ITV

Tag: Miditech

  • Vinay Kalia takes centre stage at Fremantle, joins as head production

    Vinay Kalia takes centre stage at Fremantle, joins as head production

    MUMBAI: Vinay Baldev Kalia, a production heavyweight with nearly three decades of experience, is back in the Fremantle fold, taking on the role of head of production for India. After a brief stint as a freelance production executive, Kalia has returned to the very place where he previously held the same title, promising to bring his production skills to the forefront.

    Kalia’s career reads like a who’s who of Indian television, with stints at Balaji Telefilms, Miditech, Optimystix Entertainment, and, of course, Fremantle itself. He’s been the production maestro behind some of India’s biggest shows, including Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul, and numerous daily soaps that have kept viewers glued to their screens.

    His LinkedIn profile is a testament to his extensive skill set, boasting expertise in everything from project coordination and financial planning to team building and vendor management. With a track record that spans both fiction and non-fiction, Kalia is a seasoned pro in the cut-throat world of Indian television production.

  • Miditech’s Pria Alva films Mangalyaan’s journey for Nat Geo

    Miditech’s Pria Alva films Mangalyaan’s journey for Nat Geo

    MUMBAI: Detailed interviews, extensive research, narrations, advanced animation and modeling will orchestrate Miditech executive director Pria Somiah Alva’s documentary on India’s Mars triumph Mangalyaan. The successful landing of Mangalyaan drove Alva to document the voyage.

     

    “India is the first country to succeed in the first attempt and just news headlines were not enough to describe such a great journey. So we decided to film a documentary on the entire journey,” Alva tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    The research started in 2014 when Alva and her associate director Shivani Muthanna approached the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the proposition. ISRO’s reaction was fascinating for Alva and her team at Miditech. “Normally private bodies don’t get permission to film in ISRO, it’s always Doordarshan. But we got superior cooperation from them and we accessed many important properties of the research organisation,” says Alva.

     

    The project was commissioned by National Geographic Channel and will be aired on 5 November, 2015 – exactly two years after the entire mission was actually successful.

    Working on a tight budget, Alva and her team did the best they could with the means available to them for the Mangalyaan documentary.

     

    With ISRO’s nod, Miditech received access to archival footage, which Alva used in the documentary to explain the journey. “This is a post launch documentary so we had to narrate and create the dramatics of how it all came together and happened. In the documentary we have used archival footage as well as some live footage, which we shot,” informs Alva.

     

    The camera that was attached with the spaceship only had features of clicking imageries of its surroundings and not itself. Hence there were no images available of the scientific vehicle that travelled the distance and that’s where Alva made use of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).

    “We went for CGI, special effects and 3D modelling to give viewers an idea of how it was. We imagine the space vehicle to be a something humongous in size, but in reality it’s not even as big as an auto-rickshaw. We have left no stones unturned to make the images look as exquisite as possible,” Alva emphasises.

    Through the course of the hour long documentary, interviews with various stakeholder will narrate the on screen occurrences more often than not. However, wherever required, Andre Williams’ voice will chip in to educate the viewers.

     

    Alva had her share of memorable moments while directing the  documentary. Describing one of them she narrates, “I has asked the ISRO spokesperson if there were any women involved in the entire journey. He replied saying please don’t ask us stupid questions. We are scientists and we do not discriminate between genders.”

     

    It is said “We be what we see” and hence it was important to showcase women involvement. When asked if there are substantial presence of women in the documentary, Alva says, “We will see the Eves working in the background throughout the documentary, be it navigations, communications or in any other depertments their presence is prominent. Moreover, we have a few women in the list of people that we interviewed. We did not interview them because they are women but because of their noteworthy role in the success.”

     

    When a documentary is created on scientific projects, it becomes a presentation, which only people with immense knowledge in the field can interpret. And therein lay the biggest challenge for Alva and her team. Making the documentary easy to follow for people with basic knowledge of the happenings and at the same time factually correct and scientifically perfect was what kept Alva and her team on their toes.

    “We have kept it in such a way that people from across the stream can understand and enjoy the documentary. The dramatics will get people involved with the documentary and we have engineered a suitable sound to back that,” she informs.

    In recent times people flocked to the theatres in India when Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity were screened. Now it remains to be seen how the nation reacts to this one of a kind documentary – Mangalyaan – filmed on a one of a kind voyage marking India’s first venture into the interplanetary space.

  • Reliance Broadcast Network strengthens team with four key hires

    Reliance Broadcast Network strengthens team with four key hires

    MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has strengthend its team with four new hires.

     

    Manoj Lalwani has been named RBNL network chief marketing officer, whereas Renuka Iyer has joined as network sales & distribution head for RBNL.

     

    Additionally, Amita Srivastava has come on board as national head – account planning for RBNL, whereas Bimal Unnikrishnan has been roped in as creative director for Big Magic.

     

    Lalwani will spearhead the overall marketing function of the network including television and radio, while Iyer will be responsible for Network sales & distribution. Both will report to Reliance Broadcast Network Limited chief operating officer Ashwin Padmanabhan.    

     

    Strengthening the programming team, Unnikrishnan will oversee content creation for Big Magic. Srivastava in her new role will be responsible for account planning for the network.

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Limited CEO Tarun Katial said, “We are happy to have Renuka, Amita, Manoj and Bimal on board who bring with them a wealth of experience and immense knowledge in their respective domains. Together, we aim to create differentiated and unique offerings for our discerning audience. I am sure that the team will add to existing talent pool and will successfully drive the growth story of the group.”

     

    Lalwani was with VLCC Health Care as vice president – sales and marketing for South Asia,  prior to this.

     

    Spearheading the sales function in leadership positions across digital and traditional platforms for close to 15+ years,  Iyer has been associated with brands such as Zee News, Digital Radio Broadcasting Limited and Homeland Networks (USA). She worked with Zee News for 10 years where she was senior vice president (sales) and with Digital Radio Broadcasting Limited as national sales head before moving to Reliance Broadcast Network Limited.

     

    Unnikrishnan has been an integral part of the television industry with over 20 years of experience. He was senior creative director and a key member of the Dance India Dance franchise. Prior to joining Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, he worked with Big Productions as head of non-fiction. He has also had stints with UTV as senior creative director as well as with Miditech.

     

    With an experience of over 17 years in strategic media planning, Srivastava has managed communication solutions for brands across segments, from cosmetics and auto to finance and hospitality amongst others. Prior to joining RBNL, Srivastava was ZenithOptimedia vice president and was heading the Mumbai branch.

  • Star Plus set to change Sunday viewing with ‘Airlines’

    Star Plus set to change Sunday viewing with ‘Airlines’

    NEW DELHI: With an aim to strengthen its Sunday prime time band, Star Plus is treading a different path yet again. After making Sunday morning’s special for viewers by bringing home uncomfortable realities with Satyamev Jayate, the Hindi general entertainment channel is now looking at filling its prime time slots as well, but with differential programming.  

    Initially, when weekends meant only dominance of reality shows, the channel wanted to explore more in that space. And now after exploring various genres including saas-bahu syndrome and mythology with Mahabharat, it is ready to take to the skies with Airlines – Har Udaan Ek Toofan but with variations.

    Come 24 August and every Sunday 9pm, viewers will witness a story of a woman who dares to join the airline industry as first officer initially and ultimately becoming a pilot. Produced by Miditech, the series is penned for 26 episodes as of now and could see an increase in the number of episodes depending on the response from the audience.

    The channel has roped in Fortune cooking oil as the title sponsor, Havell’s as co-title sponsor and Ariel, the co-sponsor for the show. The associate sponsors are askmebazaar.com, Colgate Visible White, Maybelline, Parachute Advanced and Sofy Bodyfit.

    According to Star Plus SVP – marketing Nikhil Madhok, the series with title sponsor in Fortune cooking oil for standard definition (SD) feed and Forest Essentials for the HD feed is already profitable as it has been pre-sold.

    The programme marks the TV debut of Tulip Joshi who plays Ananya and VJ turned actor Yudishthir aka Yudi who will be seen essaying the role of Captain Akash. It has been penned by Advaita Kala, who also authored the movie Kahaani.

    Kala said that the concept is based on her own experiences of the way the modern urban woman is changing. Through the story, she wanted to show how a woman who has already entered a male-dominated world copes with it.

    Set in Delhi, the show features the journey of first officer Ananya Rawat who navigates through a world of gender discrimination and regressive attitudes embedded in the modern and glamorous aviation industry. In her quest to establish her identity, Ananya realises that there is more to this industry than just battling male attitudes as she comes across many hindrances that eventually make her a stronger person.

    Madhok believes that after delivering hits like Satyamev Jayate and Mahabharat, the channel with the new programme will be breaking the saas-bahu mould, showcasing a clear shift from the normal programming aired on all channels. The focus for the channel was on the role of a female in a male-dominated profession.

    The series is the first to have received permission to shoot inside the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal-3. From roping real pilots for tutoring actors to shooting at existing terminals, the makers and channel has put in their best to retain authenticity of the situations and incidents covered in the show. Since most of the sequences required the setting to be inside an aircraft, a special set modeled on Boeing 370 has been created.

    Miditech has also collaborated with Pixion to help recreate the world in the skies with its unparalleled proficiency in computer graphics and visual effects.

    But why make it into a once-a-week show? Answers Madhok, “It is because of the huge work involved in creating each episode.” According to industry sources, while a normal Hindi daily soap production cost ranges anywhere between 6-8 lakh per episode, a series like this could cost around three times more than what a daily does.

    On the marketing front, the promos are already doing the rounds on 25 television channels. To attract the younger audiences, social media will be used in a big way to promote the property with integrations also with YouTube, Yahoo and MSN.

  • BBC Worldwide production head Roshan Dutt resigns

    BBC Worldwide production head Roshan Dutt resigns

    MUMBAI: Everybody remembers the face on the screen, but how many ever notice the sweat and toil that goes behind the camera?

     

    With more than 15 years of expertise in the field of production, BBC Worldwide Productions head of production Roshan Dutt has resigned from his current position.

     

    Dutt confirmed the development to indiantelevision.com and said that he will be serving his notice period till 18 July. He had put down his papers on 18 June.

     

    Dutt wants to take a break before he moves on to his next assignment. “I haven’t fixed up on anything yet. I will probably work as a consultant for some time. I want to do interesting work and move beyond the regular things which I have been doing.” Movie production houses are on his mind.

     

    He has shows like Indian Idol and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and many more to his credit. “Today with so much dominance from broadcasters, producers don’t get too much creative freedom but just end up executing what is told to them,” he adds.

     

    Dutt started his career with Channel V in 1999 as a production head OAP. He worked in the position for more than two years, after which he was elevated to senior production manager shows. He continued in that capacity till 2004. Later, he worked as a unit production manager at Miditech to execute Indian Idol season one for eight months.

     

    In 2005, he was appointed as a head of production at FremantleMedia, where he worked for a year and then joined Dong Tay, VAC, Vietnam as executive producer for nine months.

     

    Being with BBC Worldwide Productions for seven years, he believed it was time to move on and take up something which gives him the creative freedom.

  • ‘Welcome 2’ back with ‘zaikedar dilli’

    ‘Welcome 2’ back with ‘zaikedar dilli’

    MUMBAI: As things heat up in the national capital with the political parties battling it out for aam admi’s attention, Life OK’s second season of the reality show Welcome 2- Baazi Mehmaan Nawaazi is all set to add more spice to the existing drama!

    The ‘desi’ version of the international reality series, Come Dine with Me, will now explore the Delhi cuisine and culture with common man, this time around.

    Unlike the first season which was hosted by actor Ram Kapoor, this one will be sans a host and celebrities. The previous season featured actors hosting dinner at their places and will bring together a bunch of New Delhi-based strangers from different walks of life. They will be seen bonding over food, entertainment and ‘mehmaan nawaazi’ (hospitality) with one specific theme each week.

    Produced by Miditech, the series started from 17 March and is aired every week Monday to Friday at 10:00 pm and will run for eight weeks.

    India Gate Basmati Rice continues to be the presenting sponsor of the show. Moreover, the channel has roped in Pantene 6 Oil Nourish as the powered by sponsor.

    The reason behind having no host this time around is, the makers wanted to focus on the five contestants. “This time we just wanted to focus on the five contestants each week. The show concentrates on Dilwalon Ki Dilli, the melting pot of cultures offered with a dash of masala, drama and entertainment. This season is all about laughter, food, excitement, drama and different personalities,” echoes Miditech co-founder Niret Alva.

    Fifteen episodes have been canned till now. The makers and the channel believe that it is going to be a fun ride. Celebrities are expected to come in but much later. “This time we are keeping this season more on the lines of the international format. Some celebs will definitely join in every now and then to pep up the drama and entertainment quotient, but that will come much later,” reveals Alva.

    Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur expounds: “It is our endeavor to introduce clutter-breaking content and our reality shows are always served with a twist. As five contestants from culturally diverse backgrounds come together, the show moves away from the run of the mill kitchen politics and takes you into the actual kitchen conversations.”

    Alva revealed that selecting the contestants was very tough. “We were looking for the characters from different walks of life. We needed permissions to invade their homes. Apart from this, we also needed the contestants for five days without even telling them what’s going around.”

    In its first season, the show aired from 21 January to 23 March 2013. There were nine groups that involved 45 celebrities, with five celebrities featuring in the show every week.

    While the channel has pinned high hopes on this series, whether they will succeed it or not is a different story altogether. Says a highly placed media planner (name withheld on request): “The channel has been innovating and launching new shows time and again to sustain viewership and maintain numbers. But according to me, they should not try content which has not worked for them in the past. The first season did not work well for the channel and that was the clear indication that audiences are not interested in such content.”

    The media planner further goes on to say that: “To fill the vacant slot, they could have extended the shows which are doing well for the channel like Mahadev and Shapath. This strategy would have got them a few numbers.”

  • Miditech goes global for NGC

    Miditech goes global for NGC

    MUMBAI: Production house Miditech is getting more ambitious in its vision to rise to the top. It will make three documentaries for National Geographic.
     

    What is unique however is that unlike their previous show Leopards Of Bollywood the three upcoming projects will be shot across the globe.
     

    Speaking to Indiantekevision.com, Miditech CEO Nikhil Alva said, “This is a part of the documentary production fund programme that National Geographic has with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). The aim is to fund documentary filmmakers from across the Asian region. 330 entries were received. Out of this 28 were short listed. 12 ideas were then chosen.”

    “We were the only company that is doing more than one film. We will be shooting the films in US, Australia, South Africa. Another film will be shot in China. With this we are looking to take the next leap in terms of production values and scale. This competition is in its third year. The first year we had done Operation Hot Pursuit,” he added.
     

    Alva added that what gave Miditech the edge over the competition was the fact that their international ideas were unique. “In our presentation we also lucidly explained how the programmes would appeal to National Geographic’s global audience.
     

    “These shows will have an Indian element but the bulk of the work will be done outside. They will air on the channel across the world next year. So while we are an Indian company we want to send out the message that we are equally capable of making high quality products for the global market.”
     

    Alva said that one programme for National Geographic Witchcraft has just been completed. This will air in the December-January period. The other companies that have been selected by National Geographic and the EDB include APV Media (Singapore), India’s Asoka Raina Productions and Southern Star Entertainment (Singapore).
     

    The closing date for the contest was 30 August 2004. 16 Asian countries had sent in entries. The chosen entries will have a potential viewership of 220 million homes.

    NGC Intl executive VP production Bryan Smith, said, “This is the third year that National Geographic Channels International is working with local producers. The quality of entries has improved over the years. We are very pleased with the high standard of these documentary proposals received for the third season. 
     

    “We will continue to groom and raise the bar of the Asian filmmaking community to produce exceptional documentary programs for the global audience. Great stories told by Asian documentary producers will present new angles to our understanding of the world. “
     

    Similar to the first two seasons, a National Geographic documentary workshop will be organised for the winners to learn first-hand experience and insights about the makings of National Geographic programmes.
  • Miditech’s Shaitaan unveils a story on the vicious circle of superstitions

    Miditech’s Shaitaan unveils a story on the vicious circle of superstitions

    NEW DELHI: Miditech’s crime series on Colors, Shaitaan – A criminal mind, is now coming up with a special episode on the vicious circle of superstitions, where a man’s belief drives him to an extent of murdering an innocent girl.

     

    Hosted by the popular TV actor Sharad Khelkar the episode will be telecast on 22 June.

     

    Miditech CEO Nikhil Alva said, “Every weekend we try to bring forward the kind of crime cropping in our country and what people are facing or are the victim of. This week we are showcasing another frightening episode on superstitious belief. One very important reason, why individuals turn out to be a victim of superstition is the fear of failure or the anxiety about the outcome. Our upcoming episode on 22 June would telecast one such heinous crime.”

     

    TV Actor and the Show Host Sharad Khelkar, said on his association with Shaitaan, “With every episode, I come closer to the realities of life which most of the people are not aware of. Shaitaan captures people’s attention by making them aware of the harsh realities of life and how one should be a responsible citizen. While shooting for this episode, it was shocking to believe that even in the 21st century, there are people who believe in a number of omens, perform a number of ceremonies to achieve their ends.”

     

    The episode that will be showcased this weekend 22 June portrays the story of a superstitious man, who blindly follows a Swamiji. Advised by him, the man forces the girl, who is almost his daughter’s age, to marry him. The story revolves around how desperately the man tries to convince the innocent girl that leads to a murder.

  • Chintamani Rao to replace Sunil Lulla as Times Now CEO

    Chintamani Rao to replace Sunil Lulla as Times Now CEO

    MUMBAI: Chintamani Rao has been appointed CEO of Times Global Broadcasting – Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd’s broadcast arm that owns and operates English news channel Times Now.

    Rao replaces Sunil Lulla, who has resigned as of Thursday and is joining production house and soon to be broadcaster Miditech.

    When contacted, Rao would only say, “I will reveal my plans within the next four weeks.”

    Times Group officials were unavailable for comment at the time of filing this report.

    It was last Friday that it was announced that Rao had resigned from the post of CEO of Rajat Sharma’s Independent News Service (INS), which owns and operates Hindi news channel India TV. A media industry veteran with over 30 years in the business, Rao joined India TV in September 2005 from Universal McCann Integrated Communications, where he was president.

  • Reebok XI vs Cricket Star XI battle it out on ‘Cricket Star’

    Mumbai: Miditech’s ‘Cricket Star’ is blazing into its 7th week of the 20:20 series. The new finds will face the Reebok XI team on Tuesday, Feb 20th at MIG Club, Bandra. The Reebok XI are no ordinary team. In fact, they include stalwarts like Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel and Robin Uthappa.

    Says Nikhil Alva, C.E.O, Miditech, “At each stage the competition is getting tougher, but this round is the real test for the budding cricketers. It would be a real eye opener and help the ‘aam aadmi’ to decide who India’s first ‘Cricket Star’ should be! “.

    The show has a run of 11 weeks, with tri-weekly episodes on Zee Sports and DD National and a weekly episode on Zee TV. While former captains and cricketing icons Kapil Dev and Saurav Ganguly are judging the players, snazzy Ajay Jadeja is shining as the expert analyst.

    The show has been gaining popularity ever since thousands of aspirants auditioned during the nationwide screening for ‘Cricket Star’. 23 participants made it to the final round and found a place in the Cricket Star Academy, Mumbai. Spread over 10 weeks, the training process has seen an exclusive panel including stalwarts like Robin Singh, Praveen Amre, Abey Kuruvilla and Zubin Bharucha, work on these aspiring cricketers whose life at the Academy is action-packed and includes intense daily training, customized cricketing tests and ‘Master Classes’, conducted by former players as famous as Geoffrey Boycott, Monty Panesar, Mahela Jayawardene, V.V.S. Laxman and Dilip Vengsarkar.

    At the end of an intense and grueling 11 weeks and 33 episodes, India’s first Cricket Star will be selected. The take away? An all expenses paid one-year contract with the reputed Leicestershire County Cricket Club besides other cash prizes.