ITV

Tag: Hindi

  • RIP Manna Dey

    RIP Manna Dey

    MUMBAI: Manna Dey is no more.

    The legendary singer, whose golden voice mesmerised audiences for decades, breathed his last early this morning at a Bengaluru hospital, where he had been admitted for respiratory problems for the past few months. He was 94 years old.

    Having started his career as a playback singer in the 1943 film Tamanna, Dey has nearly 3,500 songs in languages including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayali, Kannada and Assamese to his credit. The more memorable among these being Pucho Na Kaise, Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua, Ae Maalik Tere Bande Hum, Kasme Vaade Pyaar Wafa, Ae Meri Johra Jabi, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Yaari Hai Imaan to name a few.

    For Kailash Kher, Dey was nothing less than an institution, whose inimitable style of singing influenced many like him to do better in their career

     

    The distinctive timbre and classical bent of Dey’s voice made him a hot favourite among the heroes of the time, not to mention generations of music composers. Not surprisingly, he went on to receive the country’s highest honours – the Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan, among a slew of awards and accolades.

     

    As news spread of his sad demise, the entire film industry was plunged into a state of shock and grief.

     

    One of the first ones to tweet was Amitabh Bachchan, who wrote: “Manna Dey, stalwart of the music world, passes away. Flooded with memories and his songs. In particular his rendition of Madhushala.”

     

    Shabana Azmi too tweeted: “Manna Dey had a unique voice. He will live on through his songs Ai Meri Zohra Jabeen/ dil ka haal suney dilwala/ poocho na kaise maine RIP.”

     

    Not just the industry veterans, even younger artistes and composers fondly remembered the iconic singer.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, National Award-winning singer Rekha Bharadwaj said Dey had been an inspiration for almost all those interested in music.

     

    “He had a completely distinctive style. No one can match that. Whether it was Ae Mere Pyaare Watan…, Koi Sagar Dil Ko Behlata Hai…, or Ek Chaturnaar…, he made each of these songs unique in itself with a certain pathos and melody,” said Bharadwaj, who remains a fan of all the songs from the film Anand, still humming them whenever she is in a mood.

     

    “Ae Mere Pyaare Watan has been a favourite among almost everybody across all generations,” she said, regretting the fact that she never got a chance to meet Dey in person. “But people like Kavita Krishnamoorthy and Suresh Wadekar kept me abreast about him and also shared many anecdotes. It’s nice to know all that,” she said.

     

    For Kailash Kher, Dey was nothing less than an ‘institution’, whose inimitable style of singing influenced many like him to do better in their career.

     

    “He is an inspiration. He has left so much behind him for generations to come,” Kher said, recalling how as a teenager, he never knew who had sung his favourite song, Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli…, till he discovered through a magazine interview that it was none other than Dey, and became an ardent fan since.

     

    “I had read this interview sometime in the 90s and was in awe of the singer after reading everything about him. He sung a comic song or a peppy number with as much ease as he sung an emotional song,” said Kher, also referring to the fact that Dey lent his voice not only to the Hindi film industry but also to many other languages and genres.

     

    Shibani Kashyap thinks Dey had the ‘most unusual voice’. “I cry when I listen to the songs from Anand. Very few singers have the power to move you to tears. He is iconic. And though he is not around us any more, his songs will always keep him alive. The songs that he has sung are out of the world and they will continue to enthuse younger generations of aspiring singers and musicians,” said Kashyap, ruing the fact that he wasn’t celebrated as much as he should have been. “He hasn’t got the due that he should have. We let him leave the industry too soon. I just wish his songs stay with us forever,” she concluded.

  • Amish’s SHIVA TRILOGY crosses 2 million copies in print and gross retail sales of Rs. 50 crores

    Amish’s SHIVA TRILOGY crosses 2 million copies in print and gross retail sales of Rs. 50 crores

    MUMBAI:  The Shiva Trilogy, written by Amish, is a compelling, fictional tale of a Tibetan tribal called Shiva, whose adventures nearly 4000 years ago, morphed into the mythical legends of the Hindu God Shiva. The Shiva Trilogy (The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas & The Oath of the Vayuputras) has more than 2 million copies in print with gross retail sales of over Rs 50 crores, making it the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing.

     

    Over the last few months, The Oath of the Vayuputras, The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas have remained at the top in the A C Nielsen bestseller list in India, one of the rare occasions where one author’s books dominate the national bestseller lists so completely!

     

    Published by Westland Ltd, the books have been released across the Indian subcontinent in various languages, including English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu, Bengali, Assamese. It has also been released in the Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia. They will also be released very soon in other languages like Tamil.

     

    Additionally, Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Quercus Books) have bought the English language rights outside of the Indian sub-continent and has published the first book, The Immortals of Meluha, in the UK in January 2013. The book will be released in the US in Summer 2014. The book is also due for release in Vietnam soon.

     

    The Shiva Trilogy has attracted a wide and devoted audience since its publication, with publishing gurus calling it a genre-creating book series. It has also received positive reviews from various eminent personalities. Spiritual guru, Deepak Chopra, complimented the books saying, ‘Amish’s mythical imagination mines the past and taps into the possibilities of the future. His book series, archetypal and stirring, unfold the deepest recesses of the soul as well as our collective consciousness.’ Renowned Film Director, Shekhar Kapur, called Amish ‘India’s first literary popstar’, while celebrated author Anil Dharker called him ‘a literary phenomenon’.

     

    Many marketing innovations have also been attempted for the Shiva Trilogy. For the 1st book, The Immortals of Meluha, the first chapter had been printed and distributed, free of cost, as a sampler. A trailer film had also been made and uploaded on YouTube, probably for the first time in the history of Indian publishing. For the 2nd book, The Secret of the Nagas, a professional film-quality trailer film had been made and showcased in cinemas, once again for the first time in Indian publishing history. The string of innovations has continued in the marketing of the 3rd book of the trilogy, The Oath of the Vayuputras. For the first time in Indian publishing, an original soundtrack album has been created for a book series called ‘Vayuputras: the soundtrack of the Shiva Trilogy books’. For the festive season a box set of the Shiva Trilogy books is being released as a special hardbound edition for gifting.

     

    Giving the life of music to the soul of the words, all the 10 songs in the album have been originally created out of various sections of the 3 books of the Shiva Trilogy. Top-notch musical artistes like Taufiq Qureshi, Sonu Nigam, Palash Sen & Bickram Ghosh have contributed their talent to this album. A professional, world-class music video has also been produced which is being telecast in various music channels.

  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire gets India release date as 29 November

    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire gets India release date as 29 November

    MUMBAI: This November, Universal Pictures will bring The Hunger Games: Catching Fire to India as it gets a date set for 29th. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, the dark adventure is the sequel to the first one – The Hunger Games.

     

    The movie directed by Francis Lawrence will be released in four languages – English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. This movie follows the characters’ life post the first movie. After they have returned home from the Annual Hunger Games they have to leave their family and close friends. Now the Capitol is preparing for the next edition of the games.

     

    The movie will release only one week post the worldwide launch which is on 22 November. The first movie became a blockbuster hit worldwide and the third and fourth in the series are already in the making, slated for releasing in the next two years.

  • Life’s OK digitally

    When Harvard wizkid Mark Zuckerberg launched facebook in 2004, he never imagined it would ignite a revolution in terms of the way people communicate and share information.

    Indeed, social networks have emerged as the next big thing after email and the Internet, and not just individuals and communities but even our television channels are happily jumping onto them for bettering their ‘connect‘ with the audience.

    After demystifying the digital strategies of Sony Entertainment Television, Star Plus, Colorsand Zee TV, indiantelevision.com trains its lens on the endeavours of Life OK – Star India‘s sister channel – in this space.

    For starters, Life OK‘s Facebook page boasts 1,293,603 likes and more than 63,600 people talking about it simultaneously.

    We also have efficient partners that understand the nuances of social media engagement and help spread marketing ideas across digital and social platforms, says Ajit Thakur

    The page is kept up-to-speed with pictures, videos, polls and all the hot gossip, and shares links with the official pages of various shows aired on the channel.

    In a day and age when 140-character tweets more than news make headlines, the plots of Life OK‘s many soaps are also tweaked through fan tweets. The official twitter handle of the channel @LifeOKTV is abuzz with nearly 20,840 tweets from over 16,555 followers at the time of writing. With instant reactions and feedback the staple of twitter, Life OK makes the most of this platform with timely tweets and re-tweets.

    To cite an example, the channel created, #ThePerfectBachelor, for its upcoming reality show The Bachelorette India – Mere Khayalon Ki Mallika and garnered more than seven million impressions. So much so, the hash tag found its way to the numero uno spot on India trends, that too within half an hour of the beginning of the contest. It was only the second Indian show to trend for 21 hours.

    #ThePerfectBachelor hash tag garnered more than seven million impressions

    Life OK is aware that for a general entertainment channel, video uploads draw the most traffic. And so, it launched its official YouTube channel in December 2011, and has since uploaded 5,000-odd videos. Viewers can watch the latest episodes of top-rated properties like Mahadev, Shapath andSavdhaan among others.

    To top it all is Life OK‘s official website http://www.lifeok.com/. As the channel‘s mainstay, the website aims to use all its other platforms to draw more and more traffic.

    It is easily the hub of Life OK‘s online activities with web exclusive content including live streaming, picture gallery, video uploads, show trivia and a concert section. There‘s also the shows schedule for those who want to know what time their favourite show will be telecast during the day.

    Says Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur: “Social media platforms are a great place to directly engage and interact with consumers. The idea is to leverage the various platforms to drive engagement and increase affinity towards our content. We also provide additional content specific to digital platforms for users who have supported us, or in facebook terms, ‘liked‘ us.”

    The official Facebook page keeps its page up-to-date with pictures, videos, latest buzz and polls

    This is not to say Life OK‘s engagement with its audience stops at social platforms. “We are constantly trying to connect with our audiences, be it through dialogue on social media platforms or sneak previews of our content. With every show and channel marketing campaign, our digital spends supplement the print and TV mentions, thus creating a 360 degree surround across media,” provides Thakur.

    A shining example of the channel‘s 360-degree approach is the way it created the Laajo Ki Diary blog on four platforms including wordpress, blogspot, tumblr and Rediff before the launch of its show Gustakh Dil. The blog gets updated with new posts on a day-to-day basis, keeping viewers abreast of what‘s happening on it.

    The website is decked up with web exclusive content including live streaming, picture gallery, video uploads, show trivia and a concert section

    But how does the channel promote its online presence? “We have a dedicated digital content and marketing team, who focus their energies on creating interesting content for the digital audience. We also have efficient partners that understand the nuances of social media engagement and help spread marketing ideas across digital and social platforms,” replies Thakur.

    Just in case you‘re wondering which platform gets the most traction, Thakur isn‘t very helpful. “Each platform delivers a specific objective while facebook is a great place for fans to engage with us, consume rich media content and share with friends; twitter being much more time-sensitive, helps create buzz about relevant topics and shows at the right time. YouTube on the other hand is a great platform for users to sample our content (mostly short form content) and also drives digital monetisation,” he says.

    Well, talk about the channel being omnipresent in the digital space…

  • Samsung moves into 9 Indian languages for its Smartphone and tablets

    Samsung moves into 9 Indian languages for its Smartphone and tablets

    MUMBAI: Smartphone and tablet manufacturing giant Samsung has decided to offer user interface and access to content for its users in nine Indian languages. These will be supported on Galaxy Grand, Galaxy S4 and Tab 3. These nine languages will be Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati.

    The languages will be available on more affordable phones within this month itself. This initiative has been created especially for the Indian market. Applications from the Samsung store such as Bharat Matrimony, India Property, Times of India will be available in the vernacular languages. Select phones will also have Facebook, Gmail and the likes in the nine languages.

    Samsung Mobile and IT, India Head, Vineet Taneja said “We clearly sense a need and a demand amongst users to communicate in local languages using their mobile devices. That is the reason, as an industry leader, we are taking the lead by offering users the ease of accessing regional language content in their preferred language.”

    More devices will be added as well as more languages.

  • How Colors is adding ‘colours’ to its content

    We produce over 7500 hours of original content per year only amongst the top six GECs, which by itself is a tall order, and yet we produce great shows that goes on for over five years on almost a daily basis. Internationally also shows go on for years but they are in seasons and they take a break and most of them are not daily. So to that extent, in a way we can say we create great content, especially given the budgets we operate in.

    I believe that the 12 minute regulation on advertising inventory will act as the much needed catalyst for the advertising yields to go up, so I am very optimistic about the future
    _____****_____

    At this moment, the budgets we work with is very very low for fiction shows as compared to worldwide benchmarks, and it shows in the quality of the product that goes on air. It is an chicken and egg situation, you can‘t produce high quality shows if you don‘t invest…You can‘t invest if you do not generate sufficient revenue. Right now we have too much dependency on advertising revenue, where the yield has been stagnant for years and a fair share either in increased subscription revenues or a decrease in carriage fees hasn‘t really happened yet. But with digitisation progressing and the remaining phases to be implemented soon, I believe that over the next two-three year horizon this correction is bound to take place. What it means is broadcasters will then have more money in their kitty to reinvest on quality programming, thus enriching the viewing experience multifold for the consumer. I also believe that the 12 minute regulation on advertising inventory will act as the much needed catalyst for the advertising yields to go up, so I am very optimistic about the future.

    Yes we have some challenges facing the industry. There is a dearth of good script writers, most of the stories that come to us are unfortunately cut and paste jobs, either from movies or from across different shows. Original thinking is surprisingly missing. Then if you look at the comic genre, there are hardly any good comedy writers, in fact you can count them on your fingers. So either there is a genuine dearth or we haven‘t been able to scout & nurture talent as an industry. We like to work with the same people who are so overloaded with work and are unable to devote 100 per cent to one story (There ofcourse are exceptions to the rule). Production houses have become executors, the channel EP‘s take credit when a show does well but blames the production house, script writer, everyone else when the show flops. We need to move to a system where the production house takes cent per cent accountability to deliver a show and its ratings. A system where they are both incentivised and penalised for performance. The channel EP‘s must strictly supervise that all deliverables are met & quality check. The producer of the show must have a skin in the game so that they are fully involved.

    Right now we have too much dependency on advertising revenue, where the yield has been stagnant for years and a fair share either in increased subscription revenues or a decrease in carriage fees hasn‘t really happened yet
    _____****_____

    Talent is another challenge, inspite of being a country of 1.3 billion people, talent is still an issue. Again, part of the problems lies with us broadcasters, we don‘t want to experiment with new people. We want the same hosts, same judges, and are not willing to look beyond. Its a musical chair. Everyone wants to play safe. We prefer to stay in our comfort zone and we need to change this mindset.

    Last year we had a list of names floating to anchor our show Jhalak Dikhhlaa Jaa. Also for the judges. My non fiction programming head and I were insistent that we needed a face that was new…Thus we got Manish Paul & see what a success he has been! We got Karan Johar again from outside the regular judges list and he has turned out to be the best judge on any TV show! His contribution to the show, like Madhuri & Remo has been enormous.

    Television is a very potent medium. The beauty of TV is, you take anybody and put them on television a couple of times and they will become a celebrity. TV fiction stars are more popular than film stars even though they may not get the same adulation as a film star. But the truth is they invade millions of drawing rooms and bedrooms day in and day out 365 days of the year in the remotest parts of the country. I have had legends in the field of art and culture or even very eminent people from different walks of life wanting to meet some of the characters from their favourite shows. I have seen film actors‘ parents wanting a picture with their favourite TV star…The problem with TV stars is their life span is comparatively short and their fortunes are linked to the performance of, at most times, just one show. Once the show is successful some of them forget what got them there in the first place and there is no one to counsel them or professionally manage them. So that is another area, that we need to work on and develop as an industry.

    We as a channel have taken the first step in upping the ante by announcing a high production fiction show 24 with Anil Kapoor. Sony has followed by announcing a fiction show with Amitabh Bachchan. We are happy that we have set another new trend.

  • The story behind Life OK’s Police Dial 100

    The story behind Life OK’s Police Dial 100

    Crime always sells, believes Shruti Anindita Vermaa who has now put on a director’s hat for the crime show, Police Dial 100 on Life OK.

    Talking about her new initiative, Shruti says, “As a director what excites me is the newness of a genre. Spearheading interesting shows and innovative concepts has been my forte.”

    Police Dial 100 is a unique show that tracks the life of cops on duty

    With the urge to do something new and interesting, Shruti and her team conceptualised a show that had real cops in the place of reel cops, capturing on camera live cases with the police as opposed to reenactment of past cases.

    Dissuaded initially by friends in the police, Shruti took the show as a personal challenge

    “There are lots of shows abroad involving cops but for India this was new thinking and for the concept that we had, there was no format at all. There are no shows that one can connectPolice Dial 100 with. It is original and 100 per cent real,” she adds.

    Life OK GM Ajit Thakur said he had never imagined that a media team could do this, but he said the series will make the people feel safer as it showed the police as it actually worked to combat crime. “Police forces have a tough job of maintaining law and order, especially in densely populated Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai.”

    “Police Dial 100 is Life OK’s effort to delve deeper into the functioning law enforcing agencies and capturing on camera the highly stressful lives our police forces lead. The one-of-its-kind show in India will showcase things that are often not discussed on camera. The series is not based on any script and will not feature dramatisation or enactments, but will only capture reality as it happens in the police’s world. We are confident that the audience will be thrilled to see our real life heroes on camera.” adds Thakur.

    Police forces have a tough job of maintaining law and ordersays Life OK GM Ajit Thakur

    The making of Police Dial 100…….

    A show that breaks away completely from the existing crime shows, we take you to the journey of Police Dial 100, produced by Endemol India.

    Shruti discussed the concept of doing a crime show the way she envisioned it with Endemol India managing director Deepak Dhar, who was not very sure that the police would agree with her idea. Taking it up as a challenge almost eight months ago Shruti explored the various routes that would make her team’s concept into a reality on television.

    An eight month long journey…………

    Dissuaded initially by friends in the police, Shruti took the show as a personal challenge. She met the Mumbai joint commissioner of police Himanshu Roy and narrated the concept to him. An impressed Roy was completely sold on her vision for the show.

    Next Shruti approached the Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar with the idea. Kumar immediately accepted the concept without even looking at any powerpoint presentation. “He said that everyone is out here to criticise the police. So if I meant what I was promising to do, he was there to give me all the support,” reveals Shruti.

    Police Dial 100 team has been permitted to sit in the control room at the police headquarters to better understand the functioning of the case

    Flushed with success, Shruti returned to Mumbai. Now she needed to have a channel on board. Dhar and Shruti discussed a couple of ideas for the show with Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur who said his channel would air it if she got permissions. “Ajit liked the idea but was not very sure if we would be able to pull it off,” says Shruti.

    Making a pilot that was great and acceptable was a major challenge.

    Even as Shruti started looking out for cases to highlight and track for it, 16 December happened. 23 year old physiotherapy intern Jyoti Singh Pandey was brutally gangraped, assaulted in a moving chartered bus by a gang of hooligans, and finally left on the streets to die with her intestines torn out.

    The media went berserk and everyone was lambasting the cops for their alleged gross inefficiency and disregard for what was going on.

    A skeptical Neeraj Kumar asked Shruti if she still wanted to go ahead with the show which would only track the police on their job (rather than be judgemental as the media was being) when she contacted him. She of course replied in the affirmative.

    Everyone is out here to criticise the police says Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar

    Neeraj Kumar asked the then DCP of Delhi South Chhaya Sharma – who was the main investigating officer on the Jyoti Singh Pandey case – to permit Shruti to sit with her and capture each and every move for the next 72 hours. She was reluctant at first but finally agreed on the commissioner’s insistence.

    And it was during the course of this that Shruti got to witness first hand the efforts put in by the police to hunt down and then book the perpetrators; she tracked the protests at India Gate, the police handling the family of the rape victim as they silently saw their daughter fight for her life. She also followed the capture of the last rapist.

    Talking about the police’s determination to do their job, she confesses: “The police team in South Delhi was busy filing charge sheets and ensuring that Jyoti Singh Pandey got justice. My commitment grew stronger following this. I knew what I wanted. I spent 10 days with Sharma and her team, had lunches and dinners in their canteen and sat in their Gypsy vehicle as a silent spectator while they went about on their night patrol even as the temperature dropped to near freezing.”

    Now there was no way she was looking back. She was determined to make her show.

    But things got stalled after that. “I left Delhi to come back again in January and yet again it was a case of wrong timing. 26 January preparations were on and once again the city was quiet… I had come to shoot action but the cops had none. And finally I got my first case that not only became my pilot but also became the opening story of my series. A kidnapping case that took place at Lodhi Colony in New Delhi” says Shruti.

    Her team rushed to Lodhi Colony and shot everything from zero hour. The case was cracked in two and a half hours. The team came back with the shoot and edited the story and presented it to Life OK.

    They are more comfortable with us and our presence does not irritate them as much as it did earlier says Shruti about cops

    Above (L-R) DCP of Delhi South Chhaya Sharma, Inspector Rajendra Singh and Shruti Vermaa

     

    Says Shruti : “I did not have a format to refer to or a show to follow. It was just pure conviction that worked. Deepak Dhar and I took the pilot to Life OK and Ajit Thakur and his team gave us a standing ovation.”

     

    She admits that it has not been easy. “In terms of difficulty that we had during the pilot, well, Delhi is a huge space and when we actually started shooting, the cops were not comfortable with the idea of a camera encroaching upon their privacy. So the commissioner’s permission initiated a conversation, but the task was to win their confidence. Gradually, they started opening up and were supportive.”

     

    How the Police Dial 100 team works….

    The Police Dial 100 team consists of more than 100 people. It includes a creative director who is responsible for what goes on when the filming is happening and a creative head who looks after the post-production, six cameramen, three associate creative directors, reality producers, sound engineers and a support production team on ground.

    Director Shruti has been on the streets of Delhi and Mumbai in the freezing nights following the cops investigating the cases

    Besides, there is a large post-production team with six editors and six assistant editors-cum-post producers. The team generally shoots with a simple HD camera, but depending on the kind cases, they use GoPros, cameras mounted on cars, pen cameras, button cameras and watch cameras as well.

    Additionally, there is a team that has been permitted to sit in the control room at the police headquarters. So whenever there is a case, Shruti gets a call from the police control room.

    Once she decides to follow a case, she sends a team to the police station after a conversation with the station house officer so that the team can capture events as they unfold from the crucial zero hour. And this Endemol bunch continues to be with the police team that is following the case till it is solved.

    Every night the team views the footage together and also plans the way forward. Once each case is shot and the no-objection certificates of all the concerned people are in place, the entire docket along with a log sheet reaches the Mumbai office where it is edited.

    A script is written, a voice over laid and then the graphics and the music are added. The episode is then handed over to the channel which plans an interesting promo for each week.

    A team of more than 100 people are documenting real life cops on the field; quiet a refreshing change from the other crime based shows

    “There are times when after two days of shoot we realise that the story is not going forward. We bounce it off and move on to the next case,” reveals Shruti.

    She explains how each episode is put together. She says: “It is the case that is most important. We start following many case files because it is difficult to figure out at the call level the intensity or layering of the case. And the camera just follows the action as it unfolds. It is not scripted at all because there is no space for that. Direction is mainly limited to directing the cameras how to operate and also the ACD gives direction on the pitch one needs to take.”

    Shruti believes Police Dial 100 will maintain its freshness for a long time; there’s no question of staleness setting in. She explains: “Police story telling is also like film story telling. Every case has a different narrative. No

    Every night the team views the footage together and also plans the way forward

    two murders are the same, no two kidnappings are the same, the suspects are different, their backgrounds are different, every crime has a different modus operandi. So there is no chance of duplicating ever. A major part of an episode is made on the editing table because it is here that the narration is planned and scripted. The post team is huge. There are more than 20 people working round the clock to meet deadlines and maintain quality.”

    Shruti’s team includes award winning director Sohail Tatari, Amitabh Varma who handles scripts, Bapi and Tutul are in charge for music, Himanshu looks after graphics.

    When asked how much say the Delhi police have in each episode, Shruti asserts that everything is based on mutual understanding. “They trust us and we trust them,” she confesses. “So we know when to switch off the camera and they know it pretty well. They are more comfortable with us and our presence does not irritate them as much as it did earlier. The only thing they do is direct us to follow the legalities of what can be shown and what cannot. The idea is to create a great show by highlighting the work of the cops and not create a problem in the case.”

    Endemol India Deepak Dhar MD and CEO says, “For the first time in the history of Indian television we present a show that explores the real world of cops and crime. Our cameras have captured the activities of the police force, working to solve a case in real time.” He said this was real TV, not reality TV.

    Current scenario…

    The show hit television screens on 22 June at 7.00 pm on Life OK.

    At the time of writing, 12 episodes have already been shot in Delhi. Both Life Ok and Endemol have an initial 13 week telecast schedule. Shruti however has been extremely pleased with the response the first episode has receieved. She says: “Superb. I got almost 900 messages from my friends and relatives. So I know that apart from the making of the show I am also contributing to its TRP. But I know we have made a path breaking show and with a social purpose as well. So I am very satisfied with Police Dial 100.”

    “Endemol has always broken the mould when it comes to new and innovative programming”, says Deepak Dhar

    A short note on Shruti Anindita Vermaa…..

    Shruti has been a TV professional for two decades and has a varied experience on a variety of programming formats with a clutch of production houses. Amongst these figure: Balaji Telefilms as the head of non fiction division, with Gajendra Singh as a creative director, with Miditech as a creative director and supervising producer and with Applause Entertainment as the head of non-fiction and events. She has spearheaded shows like K for Kishore for Sony TV , a very prestigious project called South Asian Superstar which is a parallel version of Indian Idol on a bigger platform with five countries participating for the final title. She worked as creative director for Antrakshari and Voice of India for Star Plus, and as a senior creative director for Raaz Pichle Janam Ka for NDTV Imagine for both the seasons. She has also worked as the production designer for the National Award Winning Film Antardwand that was released last year by PVR.

  • Sab TV revamps look; announces marketing initiatives

    Sab TV revamps look; announces marketing initiatives

    Comedy general entertainment channel (GEC) SAB TV has added vibrant colours and new motifs to its channel and show packaging, which went on air from 9 pm onwards on 21 June.

    Argentinian design studio Steinbranding was hired for the revamp."Our new look signifies renewed freshness and a positive move into the future, truly articulating the spirit of ‘Asli Mazaa SAB Ke Saath Aata Hai‘. We have only changed the clothing of the show, but retained the content, concept and basic colours. We have also added more designs which is relayed between soaps," said SAB TV EVP & business head Anooj Kapoor at a conference held at JW Marriot Hotel.

    And in order to further propagate the fact that it has a fresher and peppier look it has put together quite a few promotional films on the lines of its existing ‘Sab Ka Wakt Ata Hai‘ called "Saas-bahu," "Mooch" and "Hands-Up."

    The channel‘s management announced that it is going the whole hog on digital with online games and applications. One of these is ‘Sabarbia‘, a one of its kind social game, which has attracted 75,000 people in the past two months.

    The channel has also launched a loyalty program called ‘Sab ki Sawari‘, through which viewers are rewarded for watching its shows for longer durations: they get a chance to meet their favourite actors on the sets of different Sab shows. "Then we have school programmes called Sab ki Paathshala that aims to engage with a younger audience by providing them with interactive learning experience," added Kapoor.

    Then SabTV has integrated free applications including, SAB Ke Comics – a mobile app available on iOS and Android smart phones. The application has over 100 comic strips of six shows cracking jokes on five popular characters of Sab. The five characters which have been animated include: SAB ka Gadha, SAB ka Gopi, SAB Ka Gulgule, SAB ka Mama and SAB ki Jeannie. "The application has already registered 200,000 users," informed Kapoor.

    Apart from this, Sab has rolled out ‘SAB Khelo SAB Jeeto,‘ an unique game show that can be played with the entire family. The game show enables fans and consumers to participate and win gifts and merchandise.60 per cent of the channel‘s total promotional budget is set aside for TV advertising, 30 per cent for print and the remaining 10 per cent for out-of-home advertising and others. "As far as digital media is concerned, we have not made any investments. It is just a platform for us to drive the audience to television," said Kapoor.

    The channel has gone in for oodles of activation in malls, Big Bazaar, Cafe Coffee Days and multiplexes and has a huge outdoor presence – over 700-800 hoardings pan India, excluding Mumbai. "In Mumbai, we have placed our hoardings in over 100 bus shelters in residential areas," said a source.

    The faith that both Sony Entertainment COO N.P. Singh and Kapoor have had in taking the comedy route for the channel five years ago seems to have been well-placed when one looks at its success today.

    "Our ratings have gone up by 600 per cent and revenues by 900 per cent in the last five years. We have seen a surge in advertisers from 25 in 2008 to 80 plus now. With its current presence in the US, the UK, Australia and South Africa, the channel will soon expand to Dubai," Kapoor informed.

  • Colors’ gung-ho digital strategy

    Colors’ gung-ho digital strategy

    Send in your tweets to @ColorsTV, be a part of a Facebook contest, stand a chance to win an iPad, tweet away your views with #Jhalak..#Madhubala. Watch Colors live, maximum You Tube hits. #ThisIsTHEchannel WithanAdmirableOnlineStrategy.

    Well, the crux of this story is just that. Colors, Viacom18‘s maiden Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC), which has carved a commendable place for itself in a very short span of time, is a channel with a massive digital presence. Hence, taking our digital series forward (read the previous stories on Sony and Star Plushere), we take you through this interactive journey of the very dynamic Colors, presenting awe inducing figures, highlighting the ever increasing online fan communities and much more…

    The official Facebook page of Colors has an overwhelming 1.88 million likes with more than 100,000 active fans. While the channel keeps its official page up-to-date with galleries and snippets of upcoming episodes, it also links the platform to the official pages of its various shows. The official page of its popular fiction dailies likeMadhubala: Ek Ishq Ek Junoon and Balika Vadhu have garnered 0.48 million and 0.43 million likes respectively. Among non-fiction shows, Bigg Boss Season 6‘s official page boasts of 0.16 million likes, whereas, the recently launched Season 6 of popular celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa has already garnered 0.1 million likes.

    Colors contstantly updates its Facebook profile for its 1.88 million plus fans with teasers, pictures and snippets

    Apart from the official pages, Colors has gained immense popularity through the numerous fan driven pages of its hot-selling properties. The upcoming season of Bigg Boss already has a fan page featuring more than 22,000 likes, while the previous season‘s fan page figures around 0.29 million likes. But the show which seems to have broken all records is the very popular Vivian Dsena – Drashti Dhami starrer Madhubala-Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, produced by Nautanki Films. The love-hate relationship of the lead protagonist has definitely captured the imagination of the TV viewing audience. There are more than 100 Facebook Fan pages dedicated to the show with some registering more than 60,000 likes. Well, if that‘s not impressive, what will be?

    In a world where news is being replaced by a tweet of 140 characters, soap plots are tweaked according to fan tweets. Twitter enables instant reactions and feedback and Colors makes the most of this platform. With more than 81,000 followers and around 16,000 tweets, the official twitter handle of the channel (@ColorsTV) is a buzzing place. Every few minutes, the handle buzzes with tweets and re-tweets. Every couple of days, the channel also launches interactive contests to engage with its fans. Recently, @ColorsTV awarded an iPad among other goodies to winners of the #Jhalak contest. The success of the Twitter launch of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa can be gauged from the fact that the official hash-tag was trending all over India for nearly three consecutive days and also in UK and US for some time.

    It takes a person like Vivek to spearhead the digital revolution at Colors

    Colors Digital Head Vivek Srivastava asserts: "Our effort on social media is to start and manage conversations and we have some very good brands on both fiction and non-fiction which help our cause. Just to give you an example Colors properties trended 51 times at all India level in the last financial year."

    For a general entertainment channel, the video uploads drive maximum traffic and for the same purpose, Colors launched its official YouTube channel in June 2008 and has since uploaded around 18,300 videos. The YouTube channel has 0.2 million loyal subscribers and a magnanimous count of around 149 million video views so far.

    On an average, every Colors upload garners more than 20,000 video views within a couple of days. Here as well, popular properties like Madhubala, Balika Vadhu, Jhalak and Bigg Bossgarner average views as high as 85,000, 40,000, 50,000 and 45,000 respectively. The wedding special episodes of Madhubalaalso recorded views as high as 0.16 million. Besides, the much promoted grand premiere of Jhalak was uploaded in 33 videos, each video garnering thousands of video views.

    Srivastava informs: "The episodes are uploaded within a couple of hours of the show going on-air, however we create specific content for the internet and mobile which goes beyond catch-up for episode. This is primarily aimed at engagement, if there is a Colors fan intending to know more, discuss or comment on our shows, we have to facilitate it."

    The mainstay platform of Colors has web exclusive content, photo galleries, polls and much more

    Such a comprehensive digital presence is further topped by the official website of Colors- www.colors.in.com. This is the mainstay platform of the channel as it aims to use all its other platforms to drive traffic towards the website. It is the hub of all online activities for the channel with web exclusive content created especially for it along with live streaming, picture gallery and video uploads, trends and show trivia. What more, the channel has been successful in generating 100 million page views last year. "We have a very strong offering in colors.in.com a website which goes beyond just catch-up TV. There is news, videos, behind the scene, interviews, discussions, special content, live streaming and much more; the effort is to feed an ardent Colors fan with as much information as possible," Srivastava elaborates.

    The question which hits our mind is whether the website delivers on the huge investment? Srivastava is very clear in his answer: "Yes, we are investing in it heavily. For a content heavy platform like Colors where we own most of the IP of our content, it‘s important to have own destinations and build traction for them from a long term perspective. YouTube, Facebook, twitter and other such platforms serve as media vehicles to best engage with our consumers and monetisation of our content, since most of these platforms have huge audience bases we put significant effort on them as well."

    Colors targets all social media platforms and also boasts of ‘web exclusive‘ content. All in all, it has done it all- from having an official Facebook page to an active twitter handle; from one of the largest YouTube portals to the very interactive colors.in.com

    Why so much of social networking? What was the driving force for this aggressive online strategy? The digital head reasons: "Viewers are viewing, sharing, blogging and tweeting TV content. Consumers are willing rather eager to engage with their favourite shows and characters outside the silver screen. We realise this need, these serve as great conversation starters and opinion builders. It's important that we are present wherever our consumers are seeking us, and wherever possible channelise conversations to positively impact the brands."

    An interesting aspect of GECs online is the apt usage of archived content. A lot of older episodes of popular properties as well as popular shows that have gone off air, get a considerable amount of traction. "Blockbuster content from any era gets traction, 1000 episodes down we still have viewers watching initial episode of Balika Vadhu and Uttaran. Obviously the shows on-air will get higher traction but there is always a market for classic content," adds Srivastava.

    Madhubala seems to set precedents for the rest of the fiction shows with more than 100 Facebook fan-driven pages

    In terms of genres, some non-fiction properties like Bigg Boss stand out because of the nature of the property and its ability to start conversations. But at an overall level both fiction and non-fiction gets equal traction.

    The virtual world of Colors is not restricted to your laptop and desktop, the channel has very impressively targeted mobile as well. It all began with the launch of the Bigg Boss app which allowed viewers to watch all that is happening inside the house at any given time. The 24/7 live streaming app became an instant success and got the Bigg Boss fanatics hooked to their cell phones.

    Today, Colors is taking the app world very seriously with the launch of the Jhalak app. This has a play along feature allowing the viewers to play real time along with the original telecast of the show. Apart from this, one can participate in quizzes about the show, vote for their contestants, watch videos, express your views on social platform etc all through one app.

    Srivastava further explains: "People today are using multiple screens – laptops, smart phones, tablets etc and multiple platforms – the video sites, the social networks, Apps, Games etc to access content. Although, the numbers are small especially when compared to the reach TV as a medium provides, however the growth and engagement the medium provides is phenomenal."

    Does he see then a profound shift from desktops to tablets very soon? "Tablets and mobiles are becoming important as the second screen, however the consumption is varied, most of video consumption is catch-up in case you have missed an episode or a highpoint," he further adds: "The bigger hook is exclusive content, viewers want to interact with their favourite stars, know more about their off screen personalities, behind the scenes, news, views, interactions, sometimes even spoilers. We ensure both these are present in equal proportion on our digital platforms."

    Episode videos are uploaded within 2 hours of the telecast. Popular shows get more than 80000 average video views per episode

    On that note, one has to but, wonder about this new-found lucrative source of revenue for the channel. How does the channel use this space in order to monetise? Srivastava reveals: "For a broadcaster, advertising and subscription revenues still contribute the maximum. However, revenues from digital platform have been exhibiting significant growth. Majority chunk of the revenue still comes from Linear and VOD content, then there is WAP, Voice, Gaming etc all of which exhibit positive numbers if you have the right offering."

    In that case, is it time that GECs start taking the digital platform seriously from the revenue generation point of view? "Without commenting on the numbers the digital revenues have been showcasing a healthy growth YOY and as penetration of internet and accessibility to smart devices increases over the next few years we anticipate a bullish trend."

    Television broadcasting is going through a metamorphosing phase, what with the TAM rating fiasco and the impending AD cap regulation. Talks about reducing dependence on advertising revenues is becoming the part of every discussion. In such a scenario, is there a possibility of subscription revenues from this rapidly growing online medium? "The Subscription market on both Internet and mobile is evolving. As models become stronger and penetration increases subscription revenues will start contributing more," states Srivastava.

    All in all, Colors has definitely created an everlasting place for itself on the digital platform. Who are these who have created this dynamic virtual reality? On prodding Srivastava answers: "We have full fledged team looking after content creation, SEO, SEM for all platforms – social media, Colors website, Internet and mobile."

    Whoever you knight in shining armours are, you have surely left an imprint in this ever evolving online space. Way to go!

  • Life OK’s Sunday programming experiment

    Life OK’s Sunday programming experiment

    Attention! An experiment is about to hit Indian televisionscreens come Sunday 23 June. If you‘ve not been switching on your television set on Sunday morns or noons for want of there being any original programming – apart from movies, and have had enough of watching singing and dancing shows in the evenings, then Life OK may be your new destination this weekend.

    Bringing a new kind of programming, extending its spheres, Life OK promises uninterrupted entertainment 12 noon to 12 midnight (baara – se – baara) on 23 June. Life Ok general manager Ajit Thakur is bracing himself for this Sunday gamble…

    But is this attempt a first of its kind? A recap of Sunday programming tells us that there was a time in India, a couple of decades ago; when streets were deserted owing to the single channel king Doordarshan and its strong Sunday programming. Flashing forward from the era of a single channel universe, leading general entertainment channels (GECs) like Star Plus and more recently, Colors have also encroached this territory.

    While Star struck an emotional chord with the nation by launching the very successful Aamir Khan anchored social show Satyameva Jayate, Colors had started airing non-fiction award shows in the early afternoon, followed by a movie screening and concluding it with a soft scripted drama cum reality show- Zindagi Ki Haqeeqat Se Aamna Saamna. Zee TV has Ramayan, a mythology show in the morning slot which, however, is not living up to audience’s expectations.

    Yet, generation of 12 hours full of fresh content is somewhat a brave initiative by Star Plus’s sister GEC.

    Life OK, over the past couple of weeks has grown steadily in terms of GRPs (though it shed GRPs in week 24). The weekend slot of the channel is grabbing more and more eye balls with each passing week. With this as an opportunity, Life OK thought of going all the way and see if it works.

    Life OK GM Ajit Thakur is taking a punt with his baara – se – baara initiative on this Sunday (23 June)

    Thakur states: “I am quite delighted with the way we have received responses from the viewers over the past couple of weeks. Talking about 12pm to 12am, on weekends, we have found a bit of a gold mine as people are available throughout the day. Unlike other markets, in LC1 markets there is a lot of viewership happening. Everybody is doing show launches and wants to target between 8pm – 12am time slots so we thought to bring a change by extending our programming which has not been done by anybody till now.”

    The channel aims to own this Sunday with a combination of crime, terror, mythology programming. Audiences will get to see Savdhaan movie- part 2, which is going to be much more informative and different from the first one.

    New reality series on the list include Police dial 100, a new innovation where the channel crew will accompany the Delhi cops, running behind them, observing how they solve the cases and recording them. The reality show, produced by Endemol, will occupy a double slot along with the Savdhaan movie -Part 2. The channel had already shot 10 episodes of the show at the time of writing.

    The channel will also air fresh episodes of Mahadev and Shapat.

    More on the entertainment side, Life OK also plans to air a special Bollywood movie to garner more eyeballs.

    “Let’s raise the ambition with maha – thriller weekend baara – se – baara.” asserts Thakur when asked why he chose particularly Sunday and not Saturday as part of his weekend programming. “Saturday in terms of viewership, is not that high as Sunday. Besides, a large chunk of India works on Saturday’s and it‘s a humongous task for me to ask my team and my producers to do such a hectic programming, as 12 hours is a lot of time.”

    What is rather disappointing is the fact that this unique 12 hour programming is slated only for the coming Sunday. Thakur reasons: “To be frank, we want to test it first, this is the trail run. I wanted advertiser’s feedback and we attained success when we did 6am -6pm on 2 June. We received good responses in terms of viewership and advertisers as well. So we thought of further strengthening it by bringing baara – se – baara and I am sure we will get good responses for this as well. And when we do might it make it a regular initiative at least once a month.”

    The channel plans to promote the weekend initiative largely in the coming three days. However, the focus will be more on promoting across social media platforms rather than on-ground activities. Its management plans to leave no stone unturned to make its presence felt on digital media by targeting fan driven pages and profiles of their flagship shows likeMahadev and Savdhaan. To top it all, the channel is also buying air time on other channels, out of which, the promotion will be huge on Star network channels while few news channels and youth-based channels are also being approached.

    When asked what makes Life OK and Star Plus different in terms of content and programming Thakur says: “Star plus targets women in the household a lot more and that has always been Star’s strength. On the other hand, Life OK targets the whole family. In terms of content, Star talks about aspirations and about new Indian relationships whereas Life OK deals with crime, mythology, terror, spirituality and cops. Star Plus talks about relationships between Nanad – Bhabhi and new thinking and that is why ‘nayi soch’ whereas Life OK talks about today’s reality of life through our stories and what makes life OK on a daily basis. Life OK tries to inspire people by picking up serious social topics.”

    Further elaborating on the fact that this Sunday is an experiment, Thakur shares: “For us it is the experiment to change the rules of the game. I always have the support of Uday Shankar (Star India CEO) and Sanjay Gupta (Star India COO). And yes it is a big risk I am taking as nobody has gone into 12 hours of programming. Some would say wow great… while some would say it is too much. While, everybody is giving repeats to the audiences and we are giving original programming. What is more important for us is how our viewers will react to it.”

    Vivaki Exchange CEO Mona Jain says the experiment should do well for Life OK

    But will this trial run work for the channel? Vivaki Exchange CEO Mona Jain asserts: “There are many channels which are plugging in for reality shows on Sunday’s. Life OK is taking a good initiative by coming up with 12-hours of programming to create more impact with the audiences at large, where most of the people are at home resting. Mahadev and Savdhaanare high property shows and are taking the same route that is weekend slots, making it easy for them to spot on the ratings. And people who are loyal audiences of Life OK will watch these shows no matter what. Thus I am quite sure that this kind of experimentation should do well.”

    We, along with team Life OK, wait with anxious eagerness to know the result of this experiment…