ITV

Tag: Dekh Bhai Dekh

  • Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati on the fairytale rise of Doordarshan

    Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati on the fairytale rise of Doordarshan

    For long, there were many who sang the eternal dirges of state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan. Rightfully so. For almost a decade, the broadcaster seemed to be frozen in time, in total confusion about its raison d’etre, even as private broadcasters gave it a walloping in the viewership sweepstakes.  And also laughed all the way to the bank.

    Circa 2020 and it has made an unbelievable comeback, sitting atop the BARC ratings charts. Just like in the nineties when it launched DD Metro, giving private broadcasters a run for their money under the leadership of director-general Rathikant Basu and I&B secretary Bhaskar Ghose.

    This time, it is Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati who has done the magic rope trick for the pubcaster by launching a gaggle of old shows which made it tick  in the eighties and nineties. The prominent among them are: Ramayan, Mahabharat, Shaktiman, Buniyaad, Dekh Bhai dekh, Sai Baba, Alif Laila, and Chanakya.

    Indian audiences who have been forcibly locked down in their homes courtesy Covid-19 have been lapping up the retro fare. In week 14 of BARC India ratings, DD National's rating has moved up from 376 GRPs to 451 GRPs in 15+ HSM urban markets, beating even the top Hindi GECs, riding on the back of iconic re-runs.

    DD National and DD Bharati became the most watched channels in week three of lockdown. While Ramayan on DD National garnered 545.8 million weekly impressions in week 13, Mahabharat on DD Bharati garnered 145.8 million impressions. The re-telecast of Ramayan series garnered the highest ever rating for a Hindi GEC show since 2015. The show was highest rated in the urban market and mega cities. According to BARC India data, the first four episodes of Ramayan garnered an average of 28.7 million impressions. Numbers which have not been reached by even private broadcasters in the past half a decade.

    An IIT alumnus, who worked at Infosys for 16 years, and later became the CEO of NitiCentral.com, Vempati then worked closely on prime minister Narendra Modi’s Mission 272+ during the 2014 general elections. He then worked on several Prasar Bharati committees before taking up the job of leading it in 2017.  (Prasar Bharati as we all know is the holding company of both Doordarshan and All India Radio.)

    Vempati has been in the driver’s seat at DD since September 2019 when the then-director general Supriya Sahu moved on to another posting. Indiantelevision.com's editorial lead Firos B reached out to Vempati  for an interaction on the success of his charge. 

    Excerpts from the interview:

    Doordarshan seems to be shining bright now as compared to the private channels. What are the things you have been doing right? How have you defined the role of DD and its slate of channels?

    The nation is experiencing extraordinary circumstances unforeseen in recent memory and not experienced perhaps in over a century. The citizens see in Doordarshan both nostalgia and a reassurance. The prime minister invoked the metaphorical lakshman rekha when he called for a nationwide lockdown. The citizens in response to that clarion call made Doordarshan their home resulting in these audience figures. I am thankful to the rights holders who responded to our requests and helped us bring back iconic DD content. The appeal of this iconic content is universals across all target groups and we are not looking at any kind of segmentation-based targeting. For a long time audiences have been fragmented by the industry. TV which was once the glue that brought families together ended up on split screens. I am happy that the public broadcaster has once again brought back wholesome family viewing to television screens thus turning the calculus of segmentation on its head. 

    How did the programming of Ramayana and Mahabharata come about? What did it take to bring it on air? Who assisted you in it?

    Every one of the rights holders played their part despite the constraints of the lockdown to work overnight with our teams in Mumbai and Delhi on a war footing. The biggest challenge was incompatibility of archival media formats and transporting the content from Mumbai to Delhi. Several firms and individuals helped us out in solving these problems despite the constraints of the lockdown. It was as if it was a national duty that everyone came together to make it happen. 

    Are you happy with the ratings to all the old new shows? And are they paying good old DD ad rates when it was in its heyday or is it lower rates?

    Ratings were secondary to us. The primary purpose was to ensure the prime minister's call for a total lockdown was successful and effective. I am happy that DD played its part in ensuring the same. Advertising demand naturally followed but our priority was the social messaging which we have not compromised on despite the tremendous pressure from the market. COVID-19 infomercials continued to air on priority. I would not like to comment on rates and revenues at this time. 

    What is the road ahead for Doordarshan? 

    It is too early to speak about the road ahead as India is still grappling with the pandemic. We will, however, continue to build further on this momentum around nostalgia and work with the various rights holders to air as many iconic DD shows as possible during the period. 

    What are the efforts to produce relevant and relatable programmes to engage the audience, especially the youngsters who grew up watching satellite channels and are now on OTTs like Netflix?

    We will pursue fresh content creation once the situation normalises. Until then our priority is news and information dissemination related to the pandemic as well as enabling mass education through broadcasting till schools and colleges can reopen. 

    What is the strategy to sustain the advertiser interest?

    We have developed a sizeable pipeline of iconic DD shows which should continue to engage audiences and sustain advertiser interest. 

    You have brought in professionals from the private sector to help you in your efforts. How has this been received?

    We have cross-functional teams from both the public and private who are working together closely to deliver during this crisis. It would not be right to overstate anyone's role. 

    Will regional Kendras receive make-over in the days to come as part of the revival?

    Priority is education as DD/AIR team up with state education departments. A lot of iconic and archival content is also being aired. 

    Apart from DD Retro, are there plans to launch any genre-specific channels?

    Not at this time.  

    You have launched the Prasar Bharati News on Air app. How is it faring?

    Over the last two months since the crisis began, NewsOnAir App has since had a 125 per cent growth in traffic from India with nearly 1.5 million listeners tuning in. International traffic which accounts around 10 per cent of overall traffic has also doubled during the same period. Nearly 20 million visits during the same period for the audio content on the App across both live streaming and on-demand audio content of All India Radio. 

    DD Free Dish: Is that a lifeline during the COVID-19 crisis? How is it faring?  How many channels are on board the DD Freedish platform?

    India is lucky and unique as we are the only public broadcaster the world over to have our own DTH platform which is free to air with no monthly fees and reaching into 35-40 million households. Free Dish has become a lifeline for mass education through broadcasting during the pandemic. At this time more than 80 channels (public and private) are part of Free Dish. Since several public education channels of HRD and NIOS are also beamed on the same satellite, they can also be accessed using Free Dish set top boxes. This is a game changer for India in ensuring mass education on such a scale through broadcasting unlike any other country.

  • The Content Hub: Education in comedy doesn’t exist in India

    The Content Hub: Education in comedy doesn’t exist in India

    MUMBAI: With the soaps and dramas ruling the Indian television screens, comedy to some extent has taken a backseat. A session on ‘Comedy Fix’  moderated by Indiantelevision.com’s founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari and panellists Neela Telefilms director Asit Modi, Optimystix Entertainment producer Vipul D Shah and All India Bakchod (AIB) co-founder and member Tanmay Bhat sought to find if the TV industry is seeing a dearth of writing talent.

    Modi said that in the field of comedy there is not only shortage of writers but producers as well. “Our industry is not ready for new writers. We have a closed mindset when it comes to new writers and tend to only work with a particular set of experienced ones. We don’t give an opportunity to explore,” he said.

    Bhat went on to reason why new writers are not accepted by the industry and what today’s writing lacks. According to him the current state of television writing is very generic. “Right from actors to producers to writers, I have seen ‘just-get-it-done’ kind of attitude where originality doesn’t matter but copy pasting does.  In my early days, when I used to meet television writers  one common thing that I noticed amongst them was that they all had a set pattern of writing in a number of shows,” he elaborated.  

    All the panellists felt that in today’s time everything is scripted and agreed that the attitude towards writing is very poor which needs to be changed.

    Shah highlighted right from the beginning there were no new writers created for TV but the ones making the films ended up writing for the small screen too. According to him, it is difficult to get innovative story writers because it is demanding. “Today, television writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, has a set of dos and don’ts because a channel can demand a change in the plot anytime and we as writers have to be also on our toes to fix it.”

    He went on to say that western formats can never be adopted in India. “Our humour is completely different from the genre abroad. We can’t present dirty comedy here because it will never be accepted. So, to bring the humour, which can be accepted by Indian audiences, we have to create our own talent, which is again very difficult.”

    According to Modi, whose Taarek Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah has been running successfully for more than six years, writing a daily comedy is not only a challenge but a task. It is not only the writer’s responsibility to make the show going but the entire teams. “You not only need a good writer but a good performer also. And after getting a good performer/actor, one needs a good producer who can bridge the gap.”

    Showing the silver lining in the cloud, Bhat said that thankfully now humour has started getting the respect it deserves. According to him, comedy education doesn’t exist in India. “We compare ourselves to the shows in the US. But we also have to look at the kind of education and training they have gone through. All writer/comedians one sees in their shows have all gone through a certain level of training. This doesn’t exist in India.”

    The panellists agree that Indian television has always accepted family comedies and this is what will continue in the future as well. From shows like Dekh Bhai Dekh to Khichdi to Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai, they all have catered to the masses.  

    Is there fatigue coming in comedy? “No, not at all,” said both Modi and Shah. “There will be always space for comedy. Shows like Comedy Nights with Kapil, Comedy Circus, are making everyone laugh today. And everyone loves to laugh, so comedy is and will always be audience’s first choice,” added Modi.

    Wanvari further delved to find out that apart from family comedies if there is a room for sitcoms on television? “It will change, because comedy has just started its journey.  I am seeing a lot of scope as more comedy channels are being launched. In comedy more than the story, character development is important. So once the characters are developed, the task will be simple,” said Modi.

    According to Shah, whose Comedy Circus ran for seven and half years, a show never feels the fatigue. “Yes, at times a few episodes works and a few don’t. Comedy sometimes backfires as well. But overall as a genre, there is no fatigue coming in,” he further said.

    Coming from a digital background, Bhat feels that television needs to start catering to the youth a lot more. “They are still catering to the families and not the youth. So, young people will stop watching television at some point of time unless channels keep re-inventing.”

    As for Bhat, re-invention should start from the writers’ room. “I don’t see enough young people picked up from the colleges and groomed. It is essential to grab someone at 16 and groom them to get good comedy in place. Any college kid would want to write for television but there are no platforms.”

  • ‘Gangs of Haseepur’ to replace ‘Bh se Bhade’

    ‘Gangs of Haseepur’ to replace ‘Bh se Bhade’

    MUMBAI: There was a time in the 80s and 90s that comedy shows like ‘Hum Paanch’, ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’ and ‘Zabaan Sambhal Ke’ ruled the small screen. More recently, the likes of ‘Khichdi’, ‘Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai’ and ‘Office Office’ captured the audience’s imagination.

     

    Speaking of channels, Zee TV had stopped dabbling in comedy for nearly a decade till it launched ‘Bh se Bhade’ not too long ago. While the show bombed at the television box office, Zee didn’t lose hope and is back with another comedy show titled ‘Gangs of Haseepur’, slated to replace ‘Bh se Bhade’. With the nation in the grip of elections, ‘Gangs of Haseepur’ will reflect what’s happening around us in a funny, humorous way.

     

    “Things that can make you cry will now make you laugh!” is how Zee TV programming head Namit Sharma sums up the new show. “So be it onions being expensive, our faith in our political system, corruption or mehengaai, these are the pain points in our lives, but let’s laugh at them. Since we cannot do anything about it, why not just laugh at it.”

     

    Produced by Essel Vision Productions, the show will be hosted by Ragini Khanna. Contestants like Bharti Singh, Suresh Menon, Raju Srivastav and Krushna Abhishek will perform. Actress Tanishaa Mukerji, who shot to fame with ‘Bigg Boss season seven’, along with Mandira Bedi will judge the laugh-a-thon.

     

    Nitin Keni of Essel Vision Productions says the concept is very different from other comedy shows running on television today. “It will talk about social issues, and comedians will pick an issue which the country is facing and make fun of it. It has been just 15 days since we finalized the concept of the show.” Currently in the scripting stage, shooting for the show will start from April 14.

     

    Sharma says they wanted to time the show with the polling phase so as to reflect what is happening in the country. “Our endeavour is to make a good comedy show that reflects all the issues of society currently and that can poke fun at the everyday life of our country. On our channel, there was a lack of it, and there was a desire to do a comedy show. More importantly, there was a desire to reflect the mood of the country,” he says. “We do understand that men watch more GEC television over weekends. So, we are catering to the entire family.”

     

    Won’t ‘Gangs of Haseepur’ get lost in the sea of comedy shows that have debuted on television of late? “Today, one wants to see clean comedy shows, no doubt it works as a stress buster at the end of the hard day, but good and differentiated content will be recognized,” says a media planner on condition of anonymity.

  • Deven Bhojani to direct a Bollywood film

    Deven Bhojani to direct a Bollywood film

    MUMBAI: Who can forget the Kareema of Dekh bhai Dekh. The TV actor Deven Bhojani became to household name with his impeccable performaces in Baa Bahoo Aur Baby, Office Office etc. The actor who turned director with his serial Sarabhai vs Sarabhai is all set to enter Bollywood.

    According to reports, Vipul Shah has roped in Bhojani to direct his next, which is a romantic comedy. The makers of film are now looking out for actors as soon as the script is complete.

    Interestingly, it was Vipul who had given Bhojani his first big role in his serial Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka and since then the two have always been good friends.