Tag: Karan Wahi

  • Arré’s first digital sitcom ‘I Don’t Watch TV’ to launch in March

    Arré’s first digital sitcom ‘I Don’t Watch TV’ to launch in March

    MUMBAI: UDigital’s digital media brand Arré, which is co-founded by Ronnie Screwvala, B. Saikumar and Ajay Chacko, is all set to launch a wild comedy on the evolving TV entertainment industry in March this year. 

    The trailer of the web series titled I Don’t Watch TV was launched on YouTube on 11 February, while the five episodic weekly series will kick-start in March on YouTube as well as on Arré.

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the show is produced by Nakul Mehta’s Timbuktu Films and features other eminent actors from the industry like Drashti Dhami, Karan Wahi, Karan Patel, Rithvik Dhanjani, Kritika Kamra, Rajeev Masand, Disha Parmar, Aneri Vajani, Riddhi Dogra, Mishkat Verma, Mukesh Chhabra and Sana Sheikh in never seen before avatars.

    The link of the trailer is: 

    Directed by Ajay Singh, the show gives a close personal look at the daily soap’s world through Mehta’s eyes.

    When contacted, actor turned producer Mehta voiced, “I Don’t Watch TV is something that I have enjoyed working for. I wanted to share this with the audiences for a long time as it is personal and quite intense in a lot of ways. The show has its own language and will cater to its own audience. I produced it because I would love to watch such content. Television makes you laugh at their expense while on digital you can laugh at your expense, which is what makes me happy about the fact that IDWT is going on a platform like Arré.”

    According to information available with this website, the show’s per episode cost is approximately in the region of Rs 16-18 lakh.

    When asked about the new show, Arré co-founder Ajay Chacko added, “The need of the hour is social relevance and we not only churn out radical content but also play around with it within the social context. The show features extremely talented actors who have the advantage of taking up adventurous content with more experimental characterisation. This is new content with new talent. Digital gives you the opportunity to create different tones of content, be experimental and maybe also give form to the next big cliché. We don’t think we want to move to TV with this type of content; we are comfortable with what we have.”

    Arré had also launched a digital reality show, based on the Israeli format Re-Gender with the same name in India exploring the relationship between the sexes. The series was a social experiment that broke down the rules of gender perception and stereotypes defined by the society and the challenges faced.

    With a possibility of a second season of I Don’t Watch TV, the digital media company also has three more web series in the pipeline, which will be rolled out in the next couple of months.

  • Colors to strengthen weekend programming with ‘Comedy Nights Bachao’

    Colors to strengthen weekend programming with ‘Comedy Nights Bachao’

    MUMBAI: All India Bakchod’s (AIB) roasting session might have raised many controversies earlier this year, but it did introduce India to a new kind of comic genre – ‘insult comedy.’ And now popular Hindi GEC is ready to take up the challenge of bringing this genre to national television through a new show called Comedy Nights Bachao, which is an extension of the Comedy Nights franchise.

     

    Produced by Optimystix, the show will take jibes at famous and infamous celebrity guests at the hands of actor-comedian jodis through acid-tongued humour. The funny panel of comic assassins will descend on television screens from 5 September, every Saturday at 10 pm on Colors.

     

    Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, They say comedy is a serious business and we have realised it is indeed a serious one. As a progressive channel we keep a tab on the evolving taste of our viewers and thus have identified the various elements of hilarity that makes them tick. Through Comedy Nights Bachao, we are foraying into a new genre of comedy, which is getting extremely popular. With this new brand of humor, we hope to redefine the comedy genre altogether.”

     

    Every week Comedy Nights Bachao will bring together celebrity guests whose feelings, personality traits will be ripped apart through tongue-in-cheek punch-lines, poking fun at their personal lives and public image. The roasting burns will be served by comic crusaders teamed together as five jodis – Krushna Abhishek, Sudesh Lahiri and Sara Khan; Bharti Singh, Karan Wahi and Pritam Singh; Anita Hassanandani and Mubeen; Shruti Seth and Shakeel Siddiqui; and Pooja Bose and Naseem Vicky.

     

    Elaborating on the show’s format, Colors programming head Manisha Sharma said, “There is a whole new rapidly-developing genre of insult comedy, which has been grabbing eyeballs lately. Through Comedy Nights Bachao, we are looking forward to curate a daring enterprise adding a new dimension of wit. We will be putting an eclectic mix of celebrity guests in the spotlight as actor-comedian jodis target them with carefully put together comic gags while raising the laughter quotient on a weekly basis.”

     

    Optimystix Entertainment India producer Vipul D Shah added, “Distinctive and sustained comedy is our strength at Optimystix. Comedy Nights Bachao is a unique show and will prove to be an extremely entertaining one.”

  • Nach Baliye 6 partners with Twitter to engage audience

    Nach Baliye 6 partners with Twitter to engage audience

    MUMBAI: Keeping up with its legacy of introducing innovative digital initiatives, Star Plus has got into an exclusive association with Twitter India to introduce the Nach Baliye Twitter Mirror.

    The Twitter Mirror is a high engagement tool which has been used for some of the biggest global television events like the Academy Awards and the Grammys. Now, Nach Baliye will become the first ever TV show for which the Twitter Mirror will be used.

    The Nach Baliye Twitter Mirror is going to be a permanent installation on the sets of Nach Baliye that will be aired from tomorrow on Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm on Star Plus, and will give all the celebrities of the show a chance to get clicked through the Twitter Mirror, and then automatically tweet that picture. 

    With this, the fans will get a chance to sneak in to the lives of the celebrity contestants who are participating in the show. The Mirror will capture some of the candid and interesting moments between the real life celebrity couples and also the judges on the show. In order to make the entire experience seamless and complete, the celebrities will also be shown getting them clicked on the Mirror during few episodes of the show Nach Baliye – Parde Ke Peechey.

    Talking about this initiative, Star India SVP marketing and programming strategy Nikhil Madhok said: “Over the last couple of years one has seen the emergence of the second screen as an important platform for television content. Star Plus realises the great engagement possibilities this offers, and also understands how a differentiated offering for the second screen can help deepen bonds with our viewers. The Nach Baliye Twitter Mirror comes from this philosophy, and we are extremely happy to work with Twitter India to bring this great innovation for the first time for a television show.”

    India market for Twitter head Rishi Jaitly added: “Twitter is the world’s leading real-time information network where users follow, share and experience content that is live, public and conversational. In India, Twitter brings audiences closer to the people and organisations they care about, including television shows, stars and moments. We are pleased to see Star Plus embracing Twitter and the Twitter Mirror during Nach Baliye to engage and grow its audience in authentic ways.”

    Produced by Frames Productions, Nach Baliye 6 is hosted by Gautam Rode and Karan Wahi. It brings together 11 celebrity jodis in a season that is touted to be the boldest and edgiest ever.

  • Star Plus readies return of Nach Baliye after 3 years

    MUMBAI: Star Plus is bringing back one of its most popular shows, Nach Baliye, after a gap of three years.

    Star has roped in Vaseline as the presenting sponsor for the fifth season of the big-ticket reality hunt property.

    Nach Baliye will have 11 real-life television celebrity couples fighting it out in the dance floor to win the favour of the audiences as well as judges.

    Starting 29 December, the show will air every Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm. At present, the channel airs two of its fiction shows in this time zone.

    The show will compete against Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Colors’ Bigg Boss 6 and Sony Entertainment Television’s Kaun Banega Crorepati-6.

    Mindshare principal partner- client leadership Anita Kotwani feels there might be a fragmentation of audiences, but Nach Baliye has an opportunity to do well as it has no direct competition . “The show has a legacy in its favour and the format is unique as it is all about the chemistry between real life couples. Also, there are currently no other dance shows on air. So it does not face any direct competition with the other reality content in that sense. However, the other reality show formats are established properties and have their share of fan following. So it will be interesting to see how it goes, ” she says.

    ZenithOptimedia SVP Navin Khemka also expects Nach Baliye to deliver. “Star Plus is coming up with a reality show after a long time. Since Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa did decently well, we are expecting Nach Baliye to work well too. And though it will compete with Bigg Boss and KBC initially, both of them will go off-air. So the slot has good prospects,” he says.

    Nach Baliye will end just before Indian Premier League starts. “So it’s a good option for brands and we are looking at investing in the property,” avers Khemka.

    The show will be produced by Frames Production Company and hosted by Karan Wahi and Gautam Rode. It will be judged by Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Sajid Khan and Terrence Lewis.

    The essence of the show is that when a husband and wife join hands to forge a partnership of equals, the power of the duo becomes unbeatable.

    Comments Star Plus general manager Nachiket Pantvaidya, “Star Plus has been a pioneer in introducing innovative non-fiction formats on Indian Television. Nach Baliye, as a property, has always been very popular with the viewers and we are confident that its return on a exciting and bigger scale will be something they will really enjoy. Weekends are all set to get more entertaining with the return of Nach Baliye.”

    The contestants of Nach Baliye 5 include Rahul and Dimpy; Jay and Mahhi; Kushal and Elena; Deepshikha and Kaishav; Ravi and Sargun; Suhasi and Jaisheel; Amar and Charlie; Shefali and Parag; Smita and Ankush; Karan and Nisha; and Arvind and Neelu.