Tag: Antakshari

  • B4U 4 Mental and Physical Well Being

    B4U 4 Mental and Physical Well Being

    In the current scenario, when people everywhere are grappling with disastrous effects of the pandemic, any kind of celebration is always welcome! Undoubtedly, the past few months proved to be a nightmare that challenged people both emotionally and psychologically. Keeping this in mind, the HR department of the B4U Network invited its employees to celebrate International Yoga Day, World Music Day, and International Father’s Day. The department took initiatives to arrange several webinars on the occasion of all three events to give their employees and colleagues a relief from the monotonous life that they are surrounded with. Since offices are closed off and employees are working from home, these webinars were conducted virtually.

    First and foremost, a 5-day Yoga challenge was arranged for the internal employees, from 15 June -19 June. Also, special sessions were held by their wellness spocs under the observation of experienced and renowned trainers. Music helps heal mind and soul and therefore, on 21st June, B4U Network celebrated World Music day by arranging an exclusive webinar for its employees to experience a wonderful musical evening of live Antakshari. Along with that, the Network also celebrated International Father’s Day to appreciate and thank them for their sacrifices and unconditional love. Further, the Network’s HR department arranged an exclusive webinar session for its employees on “Co-Parenting” and also held a session on “Parenting Tips during Lockdown” on 22nd June. These initiatives aimed to revitalize their employees and give them an out from their stress.

    Talking about the sessions, the HR Head of B4U Network, Priyanka Bhushan says that, “This is a stressful situation which is taking a toll on everyone. B4U cares for the holistic well-being of employees. Due to the current pandemic and the multiple after effects it is leaving behind, we at B4U felt the need to address these concerns in a holistic and immediate manner. To this end, we had a week long celebration including International Yoga Day, Father’s Day, World Music Day and a spectrum of employee connect activities like Yoga, Co-Parenting workshops, Antakshri all aimed at enabling employees and their families to be in the prime of health and well-being. This is a difficult time, and we want our employees to know that we are facing this crisis as a united front.”

  • Shemaroo Entertainment plays ‘antakshari’ on World Music Day

    Shemaroo Entertainment plays ‘antakshari’ on World Music Day

    MUMBAI: On the occasion of World Music Day, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd brought all the music lovers together from all over the world through its digital initiative #LetsPlayAntakshari on its retro music channel Filmi Gaane.

    The digital initiative #LetsPlayAntakshari has reached out to 2.5 million people and got a tremendous response from fans on the social media across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

    Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd brought music lovers together from across the world on the occasion of World Music Day through its digital initiative #LetsPlayAntakshari on its retro music channel Filmi Gaane. Through this, it reached out to over 2.5 million audiences and got a tremendous response from fans on the social media across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

    The game of Antakshari was started with the letter ‘M’ and soon musician and singer Bappi Lahiri joined in and also tagged other celebrities from the industry to carry on the challenge. Famous Indian music composer Bappi Lahiri along with other noted artists like Devang Patel, Meet Kaur, Sonali Khare and many others, too joined in for some great fun.

    #LetsPlayAntakshari, which has won the hearts of many music lovers, saw overwhelming response and the initiative specially curated for the music lovers saw a 75 per cent spike in user engagement. The total impressions through this activity were around 3.80 million with a total engagement of over 1.6 lakh.

    The age-old game of Antakshari was an instant hit among the celebrities and audiences alike as they joined #LetsPlayAntakshari and started challenging each other. Filmi Gaane channel which has an outstanding community of retro fans on YouTube, started early in the year 2010 recently crossed 11 million subscribers mark ranks as the 12th most subscribed channel on YouTube.

  • Saaibaba musicals & comedy, Balaji dramas may lift DD’s fortunes from Feb

    Saaibaba musicals & comedy, Balaji dramas may lift DD’s fortunes from Feb

    MUMBAI: Starting February, pubcaster Doordarshan is geared up to launch television shows following the prime time programming slot auction in December.

    Saaibaba Telefilms and Ekta Kapoor-promoted Balaji Telefilms are putting together programming ranging from family dramas to youth-oriented shows to music reality shows which may lead to revival of the viewership and finances of the network. indiantelevision had reported that Balaji bid successfully for four slots, and Saaibaba bagged two slots on Doordarshan’s prime time slot auctions.

    Saaibaba, which is popular for shows such as SaReGaMa, Antakshari, and Star Voice of India, will produce music-focused reality and fiction shows for Doordarshan. Saaibaba won bids for 7.30 pm to 8 pm from Monday to Friday, and 8pm to 9pm on Saturday and Sunday, indiantelevision.com had reported.      

    Saaibaba director Shweta Singh on Tuesday told indiantelevision.com, “We had not applied for initial two bids but put the hat in the third ring because it was feasible and fortunately got two slots. In terms of content, we are looking for musical reality shows for weekends and comedy show on weekdays.”     

    Balaji COO – television business Ketan Gupta reportedly said that one of the shows was going to be a youth-focused show, while another would be a love story. A daily soap opera (family drama) has been planned for the Friday slot, he added.

    Balaji has made superhit fiction shows such as Kumkum Bhagya on Zee and Pavitra Bandhan (which runs on DD National). It successfully pocketed three slots (half an hour each for 8-9:30pm programming) from Monday to Thursday. The production house won two slots for 8-9pm programming on Friday.

    After a Prasar Bharati Board meeting in October, Doordarshan had announced a series of concessions once the programmers come on board, including lowering the base price for a 30-minute slot to Rs. 1,50,000.      

    DD sources had told indiantelevision.com that the only eligibility criterion that has been relaxed is that the basic price for auction has come down to Rs 1,50,000 (Rs 1.5 lakh) for a 30-minute slot. It was Rs 250.000 when the auction was announced in June this year, and was decreased to Rs 200,000 when the new date was set in early September 2016.

    However, most of the other eligibility norms remain the same as earlier in the New Content Acquisition Scheme that has been approved by Prasar Bharati Board.

    Also Read: Balaji & Saaibaba bag prime time slots on DD National

    DD non-prime time slots programmes invited; FCTs specified

  • Saaibaba musicals & comedy, Balaji dramas may lift DD’s fortunes from Feb

    Saaibaba musicals & comedy, Balaji dramas may lift DD’s fortunes from Feb

    MUMBAI: Starting February, pubcaster Doordarshan is geared up to launch television shows following the prime time programming slot auction in December.

    Saaibaba Telefilms and Ekta Kapoor-promoted Balaji Telefilms are putting together programming ranging from family dramas to youth-oriented shows to music reality shows which may lead to revival of the viewership and finances of the network. indiantelevision had reported that Balaji bid successfully for four slots, and Saaibaba bagged two slots on Doordarshan’s prime time slot auctions.

    Saaibaba, which is popular for shows such as SaReGaMa, Antakshari, and Star Voice of India, will produce music-focused reality and fiction shows for Doordarshan. Saaibaba won bids for 7.30 pm to 8 pm from Monday to Friday, and 8pm to 9pm on Saturday and Sunday, indiantelevision.com had reported.      

    Saaibaba director Shweta Singh on Tuesday told indiantelevision.com, “We had not applied for initial two bids but put the hat in the third ring because it was feasible and fortunately got two slots. In terms of content, we are looking for musical reality shows for weekends and comedy show on weekdays.”     

    Balaji COO – television business Ketan Gupta reportedly said that one of the shows was going to be a youth-focused show, while another would be a love story. A daily soap opera (family drama) has been planned for the Friday slot, he added.

    Balaji has made superhit fiction shows such as Kumkum Bhagya on Zee and Pavitra Bandhan (which runs on DD National). It successfully pocketed three slots (half an hour each for 8-9:30pm programming) from Monday to Thursday. The production house won two slots for 8-9pm programming on Friday.

    After a Prasar Bharati Board meeting in October, Doordarshan had announced a series of concessions once the programmers come on board, including lowering the base price for a 30-minute slot to Rs. 1,50,000.      

    DD sources had told indiantelevision.com that the only eligibility criterion that has been relaxed is that the basic price for auction has come down to Rs 1,50,000 (Rs 1.5 lakh) for a 30-minute slot. It was Rs 250.000 when the auction was announced in June this year, and was decreased to Rs 200,000 when the new date was set in early September 2016.

    However, most of the other eligibility norms remain the same as earlier in the New Content Acquisition Scheme that has been approved by Prasar Bharati Board.

    Also Read: Balaji & Saaibaba bag prime time slots on DD National

    DD non-prime time slots programmes invited; FCTs specified

  • Zee Cinema bags four awards at Indian Brand Convention

    Zee Cinema bags four awards at Indian Brand Convention

    MUMBAI: Zee Cinema has recently bagged four awards at the Branding, Advertising, and Marketing (BAM) awards ceremony held by the Indian Brand Convention 2015 in New Delhi, for its constant innovative branding and communication efforts. The Convention was a learning, networking conference and an awards ceremony for branding, marketing, design, communications, advertising, sales and creative professionals in India.

     

    Amongst many other brands that participated, Zee Cinema was a front runner at the convention and the awards won by the channel include best corporate social responsibility campaign for November 2014 Children’s’ day Masti Ki Paathshala’ activity. It also bagged the best integrated marketing campaign for October 2014 campaign for promoting world TV premiere of entertainment, the best mobile innovation for May 2015 for the mobile activity done on world TV premiere of Lingaa. The channel has also roped in the best digital marketing campaign for May 2015 for the digital & social media promotion for world TV premiere of Lingaa.

     

    Masti ki Paathshala, was an initiative that the channel organized for the children of selected orphanages across Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad to mark the celebrations of Children’s Day 2014. Over 300 children were engaged with fun activities like movie screening, antakshari and fun games with a view to give them a memorable special day and let them know that they are valued and loved.

     

    The promotion campaign for the world television premiere of the film, Entertainment provided its viewers an exclusive opportunity to interact with Johnny Lever for the first time on Zee Cinema’s twitter handle. One of the comic actors from the film Krishna Abhishek was also made available for the media market visit in Lucknow which also ensured the visibility of the brand in the prime market. The channel also used a unique platform of airline branding (special branding inside the aircraft in Air-India) for marketing the movie innovatively. The film was extensively promoted via engaging and interactive activities conducted across social media platforms with the movie’s merchandise were given to winners.

     

    The promotion campaign for Lingaa included an extensive digital campaign and also an exclusive mobile campaign Rajnikanth phone call ad wherein participants received a pre-recorded call from Rajnikanth urging them to watch Lingaa on Zee Cinema. The mobile campaign had a reach of a gigantic 8.2 million.

  • Title sponsorship for Star’s ‘Antakshari’ goes to Colgate Maxfresh; Juhi Parmer to co-host

    Title sponsorship for Star’s ‘Antakshari’ goes to Colgate Maxfresh; Juhi Parmer to co-host

    MUMBAI: Star is poised to ramp up its offerings on sister channel Star One and has signed on Colgate Maxfresh as the title sponsor for it’s edition of the musical talent hunt show, Antakshari – The Great Challenge.

    The brain child behind Antakshari, producer Gajendrra Siingh has once again roped in Annu Kapur as host. In addition to this, the show has also selected Juhi Parmer to partner Kapur as co-host.

    A show that soon became a ‘fashion’ and ‘phenomenon’ on rival network Zee, Antakshari for the first time on Star promises to be “snazzier with new inclusions to the format and a reality aspect.” Geared to hit television in the second week of February, the first season will run for a 13 week period.

    Commenting on the association of Colgate Maxfresh with Antakshari, Star India advertising, sales and distribution Paritosh Joshi said, “Antakshari-The Great Challenge is a unique musical programme and is all set to add excitement to primetime viewing on Star One. With vibrant hosts and a lively and interactive format the viewers will be treated to a rich viewing experience each time. We are thrilled to be associated with a young brand like Colgate Maxfresh that will reach out to our audiences with innovative programming that is unique to Star One.” 

    On having initiated the partnership, Media Edge vice president Divya Radhakrishnan said, “Colgate Maxfresh is a brand targeting the youth. We have been constantly using platforms that engage this ever evasive TG beyond standard communication tools. In Antakshari, we saw an opportunity which was a good combination of a game show weaved in with a high entertainment quotient. This we believe will have a good appeal in our core TG.” 

    Four zonal auditions were conducted on the 12 and 14 January with guest judges including Ismail Durbaar at Indore, Abhijeet Bhattacharya in Kolkata and Annu Kapur in Delhi and Mumbai. 

    Following Gajendrra Siingh’s exit from Zee, the channel launched Antakshari last month with Titan as their main sponsor and Sunil Pal from the Laughter Challenge and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2005 champion Himani Kapoor as hosts. But with the original creator and host for the show propagating a fresh avatar for Antakshari on a new network – Star One, a fierce battle is yet to begin!

  • Star One to introduce new formats in ‘Antakshari-The great challenge’

    Star One to introduce new formats in ‘Antakshari-The great challenge’

    MUMBAI: After creating programming in genres from reality to dance and comedy to drama, Star One beginning February 2007 will launch Antakshari – The Great Challenge.

    This is being produced by Gajendrra Siingh of Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa fame. Antakshari – The Great Challenge will see new inclusions to the format. Apart from just the competition there would be hint of reality with Star One airing the auditions too. Annu Kapur who has an old connection with Antakshri will host this musical show.

    Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair said, “Siingh as we all know is the mastermind behind popularising music based talent competitions and we are very excited to host his home production’s debut venture – Antakshari-The Great Challenge on Star One. The show, with an innovative and exciting format, captures the passion that Indian audiences have for music. It also is in synch with the channel’s promise to consistently deliver indigenous content and complete entertainment for the audiences.”

    Commenting on the association Gajendrra Siingh said, “I have always looked at opportunities to connect with viewers and this show synergizes with Star One’s commitment of delivering entertaining and unique content. We have added new elements to the show which I am sure will be appreciated by the viewers.”

    Host Annu Kapur added, “This unit is family to me, I take this opportunity to congratulate Gajendrra and I wish him all the best. I am extremely delighted that he asked me to host the show. I can’t wait to get back on the floors and hear him say action.”

  • ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ producer Gajendra Singh quits Zee TV

    ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ producer Gajendra Singh quits Zee TV

    MUMBAI: Zee TV’s star producer (Antakshari, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa) Gajendra Singh has put in his papers, after a long stint at Subhash Chandra’s flagship channel.

    Singh is charting out on his own and with plans to set up his own production boutique.
    Singh’s association with the channel will, however, remain as he will continue to do commissioned shows for Zee TV. Confirming the development, Zee TV business head Punit Goenka said, “Gajendra will be starting his own production house. However, he will continue to be associated with Zee TV doing projects for us.”

    Earlier this year, rumours were rife in the industry that Singh was likely to join rival networks (notably Star).

    Singh has been the creative mind behind the concept of reality shows like CloseUp Antakshri, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and the recent chart topper Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil’ Champs. Over his years at the channel he had taken the programme to the UK, USA, Middle East, Europe, all the while improving the format.