ITV

Tag: commentator

  • ESS to air ‘Harsha Ki Khoj’ from Thursday

    ESS to air ‘Harsha Ki Khoj’ from Thursday

    MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports’ (ESS) latest marketing initiative Closeup Dream Job – Harsha Ki Khoj goes on air from 25 November 2004.

    15 episodes of the talent hunt will be telecast every Thursday at 8:30 pm on ESPN. As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com ESS’ talent hunt is searching for a presenter for the channel in India. The contest is basically targetted at sports fanatics who have grit enough to become a commentator – just like Harsha Bhogle. The winner gets a one year contract.

    In addition to the 15 televised episodes, the final and the on-air commentary rounds will also be telecast. In a first of its kind experiment, the final 32 aspirants will compete in an on-air commentary round during the telecast of India-Bangladesh Test series.

    The entire show will be in English and Hindi in keeping with ESPN’s initiatives in Hindi to reach out to a larger audience. In the initial screening round, over 45,000 callers submitted their recording via the mobile phone yielding over 100,000 minutes of commentary. This one-minute voice commentary was judged by ESS and selected >participants were auditioned at six cities across the country between 24 October and 21 November 2004. Judges including Wasim Akram and Ravi Shastri adjudicated the contestants at various auditions.

    Contestants were evaluated on certain parameters like knowledge of sports, camera presence, style, and writing skills for television, voice modulation,
    presence of mind, sense of humour and the ability to carry oneself in front of the camera.

    Speaking on the initiative, ESS cricket and Indian production director Ray Hume said, “One of the key differentiators of our ‘Hunt’ has been the variety of professionals we have received entries from. I guess, the fact that Harsha being an MBA that too from a premier institute like IIM Ahmedabad, has triggered people’s passions and imaginations to question if Harsha can why can’t we?

    “That is why we have doctors, MBAs, lawyers, architects, software engineers applying for Harsha Ki Khoj.. All of them are ready to leave their practicing profession for there association with sports.”

  • TV commentator Siddhu joins BJP

    TV commentator Siddhu joins BJP

    NEW DELHI: After India’s finance minister unleashed the sop opera in the run-up to the general elections, now comes the soap opera.

    Not content with film actors and television stars joining the party, the king of one-liners, former cricketer and TV commentator Navojot Singh Siddhu, is the latest arsenal in the war-chest of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is seeking another term at the Centre during the elections.

    With BJP’s ace strategist Pramod Mahajan, another one very good with one-liners, beside him, Siddhu today announced his decision to join politics and immediately let go of some bouncers.

    ”A true leader like Atal is one who turns weakness into strength and obstacles into opportunities,” Siddhu quipped today when asked to describe the leadership of Prime Minister Atal B. Vajpayee.

    According to United News of India (UNI), Siddhu went on to praise the ideology of the BJP and the leadership of Vajpayee as “Kushboo to hawa ke sath jati hai, lekin insani khusboo har disha mein jati hai (fragrance goes in the wind’s direction but human fragrance spreads in all directions).”

    Siddhu equated BJP as a party like a rock. ”BJP chattan ki taraah Atal hai,” he mouthed, while expressing regard and respect towards the leadership of the BJP, UNI reports.

    Siddhu is part of the cricket commentary team of Ten Sports that would go to Pakistan for the forthcoming Indo-Pak cricket series.

    Meanwhile, small time TV and film actor Gajendra Chauhan — his claim to fame is playing Yudhistir in Doordarshan’s famous Mahabharata serial in the late 1980s and early 1990s — too has decided to join the political fray and the BJP. Film star Suresh Oberoi has already announced his decision to join the BJP.

    Not to be left behind, the Congress Party is also contemplating roping in some TV and film stars like Raza Murad and Govinda. The Delhi unit of the Congress has even suggested to the party leadership that it should consider cricket legend and occasional TV show host, Kapil Dev, as a potential candidate for a Lower House seat in the forthcoming elections.

    In the coming days, there would be many more film and TV artistes who are likely to join some political parties.