and the director for the film is Rajesh Sathi. While currently the campaign involves only on-air promotions, the channel will soon use the digital space as well. No print ads will be used. “How can you translate the TVC into print?” he questions.

     

    According to the chief creative officer of a Delhi based creative ad agency the commercials are reasonably well made and are likeable. “If the attempt was to establish that the channel is associated with Bollywood, this set of commercials delivers. However, they do evoke a sense of déj? vu as such filmy things have been done before. Also the ad may not be path breaking but certainly makes one smile.”

     

    A commercial is an attempt to create propensity among viewers to like the channel. “In my opinion, these commercials have achieved that,” adds the CCO. When asked if a channel needs to rope in big names for promotions he says, “Max is an established channel and so can afford to cast real people. But for a new movie channel like &pictures, to announce its arrival, it needs to shout louder, both creative- and media-wise. Therefore, it’s understandable why they have roped big names.”

     

    When asked if the commercial was an attempt to pre-empt &pictures promotions, he says, “Well I haven’t seen &pictures promos, so can’t comment on that.” Resonating the same another creative head said, “Well, I haven’t heard or seen &pictures on-air promotions.”

     

    The launch of the campaign at a time of the launch of &pictures is a mere coincidence or no, is something which we can only speculate. But, what comes as good news for Max is that while its campaign is being watched and appreciated, &pictures even with big stars seems to have gone wrong with the marketing. Which of the two make a mark in this campaign driven industry, is yet to be seen.

  • Shagun TV launches new game-show Jodi No 1

    Shagun TV launches new game-show Jodi No 1

    MUMBAI: Earlier this year, Shagun TV, country’s first 24-hour wedding entertainment channel, was launched with a promise to have shows that were not only unique but also exciting to all matrimonial-related matters, whether it’s astrology, shopping or honeymoon travel planning.

     

    Trying to stay true to its theme, the channel is launching its first game show Jodi No 1.

    The game-show will try to explain the importance of marital relationship through each of its round. It will witness the participation of four married couples who will be tested on the grounds of compatibility. And the couple winning the majority of rounds will be the winner of the episode and will move closer to the trophy of Jodi No 1.
    The game show will highlight the importance of marital relationship through each of its round

     

    The sequence of rounds will try to see how well are the couples aware of each others likes and dislikes, how quickly they understand each others non verbal quos, how well is their understanding about rituals and customs of marriage, how much romance is instilled in their relationship and how much fun factor exists between them.

     

    “It is a niche channel and will cater to only a limited audience. So it is hard to say how will the channel or the show work,” says a media planner who went on to state the example of a matrimonial show, aired on a leading GEC a few years back and hosted by an actress, failed to garner much ratings.

     

    The one hour show will be hosted by actor-cum-anchor Agastya Jain and Sugandha Sharma and will be aired from 30 August, every Friday to Saturday, 8 pm onwards.

  • Will Anil Kapoors 24 be a game changer?

    Will Anil Kapoors 24 be a game changer?

    MUMBAI: Indian viewers are set to witness high octane action drama unraveling on their TV screens soon. The adaptation of the hit American series 24 unveiled its first look last evening. The Indian adaptation of the American thriller is being co-produced by Anil Kapoor Film Company and Ramesh Deo Productions with Delly Belly director Abhinay Deo helming the series.

     

    “The amount of content we have shot is humongous and is equivalent to seven feature films,” gushed Deo at the launch of the 24 trailer. As creative director and co-producer of the series, he feels that the series will definitely be well received by the audience which has been adapted keeping in mind the Indian sentiments, also giving it a tinge of soap operas. “We could do this as we had the leeway to modify and adapt as per the Indian setting,” Deo added.

     

    A fresh young crew of 200 people in production and post production were brought on board to navigate this real time series. On normal days, just two cameras were used while on days packed with action sequences five cameras were put into use with VFX being provided by Prime Focus. “We have shot a scene with a brush falling in a bathtub and we placed an underwater camera to capture the scene from below as well,” says co-producer Apurba Sengupta emphasising on the efforts they took to make it look realistic. Red Scarlet X cameras are being used, and everything is shot in HD format in about 100 locations in Mumbai. The two standing set-ups are – ATU (Anti Terrorism Unit) office and the Tulip Star hotel.

    A great ensemble cast has been roped in to set your pulses racing with high octane action

     

    Looking at the production aspects, the pre production team needed at least  eight to nine months to bring all creative heads to spot perfect locations in the financial capital to shoot. Apart from a thorough recce of locations, the team had to decide on costumes, colour schemes as well as finalise the cast.

     

    For an episode the team shot for almost eight to ten days, that meant that the end product was seven minutes of content produced per day which the team is very proud of as usually on an average only two and a half minutes of content is created.

    India is a diverse country so we had a lot of meat in it and yes it includes politics too says Abhinay Deo giving a sneak peak into the story

     

    Up until now, 16 episodes have been shot while the remaining eight will conclude in December. Out of the 24 episodes approximately 16 are shot by Deo and the rest will be done by Rensil D’Silva, who is also co-writing the adaptation, and Nitya Mehra, who was the AD for Life of Pi. “The level of drama needed for Indian audiences is more so we had to mix emotions,” says D’Silva. He also mentioned that scripting was a daunting task as they had to re-work it several times to get it absolutely perfect.

     

    With an edge of the seat thriller being shot with the best of cameras and a great ensemble cast; it would be natural to believe that the production cost is way beyond the average but Sengupta says the difference isn’t that farfetched either. “It’s promotion for them too. So if they give it to me at a particular price then next year someone else will approach them for it,” D’Silva explains on how the production deals pan out. Industry sources however feel that a show of this level cannot be shot at such a low budget and estimated it to be at a cost of a minimum of Rs 50 lakhs per episode.
    The Anil Kapoor starrer 24 is set to thrill the audiences with never before seen action

     

    Although only one season is on the cards right now, Colors CEO Raj Nayak is optimistic of seeing all eight seasons being made. Rumors are afloat that the story draws parallels with the Gandhi family but the claims were rubbished by the producers.  “India is a diverse country so we had a lot of meat in it and yes it includes politics too,” says Deo.

     

    The cast includes Anil Kapoor, Tisca Chopra, Mandira Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam and cameos by Anupam Kher and Shabana Azmi. The trailer showed Anil Kapoor caught in the middle of making time for his family and on the hunt of the to-be PM’s assassin.  It isn’t like the usual series that Indian audiences are used to watching with real time storytelling and split screens to show different people. “I have got a lot of people telling me that they want this to succeed because it will be a success for the industry,” says Nayak.

     

    The channel is yet to announce the launch date and the time slot for 24. “I signed the deal on 24 October which also happened to be Dassera last year,” said a beaming Nayak.

     

    It is the first time such a series is being produced in India on such a large scale. “It opens up a world of fiction like never seen before,” says Colors weekend programming head Manisha Sharma.

     

    But the bigger question here is that will such a show work with the Indian audiences who are tamed to watching saas-bahu serials? Media planners are positive about it. “I would be surprised if the show does not do well in India because if the content is treated keeping Indian sentiments in place then it is a sure shot winner,” says Madison COO Karthik Laxminarayanan.

     

    “The show is coming after a certain phase of digitisation so it will be interesting to see the ratings that it will get from digital homes. However, it should do well here as well,” says ZenithOptimedia Group CEO Satyajit Sen.

     

    The industry feels that the show will definitely be a game changer for the channel and the genre as well, but it is up to the audience to give their verdict.

  • Can Sonys new offering Live it up?

    Can Sonys new offering Live it up?

    MUMBAI: Every Thursday is a reality check for the channels and its shows. And more so when it gets a new show onboard. The success of any marketing campaign is reflected in the ratings and so when Sony Entertainment Television launched its new soap Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara, it built a big marketing campaign to create the right buzz to get good viewership numbers.

     

    Sony which is the highest gainer this week, as it added 48,804 TVTs (Television Viewership in thousands) taking its cumulative to 349,377 GVTs (Gross Viewership in thousands) (300,573 last week), launched Jee Le Zara, on 15 August in the 9:30 pm slot.

     

    The show which entered into a very competitive time slot with Star Plus’s Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Zee TV’s Qubool Hai ruling the ratings chart in this time slot, has received 2,620 TVTs in its launch week and all this after some good marketing campaigns.

     

    “Every time slot today is competitive, we need to get audiences and so created a huge marketing campaign to inform people of the new show,” says SET senior VP & head-marketing Gaurav Seth. From a ‘Van Flag Off’ by Sangeeta Ghosh, the protagonist of the show to running of Twitter contests, the channel went a whole hog to hit the right cord with its audiences.

     

    The promotional activity started with the three promos shot for television. “Similarly, we had radio spots, which spoke on Sangeeta’s character in the show. We also launched a big multi-media print campaign on the day of launch of the soap which sustained till the first week of it going on air,” informs Seth.

     

    To sustain pressure and ensure that the promos went viral, the channel launched several social media activities and outdoor innovations. “One of this was when on 13 and 14 August we had a Jee Le Zara bus ferrying women from one part of the city to the other. The idea was to inform people of Sangeeta’s return on TV and also to promote the idea of Jee Le Zara,” he comments.

     

    The channel which launched the #Jee le zara moment contest on Twitter received over 7700 tweets with nearly 5.37 million people joining the conversation. “We were trending on Twitter on the launch day,” he informs.  The channel also ran promos of the show in major cinema chains nationwide for one week during the screening of Chennai Express.

     

    With Sony targeting not only the metros, but also UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat, with a 360 degree marketing campaign, we wonder if the numbers are enough when compared to the 7,435 TVTs of Qubool Hai and 7,284 TVTs of  Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. The show will need some catching up to do in the coming weeks.

  • Q1-2014: Bag Films reports higher y-o-y income

    Q1-2014: Bag Films reports higher y-o-y income

    BENGALURU: B.A.G. Films & Media Limited (Bag Films) consolidated income from operations of Rs 32.67 crore for Q1-2014 which was 43.9 per cent higher than the Rs 22.7 crore reported by the company for Q1-2013 and almost flat (0.29 per cent lower) as compared to the Rs 32.77 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Let us look at the other consolidated figures reported by Bag Films for Q1-2014

     

    Total expenditure for Q1-2014 at Rs 33.44 crore was 13.8 per cent lower than the Rs 38.79 crore for Q1-2013 and 8.7 per cent lower than the Rs 36.64 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Bag Films reported a net loss after minority interest for Q1-2014 at Rs (-3.25) crore which was less than a third (28.7 per cent) the Rs (-11.32) crore for Q1-2013 and less than half (44.6 per cent) the Rs (-7.29) crores for Q4-2013.

     

    Segment Results

    Bag Films operates in five segments: Audio-visual production, Movies, Leasing, FM Radio and Television Broadcasting.

     

    Bag Films Audio-visual production segment reported a consolidated income of Rs 9.98 crore for Q1-2014 which was 42 per cent more than the Rs 7.03 crore for Q1-2013 and almost double (93 per cent more) than the Rs 5.17 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    The segment result for Audio-visual production for Q1-2014 at Rs (-0.44) crore was less than a quarter (23.27 per cent) of the Rs (-1.90) crore for Q1-2013 and 23.38 per cent of the Rs (-1.89) crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Leasing segment revenue for Q1-2014 at Rs 0.46 crore was almost quadruple (3.94 times) the Rs 0.12 crore for Q1-2013 and 5.87 per cent more than the Rs 0.44 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    The segment result for Q1-2014 for Leasing at Rs (-0.76 crore) was 39.55 per cent better than the Rs (-1.25) crore for Q1-2013 and less than half (41.75 per cent) of the Rs (-1.81) crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Bag Films Radio segment reported a 65 per cent rise in revenues in Q1-2014 to Rs1.56 crore as compared to the Rs 0.95 crore for Q1-2013 and was 24.4 per cent more than the Rs1.25 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    The radio segment result for Q1-2014 at Rs 0.51 crore was 43.2 per cent lower than the Rs 0.9 crore for Q1-2013. For Q4-2013, Bag Films Radio segment result was Rs (-1.17) crore.

     

    Bag Films Television broadcasting segment reported revenue of Rs 20.67 crore which was 39.5 per cent more than the Rs 14.82 crore for Q1-2013, but 20.21 per cent lower than the Rs 25.90 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Segment result for Bag Films Television broadcasting segment for Q1-2014 at Rs 6.09 crore was 33.5 per cent lower than the Rs 9.15 crore for Q4-2013. This segment had reported result of Rs (-6.62) crore for Q1-2013.

  • Netflix strikes movie deal with Weinstein

    Netflix strikes movie deal with Weinstein

    MUMBAI: In a drive to add subscribers, Netflix has expanded on a movie licensing deal with The Weinstein Co. that will add more films to its internet video service beginning in 2016.

     

    The multi-year agreement announced builds upon a partnership that Netflix forged with Weinstein last year. That deal gave it the streaming rights to the Oscar-winning film, The Artist, as well other foreign films and documentaries from the eight-year-old studio.

     

    The new deal gives Netflix the rights to show all movies released by Weinstein and its subsidiary, Dimension Films, before they appear on pay-TV channels. That makes it more competitive with channels like HBO and Showtime that have traditionally been the first place to see films after their theatrical runs.

     

    Netflix’s exclusive arrangement with Weinstein begins with films released in theaters during 2016. That’s around the same time Netflix will begin showing films for the first time outside a movie theater from The Walt Disney, part of an agreement announced last year.

     

    Financial terms of the latest Weinstein deal weren’t disclosed.

  • Bindaas to showcase real, unique love stories through Yeh Hai Aashiqui

    Bindaas to showcase real, unique love stories through Yeh Hai Aashiqui

    MUMBAI: Was it only Emotional Atyaachaar which kept you hooked to Bindaas? Then get ready for a fresh dose of Bindaas with Yeh Hai Aashiqui – unique and inspiring love stories. The channel which concentrates on various facets of relationships, with the new entrant will focus on how love triumphs against all odds. The show which hits screens from 25 August is a fictionalised reality.

     

    We want to be at the forefront of youth aspirations and young people’s life, which happens with continuous research says Bikram Duggal

     

    “We want to be at the forefront of youth aspirations and young people’s life, which happens with continuous research. While Emotional Atyaachaar deals with infidelity, Yeh Hai Aashiqui is a unique show with inspiring love stories,” informs Disney UTV Media Networks director-marketing media networks Bikram Duggal.

     

    This BBC Worldwide Productions and Lost Boy Productions’ series will showcase unique love stories that are not talked about much. “For example the series will have a story on how a young boy falls in love with a woman who is stuck in a bad marriage or how a woman falls in love with a terminally ill man. The thought was to showcase the realties and connect with youngsters,” he adds.

     

    Bindaas, through its programming content reflects the needs, aspirations and lives of youngsters. “Our research shows that relationships are the most important aspect of a youngster’s life. And of this unique love stories is what keeps them hooked. To get the best stories, for the past three months, our creative team got on to searching for such unique stories and finally shortlisted the best of the lot,” informs Duggal.