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Tag: mithai

  • Zee TV to air new show ‘Mithai’ on 4 April

    Zee TV to air new show ‘Mithai’ on 4 April

    Mumbai: Zee TV is set to telecast a new fiction show “Mithai” starting 4 April at 7 p.m, every Monday to Saturday. Produced by Arvind Babbal Productions, the show is set against the backdrop of Mathura.

    The lead role is played by actor Debatamma Saha, who essays the titular character. The male lead opposite her is actor Aashish Bhardhwaj. The show will take viewers into the by-lanes of small town named Jatipura, where barely four shops exist today that prepare a unique traditional sweet called ‘Aloo Jalebi’ which is served as the ‘Mahaprasad’ at the Mukharvindh Temple. “The show is an amalgamation of a love story and a family drama tied together inside a box of traditional Indian sweets,” said the statement. 

    The title track of the show is sung by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contestant Sanjana Bhat.

    “With ‘Mithai’ we want to infuse our early primetime with the positivity of this vivacious girl from Jatipura who wants to spread smiles with her late father’s unique traditional recipe of Aloo Jalebis,” said Zee TV business head Aparna Bhosle. “Her journey of building a relationship with her husband who deeply resents the very concept of sweets will be an intriguing story for the audiences to follow. We have shot extensively in Mathura to capture the true cultural essence and the authentic backdrop of our narrative. We look forward to yet another successful collaboration with writer-producer Arvind Babbal with the show.”

    “After presenting audiences with a heart-warming narrative like ‘Kyun Rishton Mein KattiBatti, our next show with Zee TV revolves around a girl from Jatipura who wants to spread joy through her late father’s traditional recipe of Aloo Jalebis, a legacy she refuses to let go of,” said producer Arvind Babbal. “To authentically bring alive the cultural backdrop of the show, we have a lot of crew and cast members from the region and that has helped infuse our narrative with a lot of cultural nuances. We have recently completed an extensive outdoor schedule in Mathura.”

  • This Diwali should I gift Chocolates or Mithai?

    This Diwali should I gift Chocolates or Mithai?

    All of us know that as Diwali is nearing there is always a debate; should I gift Chocolates or mithai at home, to my friends and my business partners. It’s been a tradition that every part of India celebrates this great festival of lights by sharing joy and happiness with sweets. But over a period of time as the new generation has entered this world there has also been a marginal deviation in the thinking when it comes to gifting and sharing sweets during diwali. This is partially because of the strategy adopted by many chocolate brands (which include homemade chocolate brands and products from the big MNC’s) who have entered this market to capture some share of the mithai market during this great festival across India. Let’s look at some key differentiators between the two.

     

    1.      Traditional & Emotional: Diwali is a festival which has lot of history and tradition which date backs to many years.  Most of them love to preserve the values of traditions connected with sweets made and prepared at home. These traditionally prepared sweets bring in plenty of love and emotional expressions when they are exchanged with your relatives, family members and friends. While the promotional campaigns of many chocolate brands try to bring the emotions through their advertising but they are not able to capture the real essence that a mithai is able to deliver. Every ingredient that goes into a mithai has that warmth and emotional connection with the audience which touches his or her heart.

     

    2.      Wider Choice: There is no limit when you think of preparing mithai. Since mithai is very meticulously prepared by hand the touch of authenticity further enhances its taste, which is missing in chocolates though some brands try to use some special ingredients to come closer to the mithai. The good old parents and grandparents always relish the wider choice that one has when it comes to mithai. The natural ingredients have more positive impression as compared to the artificial flavors.

     

    3.      Pricing v/s Presentation: Mithai’s are still easily affordable as the prices are not so steep. You have a larger choice to pick from. You can taste it at the sweet shop before you decide to buy your preferred mithai.  And when you prepare it at home you can use genuine ingredient to make it healthier, tasty and less expensive. This is not true with Chocolates but when it comes to Corporate gifting due to its attractive packaging and presentation Chocolates scores over the mithai.

     

    4.      Innovative & Delicious: One can experiment lot of innovation while preparing a Mithai and that has been the hallmark of traditional sweets. One of the most popular items that have caught over the years has been the mithai for health conscious audience. This is prepared from quality dry fruits which are preferred over the chocolates by many diabetics as chocolates are perceived to be more rich and sweet. But chocolates have a larger shelf life compared to mithai and therefore it has an added advantage as compared to mithai when gifting to the corporate and sending it out of station through couriers, to far off friends.

     

    Both chocolates and mithais have their merits and demerits when it comes to sharing and gifting during diwali. But with the change in the audience pattern there is a different point of view between the two. While mithai has still stuck to the core values of maintaining the traditional image but the chocolates has wooed the new generation audience with their product and packaging to explore chocolates instead of mithai every diwali and every other festive season.

     

    Let us wait and watch the various marketers in this category are planning and what would be their strategy to woo the mithai audience.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Ganapathy Viswanathan, who is an independent communication consultant with over two decades of experience in branding, communication and public relations, and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views.)