ITV

Tag: Gaurav Banerjee

  • Will ‘Everest’ be able to climb the peak?

    Will ‘Everest’ be able to climb the peak?

    MUMBAI: It all began nearly two years ago, when the numero uno channel Star Plus started brainstorming to develop a content which can break the clutter and should help in taking television to the next level.

    To do so, it joined hands with one of the finest filmmakers – Ashutosh Gowariker to produce a series set against an extraordinary background of the magnificent Mount Everest.

    Produced under Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Private Limited (AGPPL) banner, the show – ‘Everest’ is in line with the GEC’s strategy of offering innovative and differentiated content. It has been conceptualised, shot and presented on a scale never seen before on TV.

    The channel re-defined television when it brought a talk show that spoke about social issues in Satyamev Jayate (SMJ) in 2012, and 2013 saw its mythological series Mahabharat. According to Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee, ‘Everest’ is the next step.

    With the first episode telecast on 3 November, indiantelevision.com spoke to people from the industry to know their views on the concept of the show and whether it will re-define television the way shows like SMJ and Mahabharat did in their respective genres.

    According to Havas Media managing director Mohit Joshi believes that Star has taken the right step by going youth with shows like Airlines and now Everest. For Joshi everyone wants to cater to the youth today and traditional housewives’ viewership is not going to be something on which it can sustain for coming years.

    “With the new age viewers being the way they are, I think it is very important to engage with them in multiple test parts and that is what Star is doing through the show. Audiences today are looking for content, doesn’t matter if Star is delivering it or MTV.  With mobile phones in their hands, it only takes a minute for them to switch between devices. So if you give them promising content to watch, you are the king.”

    Agreeing with Joshi, Maxus managing partner north and east region Navin Khemka believes that right from the production quality to the look and the feel, the show seems extremely well done. He further goes on to say that as more and more such programmes launch, the ratings increase, acceptability increases and the channels will be left with no choice but to increase the production quality level and engagement level with the viewers.

    Penned for about 110 episodes, almost 90 per cent of the shoot was canned before the telecast of the show in locations like Mount Everest, Jodhpur, NIM and Mumbai. It has also used a lot of heavy technical equipments like GoPro cameras, 4K technology and a lot more.

    Joshi feels the concept is enterprising and coming from the AG portfolio with big names, it will be able to garner decent amount of visibility. However, he further reasons that overall the viewership has gone for a toss. “The overall fragmentation has led to a lot of drop as far as viewership is concerned which is why all the shows are not performing at the level they used to perform a couple of years ago,” he says.

    He cites an example of SMJ and says that nowadays numbers are not important, but content and the traction from social media buzz plays a major role. “Like for SMJ, more than the numbers it was social media buzz that showed that the program was a hit.” Joshi feels the way SMJ is activating all the social media platforms on television, the channel has done for Everest as well. At present, on Facebook, SMJ has six million likes and Everest has more than 2,000 likes.

    Khemka states that Star has always been a leader in terms of content they provide to the viewers. He presents the example of shows which airs on sister English GEC Star World such as Homeland which is at par with any Hollywood movie. “A similar transition will happen in India. And as more and more channels started investing in content which is of the standard of Everest and as viewers gradually start accepting it, channels will have no option but to change their programming content,” he narrates.

    The series is presented by Fair and Lovely and co-powered by Godrej Ezee while Vinod Cookware has signed up as an associate sponsor. Joshi is confident that the channel should be able to get good mileage from the advertisers’ side too.

    Talking about the ad-rate per 10-second slot, Madhok earlier revealed that the cost of the show is significantly more expensive than anything else on the channel. “As sponsors have demonstrated, this is top quality television produced by an iconic filmmaker so people are happy to be associated and pay the premium required,” he said.

     

  • Star’s youth-turn

    Star’s youth-turn

    From Tulsi to Sandhya to Yo Yo Honey Singh, the country’s oldest general entertainment channel (GEC), Star Plus, is definitely keeping pace with the changing tastes of viewers.

    A gamble for News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch, when launched in 1992, has been churning out content, which has created enough and more loyalists. Be it the 2000 revamp, which saw the launch of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and the ‘K’ series led by ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ and many others or the current array of hits like ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ and ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’.

    So what is the secret ingredient for its success? “It’s the stories we tell,” says Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee, who took charge in 2010 when the channel went through a second revamp.

    Star, over the years, has changed the way GECs told stories and made the characters a household name. Families sat together to watch the story of Tulsi and the Virani parivar. However, as the stories stretched, people’s interest diminished, giving birth to newer channels to proliferate and reasons to the strong team to move on.

    It is at this time that the channel again repositioned itself with ‘Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi’ in 2010, which saw the birth of new characters and different and interesting stories.  In the last decade or so, viewers have evolved; as more women stepped out of their homes to work, the thinking changed as well. Keeping pace with this, the channel brought in the new “progressive bahus” of television.

    The most popular of them being Sandhya of ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’, which went on air in 2011 and tells a story of a girl with aspirations married to an illiterate halwai and conservative in-laws. Banerjee believes that the channel has always come up with some of the biggest ideas. “It was ‘Kyunki…’ 15 years ago, today its ‘Diya aur Bati’.”

    Some of other shows launched with the new philosophy of the channel were ‘Pratigya’, ‘Sasural Genda Phool’, which died a natural death, while some like ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ continue the successful run.

    “The times are changing, but even today the role of a family, especially the relationship between a saas and a bahu is an integral part of our society,” says Banerjee, who feels it would be wrong to call the channel, a saas-bahu channel. “In our stories, relationships are important but the characters are stronger.”

    In 2012, with ‘Satyamev Jayate’, the channel once again shook the industry by revamping the Sunday morning slot which no one dared to experiment with, after the success of ‘Mahabharat’ and ‘Ramayan’ on Doordarshan. The weekly show created and hosted by Aamir Khan highlighted social issues prevalent in India and discussed possible solutions.

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar has gone on record to say that he had called up James Murdoch and told him about the risk associated with SMJ because of the investment and he told him ‘we would live.’ The channel had invested Rs 4 crore per episode in season one, the amount unheard of then for a reality show. The series is now in its third season.

    As we move towards the end of 2014, the channel still continues to enjoy its number one position in the TAM TV ratings with a huge margin. In the week 42 of TAM TV ratings, it witnessed a huge hike and clocked 600,523 GVTs while Colors recorded 436,422GVTs.

    A year back, with shows like ‘Veera’, ‘Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara’ and more recently, with ‘Yeh Hai Mohabbatein’ and ‘Ek Hassena Thi’, the channel has moved its programming strategy towards youngsters. The same was also donned by the actors and actresses during the 2014 Star Parivar Awards, who wore ‘modern’ outfits while thanking the channel going ‘younger’.   

    And now with the four new shows – ‘India’s Raw Star’, ‘Airlines’, ‘Nisha Aur Uske Cousins’ and ‘Everest’ – the channel is once again changing its programming strategy.

    Is Star Plus going younger?

     “Why shouldn’t we?” comes the prompt response from Banerjee who feels that with consumers’ tastes evolving, the channel which entertains the youngest democracy in the world, needs to change as well.

    The continuous effort to do something new and different has once again made the channel take a step forward to cater to the younger audiences. The now Balaji group CEO Sameer Nair, who is credited for the 2000 revamp of the channel, believes that if Star is moving towards catering the youth, then it is good. “One needs to move with time and Star has always been aiming to give the viewers what they want,” he adds.

    The channel, which has a strong in-house research team and associates with various agencies, is continuously conducting researches across the country to know what the viewers want. The recent studies tell that there is a certain section of youngsters who want to watch different stories, something that won’t put off the elders and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

    The research emphasised on today’s women who want more financial freedom and want a career; though marriage is important but that is not a priority anymore. It also highlighted that GECs weren’t reflecting that desire in their content.

    The channel informs that as per TAM data, 50 per cent of the total television viewership comes from women and only 10 per cent of this comes from the age group of 15 to 24. “We are already higher in this category as 16-17 per cent of our audience comes from within that age group, but we think there are still a number of women who don’t watch enough of Star Plus and we want to cater to them,” says Star India SVP Nikhil Madhok.

    The 10 second ad slot for the weekend properties ‘India’s Raw Star’ is touted at Rs 3 lakh while ‘Airlines’ is anything between Rs 80,000 and 1 lakh. The daily soap ‘Nisha Aur Uske Cousins’ is Rs 50,000 plus.

     “The viewers are giving us direction and as market leaders we have to lead that change,” says Banerjee.

    However, media planners say that though Star isn’t averse to experimenting and state the example of ‘Satyamev Jayate,’ they point out that GECs work on loyalty and Star Plus enjoys a huge following, but somewhere the shift is to tap in the youth segment so that the revenue doesn’t get impacted.

    Planners state that sometimes for a brand, ratings don’t matter but the TG does. Hence, they opt to be associated with channels or shows which are talking to that TG. They give the example of Tata Safari and ‘24’ on Colors.

    Banerjee dispels the argument and firmly says that the channel doesn’t need to change to woo advertisers. “We are not under any pressure, but we wish to change as the country is young.”

    But do planners believe that the change will impact Star’s brand equity? Maxus MD Kartik says, “I don’t think the move to go younger will impact the channel’s image or brand value because the core of the shows is still entertainment. They are not moving away from the brand’s identity.”

    On the other hand, brand consultant Harish Bijoor thinks that while the brand will alienate a set of its older viewers, the big segment to harvest is the young. “Indian demographics today do not necessarily go hand in hand with channel viewer profiles today. The audience is young. If one is to grow, one needs to harvest young viewership. Star Plus should go young in slots. A 50: 50 skew would work well for it.”

    The process of bringing out the best content isn’t simple. After numerous meetings with the best in the business as Banerjee says, pilots are shown to viewers to get their feedback as it is very important, so much so, that sometimes numerous set of viewers watch a particular pilot to tell the right story.

     “Fiction is our greatest strength and we make sure that we get all the elements right apart from the story. The settings, the actors all need to fit the story and it takes time before we put out a show for consumption,” says Banerjee. For instance, the channel worked on the finer details and concept for years on ‘SMJ’ and ‘Mahabharat’.

    Weekend programming head Ashish Golwalkar says that people have grown up watching their serials, but with time one needs to look at the current lot of youngsters. “Today a lot of youngsters think of Star Plus as a ‘mummy’ channel and if we didn’t change now, five years down the line nobody will be watching us,” opines Golwalkar.

    Banerjee along with his team, which consists mostly of 30 years-olds, put in a lot of effort to bring a variety on the channel’s platter. Research is an important part, but the team also depends on its understanding of the consumer as well as learning gained from its previous hits and misses.

    He doesn’t shy away from admitting the shortcomings of the channel. For instance, he agrees to the fact that with no innovation, the channel’s dance reality show, ‘Nach Baliye’, will not be able to grab the eyeballs in the future. Same goes for ‘MasterChef’ where the channel experimented with ‘Masterchef Junior’ and was able to make some headway. Banerjee proudly boasts about the channel’s biggest bet with mythological show, ‘Mahabharat’ which was aired in the 8:30 pm slot giving tough competition to Sab’s ‘Tarak Mehta ka Oolta Chashma’.

    For Madhok, while content on the channel has seen a change, the marketing too will soon have a changed approach. “Our main communication is our promo which gives us enough leeway to widen our approach and position. Also, since the TG (women between the age group of 22-25) which we are focusing on are very active online, hence, that will be our major catchment area,” says Madhok.

    It is very clear that Star Plus  doesn’t want to overlap with its youth channel, Channel V. “We want to cater to young women, not girls, therefore, the content will talk about marriage and relationships but the theme will resonate what is priority for these young women,” adds Madhok. In the past couple of years, the channel has already increased its digital spends from 5 per cent to 20 per cent.

    On social media, the channel lags behind Colors, which has more likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter. The channel has 6,233,082 likes on Facebook while Colors has 7,652,409 likes, Zee has 3,620,047 likes. On Twitter it has 335K followers while Colors has 395K and Zee has 153K followers.

    At the recently concluded MIPCOM 2014, 21st Century Fox co-chief operating officer James Murdoch said, “If we continue to innovate and lead in India, it will prove to be a game changer for us.” And moving ahead with this is Star India which is now gearing to lure the women in business suits.

  • ‘Everest’ will break the clutter like ‘Mahabharat’: Nikhil Madhok

    ‘Everest’ will break the clutter like ‘Mahabharat’: Nikhil Madhok

    MUMBAI: A regular girl’s struggle to win her father’s acceptance is a story which we have all seen on television screens, but what differentiates this one from the others is the treatment.

    Set against extraordinary background of the magnificent Mount Everest, the upcoming show, ‘Everest’, on Star Plus aims to create history.

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar believes that the channel has always aimed to bring audiences, innovative content that takes the Indian television viewing experience to the next level and Everest is another big leap in that direction.

    He says, “We are proud to have partnered with a visionary like Ashutosh Gowariker who is one of the most adept story-tellers of our country. ‘Everest’ is a stunning visual delight and an attempt at presenting something never-seen-before to our viewers. I am sure that the story of our protagonist Anjali will resonate with millions in India and inspire them to conquer their own Everest.”

    In the same not, the channel’s general manager Gaurav Banerjee adds, “The series will re-define how television is made in this country considering its visual appeal and the way it will be presented.”

    Produced under Ashutosh Gowariker Productions (AGPPL) banner, the show is in line with the number one GEC’s strategy of offering innovative and differentiated content, it has been conceptualised, shot and presented on a scale never seen before on TV.

    With the use of a lot of heavy technical equipments like GoPro cameras, 4K technology and a lot more, 90 per cent of the show has already been canned in locations like Jodhpur, Mount Everest, NIM and Mumbai.

    The concept took shape in Gowariker’s mind about two years ago where he was confused between two themes. “First was about a girl child, about women empowerment and the other theme was about a sport that was not much talked about (mountaineering). I was not getting anywhere in terms of both the scripts. Then I thought why not to combine the two themes into one.”

    He further says that the whole idea of the show actually began with an insight that what are you willing to do for your dreams? A project of this scale demands a cast who will do complete justice to the roles endowed on them and Gowariker hand-picked the actors for each role after an extensive search.

    The series has brought together some of the finest artistes from both Bollywood and the Indian television industry. The show launches Shamata Anchan as Anjali Singh Rawat, the gutsy girl who is willing to climb Mt Everest in order to win her father’s love and respect. The two male leads of the show are Sahil Salathia as Arjun Sabharwal and Rohan Gandotra as Akash Joshi. The stellar cast also includes Suhasini Mulay, Mohan Kapoor, Milind Gunaji, Rajat Kapoor, Kishori Shahane and Manish Choudhary.

    And hence, the channel is pulling all its marketing muscles out to create buzz for it. The show emanates from a belief that everyone has a personal Everest they aspire to conquer, however the question is how far are they willing to go to conquer it?  

    Keeping this in mind it will launch a campaign asking viewers, #WhatsYourEverest. “We want to make this show feel very relevant to the audiences. People should not feel that this is a show about a mountaineering expedition,” states the channel’s SVP marketing Nikhil Madhok.

    The on-air promos talk about cancer patients winning over their Everest as they fight the disease, sports personnel making into the Indian team as they overcome their Everest. “This is the thought that we are building and we have activated this thought in digital and radio to establish to people that while the show is about Anjali’s journey, it is relevant to everybody,” answers Madhok.

    For the first time on television, a two and half minute theatrical promo has been made for a television series and while this will play on Star Plus at 7.58 pm on 18 October, it will also break in theatres with Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Happy New Year’.

    The channel has tied up with some of the outlets of Costa Coffee and has created an ‘Everest’ zone there wherein the temperature would be at just 5 degrees and waiters will serve the customers cold coffee wearing jackets. Customers will also be given a jacket when they enter the coffee shop and will find snow on the ground. Starting from 22 October, the activity will take place throughout the day for couple of weekends across various cities. “Basically the idea is to make sure that people get an experience of how Everest feels like,” says Madhok.

    It has also tied up with Fair and Lovely foundation and through the course of the series the channel will invite people, especially young women to write about an Everest in their life and will help them in conquering it.

    “That assistance could be anything – be it in terms of counselling or monetary assistance. It could be in face of education, somebody wants to get money to become a doctor, somebody wants to actually climb Mount Everest but don’t know how to fund the course. So, we will help them in these things,” reveals Madhok. For a certain set of lucky winners, the channel will help them achieve their Everest.

    The extensive 360 degree marketing campaign includes not just the entire Star Network and 30 other channels, but also activations on radio, outdoor innovations including 3D hoardings. It will be aggressively available in print as well and a huge presence on digital including the YouTube masthead and page takeovers in MSN and Yahoo.

    The new series will replace the on-going Sooraj Barjatia’s show – Pyaar Ka Dard Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara, which has been constantly delivering good ratings at the TAM ratings chart and will air at 10 pm.

    Both Madhok and Banerjee believe that the last year has been good for the channel. “Most of the slots that we operate are the slot leaders. Wherever we would have put this show, it would have replaced a well-performing show,” says Madhok.

    Agreeing to Madhok, Banerjee adds: “At 10 pm, what we felt was that some of our iconic shows in the past have come at 10 pm and all the shows have worked wonders for us.”

    Madhok goes on to say that it did not do so much of number crunching and analysis because between 8-10 pm the audiences available are very similar. “Differences that you see are in very early prime time and LC1 markets are bigger. Those audiences sleep off at 10.30. Outside of that for us, all the slots are very viable.”

    The channel wanted to launch the show around winter and Madhok is confident that with winters coming in, people will enjoy the series more.

    Star Plus has got Fair and Lovely on-board as its title sponsor. It is co-powered by Godrej Ezee while Vinod Cookware has signed up as an associate sponsor.

    Talking about the ad-rate per 10-second slot, Madhok reveals that the cost of the show is significantly more expensive than anything else on the channel. “As sponsors have demonstrated, this is top quality television produced by an iconic filmmaker so people are happy to be associated and pay the premium required,” adds Madhok.

    He hopes that one of the things that ‘Everest’ will do is like ‘Mahabharat’, it will break the clutter. “It will look and feel different on television. And anything that breaks the clutter is something that brands want to associate with and are also happy to pay premiums.”

    “The first important thing when the show goes out is it should break the clutter and it should help in taking television agenda to the next level. Second thing is it should find a good strong loyal audience base,” responds Madhok.

    Though Madhok refused to divulge any numbers, media planners feel that the ad-rate for the new series will be four times more than the average regular rates that a fiction show demands. “Rates differ a bit depending on which show and at what time. For example, a show like Diya Aur Baati Hum will be much more expensive than a show like Suhani Aisi Ladki which airs at 6.30 pm,” states a media planner.

    Talking about the marketing spends; planners believe that in terms of share of marketing it will not be different from what Mahabharat demanded. Out of the total budget, planners estimate that 20 per cent would be spent on marketing.

     

     

  • Star Plus to host awards based on Box office collections

    Star Plus to host awards based on Box office collections

    MUMBAI: In a bid to up the ante of Bollywood Awards shows in India, Star Plus has partnered with Box Office India magazine to present a new offering. Come October, the channel is all set to launch ‘Star Box Office Awards.’

     

    It will recognise an achievement of Hindi films at the most important altar of them all – the box office. The event will see the big and mighty of the film industry with Salman Khan leading the way.

     

    Keeping in mind that box office collections govern the success of each movie, not only by virtue of the revenues made, but also as a measure of the number of people investing their time in watching any movie; these awards have been introduced to felicitate the best works of the year.

     

    In addition to honouring films, directors and actors of the year, the ‘Star Box Office India Awards’ will also recognise unique and interesting records set at the box office. Since there is nothing more objective than numbers as represented by box office collections, the collections of each movie will be at the core of the entire nomination and judging process. The ceremony has been conceptualised keeping in mind the celebratory mood of the country, during the upcoming festive season.

     

    Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee believes that viewers are always interested in films that have been the most popular and who are the stars who have the biggest draw. “We are happy to have partnered with Box Office India magazine to come up with the first ever ‘Star Box Office India Awards.’ These awards are the first to be primarily based on Box Office collections. In essence it’s really people’s votes in the form of their hard earned money which sets the box office register ticking. The first ‘Star Box Office India Awards’ will have the most iconic Bollywood names on stage and provide for a perfect Diwali celebration for all Star Plus viewers.”

     

    Box Office India publisher Nitin Tej Ahuja feels that show business is ultimately a business and it is box office numbers – historic or potential that drive the entire film production distribution and exhibition ecosystem. “As India’s premier film trade magazine, box office collections are at the very heart of Box Office India’s editorial mandate and we are delighted to partner with Star Plus on the ‘Star Box Office India Awards.’”

     

    Ahuja further goes on to say that Box office collections are the most objective measure of the paying public’s acceptance or rejection of films and the ‘Star Box Office India Awards’ shall honour the verdict of the actual film watching audiences. “Conversely, the awards ceremony shall give our readers – the film fraternity – a chance to repay the love of movie-goers by doing what they do best, entertain!” 

  • Star Plus to its viewers: ‘What’s your Everest?’

    Star Plus to its viewers: ‘What’s your Everest?’

    MUMBAI: It was in 2012 that Star Plus brought uncomfortable realities to television screens with Satyamev Jayate, then in 2013 the biggest mythological series with Mahabharat and keeping with the trend, the number one rated channel is back in 2014 with Everest.

     

    Bringing to the viewers a great blend of drama, adventure and inspiration, Star Plus and celebrated filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker have come together to present this finite series. The show is produced under Ashutosh Gowariker Productions (AGPPL) banner and has music by A R Rahman.

     

    “I wanted to tell a story on television, but films kept me busy,” says Gowariker who previously had made television shows like Fauji, Circus and Kachchi dhoop.  He further goes on to say that the journey with Star Plus began two years back when they first met and started ideating about the project.

     

    According to Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee the decision was critical to its strategy thought ‘Rishta Wahi Soch Nayi’. “For a channel like ours which is always working on getting new ideas onboard, it takes a lot of time to execute any idea to perfection. One really has to gear up the story telling environment and shape an idea into certain direction.”

     

    Banerjee adds, “Youth focus is something that we are consciously working on from past one year and Everest was on our horizon.”

     

    According to the channel’s SVP marketing Nikhil Madhok what appealed to them was Gowariker’s innovative unique ambition and the vision behind the concept. “Two years ago we were toying with the idea of what is going to be the next big thing for us, and then Gowariker came onboard.”

     

    Madhok believes that this is a show that the youth will relate to and also find resonance in the large population of the country.

     

    Why Gowariker decided to make television series and not a film? “There are many sides to this story, which I wanted to tell, as each character has its own tale,” he says while adding that if he had to make a film on the subject then it would end up being a 15-hour-long movie.

     

    The story is about a 21-year old Anjali, who aspires to conquer her own personal Everest. She gets a rude shock when she discovers that her father, who is her hero, never really wanted a daughter. Faced with the biggest conflict of her life, she is forced to question her very own existence. To redeem herself and find a place in her father’s heart she decides to accomplish his unfulfilled dream.

     

    A project of this magnitude and scale, which demands extreme physical and mental strength, required a world-class crew to do complete justice to the concept. The core team consists of Joh Jeeta Wahi Sikandar and Akele Hum Akele Tum fame directors Glenn Baretto and Ankush Mohla, screenplay for the series (writer) is done by Mitali Mahajan, who was also the assistant art director on films like Swades, Jodhaa Akbar, Munna Bhai MBBS and many more.

     

    Episodic screenplay has been done by Bhavani Iyer (her first film as a screen writer was Black), dialogues penned by Preeti Mamgain, makeup design by Vikram Gaikwad who has won four national awards for movies like The Dirty Picture, DOP is by Mahesh Aney (he won the national award for best cinematography for Swades), Alphonse Roy (has worked with Oscar winner DOP, Conrad Hall Jr for an American film ‘Oka Amerikee’) and Piyush Shah (worked on films like Salaam-E-Ishq, China Gate and etc), stunt director Amar Shetty who has worked on movies like Om Shanti Om, art director Aparna Raina who has worked on films like Khosla Ka Ghosla , Namesake and etc and costume stylist Preeti Sharma who has done movies like Fashion, Bombay Talkies, Paying Guests and many more.

     

    For cameramen, shooting was the most crucial part considering unfavourable climatic conditions. Aney says, “The weather was so unfavourable to shoot. We had to test the cameras every now and then. While shooting at the top of 12,000 and 15,000 ft, we had to fight a lot of hurdles like light, batteries draining out etc. However, safety was always a priority for us.”

     

    “The cold really hampers the number of hours one can shoot. Everybody in the crew lost tons of weight. They have really climbed the Everest,” laughs Banerjee.

     

    Gowariker further reveals that while shooting a lot of heavy technical equipments were used for the first time like GoPro cameras, 4K technology and a lot more.

     

    Technology has been a big enabler for the makers. It was there to help and make it easier believes Banerjee. “The show has been masterfully crafted by Gowariker.”

     

    Madhok further says that if you are able to take out 20 minutes of content in regular studio conditions, one will barely get one minute of content in the mountains considering its climatic conditions.

     

    As per the nature, usually a show starts three months before the telecast but this is a show that came into being almost two years before. “A show like this requires a completely different financial model where you are committing to a large monetary resources not really knowing when the show will see the light of the day,” says Madhok.  

     

    With the shoot almost on since last December, almost 90 per cent of the episodes have been canned in locations like Jodhpur, Mount Everest, NIM and Mumbai. For extremely dangerous sequences, the channel had created a set in Naigaon.

     

    What was the reason behind not signing famous faces for the show? “We wanted to be very real in terms of casting. And we wanted our characters to be 21 years old because young faces brings a lot of energy,” reasons Gowariker.

     

    Talking about the marketing part, the communication line of the marketing campaign is going to revolve around the thought “‘What’s your Everest’? ‘Hum Sabki life Mein Everest Hota Hai Jisse Hume Jitna Hota Hai’.”

     

    “We feel that by doing that people will be able to connect with it and make them think, ‘even I have a challenge in life, so let me watch this girl’s story and how she overcomes it’,” states Madhok.

     

    Though Star officials refused to divulge any financial details regarding the production cost per episode, sources from the industry believe that it ranges anywhere between 30-35 lakhs per episode.

     

    “If we decide to shoot 90 episodes before the telecast, it is going to be expensive. The fact that we have shot in different locations, none of them is cheap. We have been careful that we have resourced it well,” concludes Banerjee.

     

    Though the time slot has not been locked, the show is slated to hit the television screens two months down the line and is going to be a weekday property (Monday – Saturday) and will run for less than six months.

  • Star Plus gets raw with Yo Yo Honey Singh

    Star Plus gets raw with Yo Yo Honey Singh

    MUMBAI:  Indian TV viewers have been exposed to a variety of singing talent hunts over the years. You have had Sa Re Ga Ma, and Lil Champs, Antakshri, Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul, Star Voice of India – among a plethora of others. Some did well for a while; some did not even last a second season. And there is talk of the singing TV talent hunt format and genre itself suffering, courtesy audience  fatigue.

     

    But that has not deterred Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) leader Star Plus from taking another stab at it  through a soon-to-be-launched show India’s Raw Star.

     

    The fact that it is working with arguably India’s most popular youth icon singer and music composer Yo Yo Honey Singh to unearth singing talent is probably giving it the much needed confidence. Honey Singh has more than 23.5 million likes  on Facebook, 542,000 followers on Twitter.  The India’s Raw Star audition promo on You Tube got more than 1.78 million views.

     

    When he posted a comment on Facebook about filming for the first episode of India’s Raw Star on 12 August, he got 46,000 likes, and around 4,500 comments from his fans. He said in the comment: “….just got packed up from Rawstar episode 1 shoot, doing Indian television ain’t no joke. Big respect to all my brothers & sisters who run this industry. Blood n sweat.”

     

    Over the past couple of months, Star Plus’ creative team encouraged interested participants to upload their singing videos to  the Star Plus India’s Raw Star website and to the mobile app. Hundreds of thousands of wannabe singers from all over the  world did the needful; and the entries were personally scanned by both Honey Singh and his creative team. 

     

    The channel is now working on a roll out plan for the  two hour Sunday show that is slated to premier on 24 August at 7 pm.  Yo Yo Honey Singh has been going on whistle stop ground promotions across the country over the past month. This will mostly increase in the run up to India’s Raw Star first episode telecast.

     

    What differentiates Star Plus’ India’s Raw Star from others of its ilk is the fact that there is a focus on encouraging original fare from new talent. Participants will  belt out  popular Bollywood fare when required; in addition to that they will  have to perform their own compositions and music as part of the singing competition. “The idea is to find the ultimate performing artiste who can create his own inimitable style of singing and is an all round performer irrespective of the language or the music genre,” Singh has said to creatives close to the show.

     

    He, on his part,  will act as a friend, mentor and guide to the 10 finalists artistes who will compete against each other  to wear the Raw Star crown .

     

    Production is in the able hands of singing talent show innovator and veteran Gajendra Singh and his team at Sai Baba Productions. Singh points out that the show format has been designed in a way that audiences get the feel of a live music concert while sitting in the comfort of their living rooms. 

     

    “We are looking at creating the first ever reality show in India sans playback singing but original voice recording,” says Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee.

     

    Banerjee has roped in international stage director and choreographer Michael Schwandt to push choreography and dance moves up a notch. Schwandt has choreographed the high energy performances of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, David Guetta, Kelly Rowland, and Flo Rida. Schwandt is renowned for turning mundane performances into spectacular ones.  Award winning recording engineer and music producer Ashish Manchanda has been hired to look after sound.  

     

    Star India VP programming Ashish Golwalkar is convinced that the show will gain traction with TV viewers. “We were looking at the kind of audiences which are active on digital. It was again a learning experience for me after having done so many reality shows in the past. Voice was what mattered here.”

     

    He further reveals that another difference with India’s Raw Star is that there is going to be no elimination of contestants at all for the first few weeks.

     

    Banerjee adds that the show is part of its strategy to get younger people to sample the Star Plus channel, and in the process attract advertisers  and sponsors targeting that audience. It has got some luck on that score: the channel has got on board Karbonn smartphones as the title sponsor and Maruti Suzuki Swift as the co-powered by sponsor.

     

    Ormax Media’s Shailesh Kapoor wrote in a column on a trade website recently that “given their overall dominance, Star Plus’ non-fiction record in recent years has bordered on being embarrassing. But they now have solid ammunition at their disposal: Yo Yo Honey Singh the TV star who can give a 63 per cent jump in ratings of a long-running show (Comedy Nights with Kapil saw a spike in ratings in the episode that featured Honey Singh last month) Ironically then, the Comedy Nights ratings would have probably led to more celebrations at Star than at Colors.”

     

    Will the Star Plus  team be celebrating 14 weeks from now when India’s Raw Star  finale will be telecast?  Punters are betting that Yo Yo Honey Singh will do the trick and break its recent non-fiction jinx.

  • Star Plus to extend weekday fiction to Saturday?

    Star Plus to extend weekday fiction to Saturday?

    MUMBAI: There’s heaps of buzz going around leading Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) Star Plus that, many say, is all set to offer an extra dose of fiction to its viewers. It has been learnt that once the curtains come down on its weekend dance reality show – Nach Baliye 6 – the channel will extend its primetime weekday fiction band as its replacement on the weekend too.

     

    Thus viewers will be in a position to watch episodes of its hugely successful shows which air between early prime (6:00 pm) to late prime time (11:30 pm) on Saturdays too.

     

    This, sources say, is going to continue till the channel comes up with another weekend show. Last year, its rival Colors too had extended its weekday programmes (between 7:30 and 9:00 pm) to the weekend once its singing reality show Sur-Kshetra ended.

     

    Sunday nights will, however, see the debut of standup comic Sunil Grover with his own hour-long show with a character called Chutki. Sunil’s character Gutthi on Colors’ Comedy Nights with Kapil had become a phenomenon of sorts, and hence he decided to break away and produce his own show – something which caused a lot of heartburn to Colors and Kapil. Chutki – which will see Sunil once again in drag – is being produced by Keylight Productions. Filming has begun in Trombay, close to the television production capital of Mumbai.

     

    The shows that are being extended till Saturday include Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon, Ek Ghar Banaunga, Saath Nibhaana Saathiya, Saraswatichandra, Meri Bhabhi, Mahabharat, Diya Aur Bati Hum, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara, Veera and Ye Hai Mohabbatein.

     

    While most Star India’s producers have agreed to churn out extra episodes, it is learnt from an industry source that those producing early prime time series, have yet to sign on the dotted line, for reasons best known to them.

     

    Producers of popular shows – Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and epic series Mahabharat – Rajan Shahi and Siddharth Tewary respectively confirm to indiantelevision.com that they now have to start producing one extra episode every week. They say that it is going to be hectic, but are geared up for it.

     

    Star Plus business head Gaurav Banerjee was unavailable for comment, but industry experts say the move will help Star Plus add big bucks straight to its bottomline, as costs for fiction are a fraction of non-fiction reality shows. Hence the returns on its investment are quite likely to be big for Star Plus.

     

    Media professionals are, however, divided on whether extending fiction to the weekend will give a boost to Star Plus’ viewership as during the weekend the audience wants to break away from the monotony and experience something different. Lodestar UM vice president Deepak Netram remarks: “The audience during the weekend is different from the week days. More male members and kids are among the viewers and they may not be open to the idea of watching the daily soaps. There are chances that the channel will lose out on its audience. But the regular audience of the daily soaps will continue watching their favourite programmes.”

     

    However, another media planner and buyer looks at it differently. On condition of anonymity, he says: “This should see Star Plus’ TVTs going up on a weekly basis. Remember, fiction shows have the highest stickiness, even higher than non-fiction, which comes in as tent-pole properties to generate spikes in viewership. The fiction shows already have a loyal group of viewers who will undoubtedly tune in even on Saturdays as they will want to stay connected with what’s happening with the story lines.  Therefore, it will be easy for Star Plus’ sales team to rope in the existing advertisers on these shows over the weekend telecast too. I see it as a win-win situation for the channel.”

  • Hindi GECs: A battle for eyeballs

    Hindi GECs: A battle for eyeballs

    With the ongoing season of reality shows ending and viewers’ choice highly unpredictable, the past couple of months have seen Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GECs) and production houses scrambling to introduce newer, more creative fiction shows with never-seen-before content.

    Indeed, the tearing hurry to replace empty slots and shows with poor TRPs has seen broadcasters deploy a fair bit of research and experimentation to serve up even more interesting fare to their audiences. So much so, it may well be a battle for eyeballs between these newly-launched serials in the coming months; at least till the new season of reality shows kicks in.

    Indiantelevision.com did a round-up of the contenders, trying to understand the thought process behind them.

    To begin with: Ye Hai Mohabbatein, Star Plus’ drama series based on Manju Kapur’s novel, Custody. The Balaji Telefilms show premiered on 3 December and airs five days a week, occupying the 11pm slot. It stars popular TV actors Divyanka Tripathi and Karan Patel as Ishita and Raman, who are connected by their love for Raman’s daughter Ruhi. With themes like divorce, infertility, remarriage and societal issues, the show deals with the bigger question of what makes a woman a mother.

    Says Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee: “The story is urban and contemporary. This love story begins after a marriage gets over. It explores the theme of a second chance in love. With well-etched characters and a strong urban narrative, the show deals with day-to-day issues faced by modern couples. We are positive that our metro audiences will see a connect with Ishita and Raman, and follow their story.”

    Balaji and Star Plus believe viewers have accepted Ishita and Raman into their families, much like the iconic characters the team has created in the past. Indeed, the show garnered 3,291 TVTs in week 52 of TAM TV ratings. India Gate Basmati Rice is its title sponsor.

    Doli Armaanon Ki and Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya: Zee TV’s two new shows that premiered on 2 December, 2013 and 6 January, 2014, respectively. Both the shows air five days a week and occupy the 10pm and 10.30pm slot, respectively.

    The channel has roped in Sofy Side Walls as its title sponsor for Doli Armaanon Ki. Set in Jhansi, Doli Armaanon Ki is the story of Urmi and Samrat, played by Neha Marda and Mohit Malik, respectively. Urmi walks into a marriage with Samrat, all eager and wide-eyed, only to realise that married life isn’t always what one dreamed about.

    Asked how the show is different, Spellbound Productions producer Pearl Grey replies: “It is just about conviction. I feel you can stand out from the rest if the concept is different. I feel we are saying something which no one has said earlier. Like how we did for Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya, we spoke about issues which were not spoken on television earlier. The other thing about standing apart is getting in a character which is different. In my show, the USP is Samrat’s character. The relationship we are showing is very different. We are highlighting the nuisances.”

    For Grey, having a 10.30pm slot is an advantage as there is liberty of saying and doing things that cannot be shown at early prime time. Even Zeel content head Ajay Bhalwankar is confident that the new series will crack slot leaders very soon. “The battle is not tough. The slot is very warm. And with our strong storyline and concept, this show can reach one crore plus viewership. Plus, our TG is the whole family. At the end of the day, if men don’t see, they won’t understand the cause through our concept,” he says.

    Zee TV pulled out all stops in promoting the new show. Promos were played on the network’s news, kids’ and movie channels as well as on Zee Cinema and Zee Marathi. For DTH audiences in particular, live streaming and default landing channel were taken, promo roadblock on primetime and special behind the scenes content was created to promote the show. #doli was created on Twitter, which trended all India for more than 8 hours on the day of the launch. Zee even asked viewers to send them region-wise shaadi rituals under this hash tag.

    The other Zee newbie, Aur Pyaar Hogaya, is the love story of Avni, a young spirited girl from a traditional family in Jaipur, played by Kaanchi Singh and a simple boy Raj, with a diametrically opposite personality and family background, reprised by Mishkat Varma. No sponsor has been roped in yet for the series.

    About the 10pm slot, Director’s Kut Production’s Rajan Shahi answers: “I have never asked channels for particular slots. For me, it’s my work, whether you put me in the 2 pm or 6 pm slot, I have to work. Over the years, I am not so blinded by it, but TVTs do play an important role. I know that we are judged by TVTs, but I don’t let this affect my day-to-day life.” Like Doli Armaanon Ki, Aur Pyaar Hogaya too was heavily promoted on social media by creating individual official pages.

    Next up, Tumhari Paakhi, Life OK’s new show produced by Shashi-Sumeet Mittal Productions, premiered on 11 November, and airs five days a week, occupying the 9.30 slot. Tagged a differentiated love story, it is based on legendary Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Navvidhan.

    As to the criteria for choosing a particular slot, Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur says: “On the slot, there are a number of criteria like firstly, the viewership. Obviously, early prime-time, the viewership is more from small markets and late prime-time it is from larger markets and metros. The other thing is who are the people viewing it. As we go to later prime-time, families and more men come to it. Earlier prime-time, there are more kids. Thirdly, for the channel itself, which is the slot they want to replace. Some slots are doing well and some slots are not doing that well.”

    Thakur goes on to explain that the earlier show Junoon wasn’t doing too well, which is why they were on the lookout for another show and eventually, Tumhari Paakhi, a mature love story, turned out to be the perfect replacement for late prime-time. He dismisses it being a risk choice saying: “That does not matter beyond a point. We are already at number four and getting close to the top three. For us, every slot we have to compete. It does not matter to us anymore. There are leaders as such and now we are competing in all slots. We decide basis our priority now.”

    To market the new show, Life OK ran promos on all its network channels and put up umpteen hoardings across cities. On the day of the launch, print ads were released and railway announcements too were made. Besides, on Twitter, the channel constantly keeps updating #TumhariPaakhi hashtag with news, polls and promo links.

    Beintehaa and Rangrasiya: Colors’ two new shows premiered on 30 December last year and will continue to air Monday to Friday at 9pm and 9.30pm, respectively.

    While Beintehaa is a show with a pan-Muslim milieu which revolves round two very similar, headstrong individuals, Aaliya and Zain, who are in a volatile relationship; Rangrasiya is an edgy, explosive tale of Paro and Rudra, two individuals who start off by hating each other intensely.

    Both the shows were promoted extensively across mediums, including in-theatre integrations during Dhoom 3 in HSMs, OOH in 60 cities and towns, and a media mix with over 40 channels plus radio stations covering more than 40 cities.

    With the launch leading into the new year, special calendars were brought out with select publications to enable audiences bring the characters home. An all-round social media strategy was developed to ensure the duo continue to be the topic of dinner table conversations across homes.

    Asked whether it didn’t bother them that rival channels have some of their most popular shows at 9 and 9.30pm, Colors’ programming head Prashant Bhatt says that planning for the 9 pm slot begins much before the channel’s biggest reality show, Bigg Boss, kicks off. “We know that as soon as the show ends, we have to come up with news shows with strong content and we work on it accordingly. This time too, when we heard the stories of the two shows – Rangrasiya and Beintehaa – we knew that we have to take them to the prime time slot because of the newness,” he says.

    Says Saurabh Tewari, MD of Nautanki Films which has produced Rangrasiya: “We were happy to have got the prime time slot for our show. We are aware of the competition that exists in the slot and even otherwise, but there’s always space for something new.” Tewari believes the presentation and the manner of storytelling, not to mention the extensive shooting in Rajasthan will work in the channel’s favour.

    Coming to Beintehaa, Farhan Sallaruddin of Fortune Productions, producer of the show, says the story’s concept is its USP. “The Muslim community hasn’t been explored much and in this show, we have anyway brought the love story of two very strong characters. It will be loved by youngsters and older people alike,” he says.

    Last but not the least, Main Na Bhoolungi and Ekk Nayi Pehchaan, Sony Entertainment Television’s newest additions to its kitty, more so in a bid to get viewers to tune in to its soaps instead of the crime shows and thrillers it has become synonymous with. Both the shows premiered on 23 December last year at 8.00pm and 8.30pm, respectively.

    Main Na Bhoolungi traces the life of Shikha, a well educated and confident girl, played by Aishwarya Sakhuja, who has an arranged marriage with the seemingly perfect Sameer, played by Vikas Manaktala. However, Shikha falls off from a cliff, cutting short the happy alliance. Is it the end of the fairytale or just a bad dream? The story is based on a 1996 Gujarati play Sharda, penned by Varsha Adalja, which elaborates on the concept of ‘women in their 40s’.

    “The focus is not on the rest. The focus is on yourself. That is the only way you can stand out. There is only one way to success, not necessarily that assures success, but do your best,” says producer Yash Patnaik. ”We as producers, as makers, go to the channel with the concept. Then it is up to the channel which slot to air. They decide what will work there, what kind of target audience, the strengths they have. As makers in television, we purely go by their conviction and strategy.”

    About Ekk Nayi Pehchaan, Jay Mehta Productions producer Kinnari Mehta feels content is the king that will get viewers to watch a particular show. “We haven’t seen a show till now wherein they have shown a positive bond between mother in law and daughter in law. We are trying to come out from that mould where saas and bahus just fight. And we have a beautiful cast, both of them are such faces that will stand out across all the GECs and the concept. Since our show deals with adult literacy, a lot of women want to educate themselves,” she elaborates.

    Sony is confident the two new shows will be a big turnaround for them. Says Sony senior VP, head marketing Gaurav Seth: “The two new shows are a big turnaround for the channel. The 7 – 11pm slot is where there will be competition in any channel, but good content always stands out. We have got good numbers for both the shows.”

    While viewers are going to be spoilt for choice with the sheer number of new shows across the Hindi GECs, only time will tell who will emerge the winners in this race…

  • Star Utsav gets a new business head in Pratik Seal

    Star Utsav gets a new business head in Pratik Seal

    MUMBAI: There’s some change at the top in the Star group of channels. Star Utsav, a sister channel of Star Plus, has got a new business head. Pratik Seal, who was working as Star Network’s second general entertainment channel (GEC), Life OK’s marketing head, will now take up the role of Star Utsav’s business head.

     

    Seal, who has already started working in the new role since last week, is reporting to Star Plus general manager Gaurav Banerjee. An official announcement about this would be made soon.

     

    Prior to joining Star Network, Seal was heading the marketing functions at Micromax. He has a total experience of 15 years.

     

    Seal, who started his career in 1998, has experience in brand management, strategic planning, advertising and communication, key account management, product development insights, media planning, event management and public relations.

     

    Seal started as an account executive with Basic4 Advertising. After spending two years with the company, he moved to Ties2Family.com as an assistant manager, marketing and then worked as senior account executive with FCB Ulka.

     

    After spending about two years with FCB Ulka, Seal joined Lowe Lintas as a senior brand services manager. Within three years, he was promoted to the position of senior brand services director. He later joined Vodafone as senior manager, marketing in April 2006. In December 2007, he joined as the senior manager – marketing in Samsung and then in Micromax as marketing head in April, 2010.

  • Star Plus gets a new GM

    Star Plus gets a new GM

    MUMBAI: There is a change at the top in the Star Plus office. The leading general entertainment channel has a new General Manager — Gaurav Banerjee, who will fill in the space for Nachiket Pantvaidya, who quit in September this year. He will report to Star India COO Sanjay Gupta.

     

    Gaurav was the executive vice-president, content strategy of Star India. He joined Star Plus in October 2009 and played a pivotal role in shaping the content around the theme, “Rishta Wahi Soch Nayi”. In his previous role at Star India, Banerjee had helped in content development for Star Plus as well as Life OK for shows like Mahadev, Diya aur Baati Hum and Sasural Genda Phool.

     

    An alumnus of St Stephen’s, Delhi University and MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia, Banerjee joined Aaj Tak in 2000. He anchored The War Room that covered the Afghan war and elections. He then joined Star News and anchored the 9 pm news and was the executive editor of prime time news. He also played an important role in the launch of Star Ananda that was a big success from day one. He also set up Star’s regional channels and is credited to take Jalsha to the number one spot.