MUMBAI: With high ambitions and the passion to reach the top, Life OK EVP and general manager Ajit Thakur, plans to achieve it all sans the sure-to-succeed saas-bahu soaps. “Though Life OK is not the staple diet of viewers, but whenever they want something different, they are most welcome,” he says.
After exploring crime, thriller, domestic violence through its shows, the channel is ready to tap the genre, which Thakur believes is not much explored in India – comedy.
Christened ‘Comedy Classes’, it promises to add a smile on the face of its viewers by taking them back to the classroom. Produced by Optimystix, the new show is a sitcom about an acting school called ‘Ache Din Institute’ with a crazy bunch of teachers and students.
The class consists of mad teachers such as Krushna, the flamboyant, flirtatious and artful acting coach who is a struggling actor himself and does odd jobs for a living. Bharti plays the dance instructor, whose contemporaries include Saroj Khan and Farah Khan. She has invented her own moves and grooves like Bharti-Natyamand Gambra (a mix of garba and bhangra).
The ‘Kanjus’ but romantic old music master Sudesh who never misses a chance to mix two songs to create his ‘original’ compositions and the inimitable Urdu expert from Pakistan, Shakeel Siddiqui, who can speak no more than seven sentences in Urdu.
“We thought we will not make a sitcom with the unknowns, so we have got on-board the four best stand-up comedians to create a big impact,” says Thakur on the star cast.
Thakur informs that a recently-concluded survey conducted by the channel in Uttar Pradesh highlights that Indian men want more of comedy and crime. He believes that there is still so much one can do with the genre as today most channels only focus on either stand-up and drama comedy.
“We wanted to get the genre on board and we got a lot of ideas as well. But since most of them revolved around stand-up, we said no. We finally cracked the code and settled for a sitcom,” says Thakur while adding that 10 years ago sitcoms ruled the Indian television screens with shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001) and many more.
Optimystix producers Vipul D. Shah and Sanjiv Sharma are confident that with a strong creative idea and powerhouse of talent, audiences will love its new age classes. “Comedy Classes is a very entertaining concept of mad teachers and students who will bring the house down with laughter through their weird classroom sessions,” say the producers.
It won’t be all laughing business, the channel has taken it seriously and at the end of each episode, there will be a small goodness message delivered to the viewers.
The new series will air five days a week at 10 pm from 7 October. It will be facing tough competition with properties like Aur…Pyaar Ho Gaya (Zee TV), Pyar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara (Star Plus), Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi (Colors), Maharana Pratap (Sony Entertainment Television) and Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala (Sab).
Google India director marketing Sandeep Menon also launched YouTube’s first television commercial in India for comedy week.