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Tag: Mukesh Sharma

  • FTII students expected to meet MIB MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore

    FTII students expected to meet MIB MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore

    NEW DELHI: A meeting of the student leaders of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) with Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Rajyavardhan Rathore will be convened in the near future, according to information given to students today.

     

    The meeting is likely to be in Delhi, though no date has been fixed. Further discussions would depend on the outcome of this meeting, I&B sources told Indiantelevision.com.

     

    I&B secretary Sunil Arora, in a brief second round of discussions with the students in Mumbai took their opinion on proposals to make FTII an institution of excellence.

     

    The Ministry was represented by Joint Secretary (Films) Sanjay Murthy, Films Division director general Mukesh Sharma, FTII director Prashant Pathrabe and FTII eegistrar U C Bodke. The Students’ Association was represented by seven members and Aruna Raje Patil of GRAFTII.

     

    In the earlier round of negotiations with the FTII student leaders on 7 October, the Mukesh Sharma Committee had been set up to look into the issues of operational flexibility and procurement of equipment for FTII.  

  • MIB to examine FTII demand for greater financial powers

    MIB to examine FTII demand for greater financial powers

    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has agreed to examine a demand for an enhanced delegation of financial powers and flexibility in purchase of hardware etc to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in order to enable the students to do their creative work.

     

    Films Division director general Mukesh Sharma has been asked to study the demand and give his report within a fortnight.

     

    Following the end of the strike by FTII students after an assurance of meeting the MIB officials, a meeting was held in Mumbai today between representatives of FTII Students Association and the Ministry team headed by MIB secretary Sunil Arora.

     

    The students, under the coordination of Aruna Raje, who represented GRAFTII – a body of alumni of the institute – will submit a blue print within a fortnight for turning FTII into an institute of national excellence at par with reputed institutions across the world.

     

    The Ministry has already announced its intentions in this regard, but the students were told that their views would form a major input for taking this matter forward. 

     

    A second round of talks will be held with the Ministry delegation on 10 October in Mumbai. A request would also be made to MIB Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore to meet the students in Delhi in the near future.

     

    Apart from the Secretary, the Ministry was represented by Joint Secretary (Films) K Sanjay Murthy; Films Division director general Mukesh Sharma; FTII director Prashant Pathrabe and FTII registrar U C Bodke.

     

    The FTII Students’ Association was represented by Harishankar Nachimuthu, Ajayan Adat, Vikas Urs, Reema Kaur, Malayaj Awasthi, Ranjeet Nair and Shini J K.

  • Doordarshan re-hauls programming; to launch 5 new shows

    Doordarshan re-hauls programming; to launch 5 new shows

    MUMBAI: Independence Day will herald the launch of several new television serials on Doordarshan National with different shows across different genres. The pubcaster has lined up at least five new shows and will also be putting in a concerted effort to promote them across platforms. The move is seen as an attempt to regain eyeballs and also keep up with the changing taste of viewers.

     

    DD National ADG Deepa Chandra says, “Our aim behind the launch of fresh programming is to attain a renewed and appealing look. This time the prime time band is not just focused on women-oriented programmes, but also bringing shows of different genres in three phases to allure masses.”

     

    What makes these shows different from Doordarshan’s earlier programming is the quality of content. “The earlier shows were not a high value production. We are spending at least five times more than what we used to spend on these shows. Each program is going to cost us somewhere around Rs 8 – 8.5 lakh per episode, which is a big number for a public service broadcaster. However, our aim was to first concentrate on content, which will only come if we are willing to shell out good money. The presentation and the type of stories are also very different from what we have so far attempted,” shares Doordarshan Mumbai additional director general Mukesh Sharma.

    When it comes to marketing, Sharma admits that Doordarshan’s purse size is limited and the pubcaster cannot spend in the way privately owned entertainment channels do. “The marketing is mostly controlled from the Delhi Kendra, and they do have some idea. The fact remains that unless you have a sustained marketing effort, the results won’t show. You cannot have a thrust of marketing at the launch, which gradually dies out when the show progresses. So that is one of our concerns, which we plan to deal with. Another issue is that we are a public broadcaster, we cannot just hire anyone for our marketing efforts. There are tenders and quotations involved and after that I have to go for the lowest rates available. So there is a limitation as to what all we can try with our publicity,” points out Sharma.

    Having said that, Doordarshan has nonetheless put in place a planned and systematic effort for marketing its shows, starting with press conferences, hoardings and print media.

    “I have personally called at least eleven editors of print media and asked for their support in promoting our shows. And I plan on further promoting the shows through various other reality shows we host at DD Sahyadri. Apart from that, we are putting up hoardings across cities at the right places. We are trying to do radio publicity on FM channels and through the mediums available to Prasar Bharati,” informs Sharma.

    The five new shows come as breath of fresh air, and will be the first amongst the channel’s steps to re-haul its programming to suit the changing taste of viewers. The step is also an effort to redeem the channel’s falling position on the ratings chart.

    When asked whether the new shows were a conscious effort to boost its failing BARC ratings, Sharma says, “In a government organisation nothing can happen in a jiffy. We had plans to launch fresh content with good production value for a while now and after these five shows, more will follow. It is a mere coincidence that the shows are launching after a few weeks of the BARC ratings releasing.”

    Aimed at audience of a varied age group; from non-fiction talk show to romance drama series meant for the super prime time slot, the new shows comfortably fit to entertain both the young and old in a family.

    The story of the independence struggle is brought out through the story of Ranbheri, a newspaper that not only played a significant role in the freedom struggle in the 1940s but also joined the different voices of the freedom fighters who were slowly and stealthily working towards the overthrow of the tyrannical British Rule. The one hour show scheduled to start from 15 August at 8 pm, will be telecast on Saturdays and Sundays to tell the unheard stories of unsung heroes of the freedom struggle and how media had played a major role during the independence struggle in India.

    Starting from 16 August, DD National has scheduled a chat show called Koshish Se Qamyabi Tak at 10:30 am, to be telecast every Sunday, anchored by the veteran Kiran Juneja who herself got a major break in DD through Buniyaad. She will take viewers through a journey of the lives of cine stars, from their struggles to their successes. The stories would feature notable faces from Bollywood like Madhur Bhandarkar, Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurrana amongst others.

    This is followed by Dil Ko Aaj Fir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai from 17 August at 9 pm, Monday to Friday. The show is a soft, sentimental and tasteful love story of a small town girl from Patiala and a city bred boy who meet through a musical reality show where the girl’s dreams intertwine with the boy’s ambitions and thus unfolds their journey of love through many twists and turns.

    Beti Ka Farz is the story of a married woman who is an ideal daughter in law till she decides to fulfill her duty and responsibility as a daughter of her ailing and needy parents. Thus starts the never ending struggle and trial of this daughter-in-law. The show asks many pertinent questions about the rights of a daughter who wishes to help and care for her parents just like any other son even after she gets married and goes to her husband’s home. This daily unconventional show will be telecast from 24 August at 10 pm, Monday to Thursday.

    On the other hand, Annu Kappor brings to Doordarshan National his ‘slice of life’ story of people over forty, tracing their angst, frustrations, emotions, ambitions, dreams and struggles. The show takes the viewers through the experiences of a few such men, that are ‘ realistic’ and ‘heart touching’ and every person in the viewers would relate to their emotions portrayed in this daily show. 40 Plus begins from 31 August at 8 pm, Monday to Friday.

    Apart from Koshish Se Qamyabi Tak, which is entirely home produced by Prasar Bharati, the rest of the four shows have been commissioned to well known production houses including BBC Worldwide Productions India.

  • MIB appoints Mukesh Sharma as director general of Films Division, Mumbai

    MIB appoints Mukesh Sharma as director general of Films Division, Mumbai

    MUMBAI: The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has appointed Mukesh Sharma as director general of Films Division, Mumbai. This is in addition to his regular responsibilities as Doordarshan additional director general (WZ & CRD).

     

    Sharma’s career took flight from the Children‘s Film Society in 1980 under the chairmanship of stalwarts like Dr. V Shantaram, ShabanaAzmi, Jaya Bachchan and AmolPalekar, who shaped his thinking and work ethic. He produced over 50 films during his tenure with CFSI. He also directed the film AnokhaAspatal, which won a special mention at the National Awards in 1990 from the President of the Republic of India, during the sixth International Children’s Film Festival.

     

    The nation’s first Indo-Mauratius co-production venture was initiated by Sharma and this film on Operation Pink Pigeon –  Ankur Maina Kabutar won him the National Award in the best Children’s Film category in1990, from P. Venkataraman, the then President of India.

     

    Sharma is also responsible for organizing various children‘s film festivals in India and abroad and was actively associated with the marketing of these children‘s films.

     

    Under his leadership, in 2001 Doordarshan Mumbai Kendra received the Best Doordarshan Kendra (T.V. Station) Award, which was presented to him by the former vice president of India Krishna Kant and DD Sahyadri became a household name in every nook and corner of Maharashtra.

     

    Sharma has contributed 35 years of his experience in working as a public service broadcaster and still feels the thirst to produce rich content informing, educating, connecting and entertaining the vast sections of population, especially those living in remote corners of towns and villages as he feels that it is the right of every citizen of India.

  • Sahyadri Cine Awards 2015 felicitates artists and technicians of Marathi cinema

    Sahyadri Cine Awards 2015 felicitates artists and technicians of Marathi cinema

    MUMBAI: The sixth edition of Doordarshan Sahyadri Cine Awards let no stone unturned when it brought under one roof the stars of Marathi film industry to celebrate work of excellence.

     

    Powered Godrej Expert Rich cr?me the awards kept up with their tradition of an independent jury comprising representatives from film, critiques and senior film journalists such as film producer & director – Samruddhi Porey and Vidhyadhar Pathare, producer-director-senior journalist Ramesh Salgaonkar, senior journalist – Sudhir Nandgaonkar and Dilip Thakur, veteran Marathi actor -Maya Jadhav, retd. Doordarshan producer – Raviraj Gandhe and music composer and singer – Milind Joshi.

     

    Additional DG – Doordarshan Mumbai Kendra Mukesh Sharma said, “With a spectacular range of Marathi films this year, the audience has been able to connect more with recent Marathi cinema. The Marathi films have managed to catapult themselves to an enviable position, mainly due to their novel stories and engaging narratives. The importance of these awards is that it recognises an industry in which almost a thousand of people work and many movies are produced every year, making it one of the biggest in cinema. Needless to mention the jury was unanimous in their decision regarding all the nominations for this year’s DD Sahyadri Cine Awards. And the channel (like every year) respects the decision of jury and does not interfere in their selection procedure to keep it impartial and maintain DD Sahyadri’s credibility.”

     

    Godrej Consumer Products Limited executive vice president – personal care Chetan Gore stated, “We are proud of our association with DD Sahyadri Cine Awards for six years in a row now.”

     

    “In alignment to our brand promise of innovation we introduced a new category of award called ‘Godrej Expert Rich Cr?me Oh My God Performance’ this year. The award category was appreciated by all for its quirk and innovation. We are proud to be associated with this coveted award ceremony that honors the best of craft and shall continue to value add to it year on year,” Gore added.

     

    Apart from actors Abhijeet Khandkekar and Mrunmayee Deshpande  who co-hosted the awarding ceremony, the audiences were kept engaged by wide variety of performances on stage ranging from classical fusion to romantic and western.

     

    The award show will be aired on Doordarshan Sahyadri on 12 July, 4 pm onwards.

     

    Please check out here:-

  • DD Sahyadri Cine Awards 2015 unveils nominations

    DD Sahyadri Cine Awards 2015 unveils nominations

    MUMBAI: Sahyadri Cine Award is the most respected Marathi Film Awards that honours the best of work in Marathi Cinema. The 6th Sahyadri Cine Award is to be held on 30 June, 2015 at 7:00 pm, in association with the national brand Godrej at Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi, Mumbai. 
     

    Addl. Director General, Doordarshan – Mukesh Sharma while announcing the nominations of this year’s 6th Sahyadri Cine Award said that out of the 66 films produced by the Marathi film industry last year, 29 are in contentions for the awards. Sahyadri Cine Award is very special for the entire Marathi Film Industry, because of its credibility as it is presented by the National Broadcaster, Doordarshan.

     

    Chetan Gore, Executive Vice President Marketing – Personal Care, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, “The medium of film entertainment was introduced to us through Dadasaheb Phalke and it has evolved consistently. Marathi cinema has come a long way since then and today is at par with any other film fraternity when it comes to impactful performances, the art of storytelling and cinematic brilliance. We at Godrej believe in motivating and felicitating talent and this belief has extended into a strong association with Sahyadri Cine Awards for 6 years in a row now. This year we have also introduced a new category of award called ‘Godrej Expert Rich Cr?me Oh My God Performance’ which will celebrate the outstanding performance of an artist and his commitment to the industry. Godrej Expert Rich Creme and Sahyadri Cine awards will continue to motivate talent which will deliver the best and take the Marathi film industry to the next level.”

     

    The Jury of these awards is totally independent which has representation from Film, Critique and Senior Film Journalists. The independent Jury comprised of Film Producer & Director – Samruddhi Porey & Vidhyadhar Pathare, Producer-Director-Senior Journalist Ramesh Salgaonkar, Senior Journalist – Sudhir Nandgaonkar & Dilip Thakur, Veteran Marathi Actress -Maya Jadhav, Retd. Doordarshan Producer – Raviraj Gandhe and Music Composer, Singer – Milind Joshi. This year’s nominations have been chosen from a long list of popular and critically lauded movies. The competition promises to be stiff but that only means a thrilling awards evening that will live up to every expectation.

     

    Click here for the list of nominees 

  • Doordarshan appoints C. Lalrosanga as interim DG

    Doordarshan appoints C. Lalrosanga as interim DG

    NEW DELHI: Veteran broadcaster C. Lalrosanga has been appointed as the interim director general of Doordarshan following the retirement of Vijayalakshmi Chhabra.

     

    Until now, Lalrosanga was holding charge as additional director general in All India Radio.

     

    Chhabra had been named the interim DG of Doordarshan in July 2014. She had earlier been ADG Programmes in AIR.

     

    Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that the process of appointing a final DG will be undertaken as soon as the four vacancies of part-time members of the Prasar Bharati Board are filled.

     

    According to DD sources, contenders for the post of DG include current interim AIR DG F Shehryaar, Aparna Vaish, Deepa Chandra, Dr Rajshekhar Vyas, Mukesh Sharma and Mahesh Joshi.
     
    Lalrosanga has rich and diverse experience in broadcasting, both in sound and visuals.

     

    One of the most onerous tasks await the interim DG as he has taken charge of the public broadcaster in challenging times, especially considering the proposed launch of the ‘Kisan Channel’.

     

    Other tasks include four channels for the north eastern region and increasing the growth of DD‘s direct to home Freedish service.

     

    Lalrosanga joined the North eastern service of All India Radio (NES) Shillong as director after getting selected by Union Public Service Commission in 1991. Prior to that, he was assistant news editor (ANE) at AIR in Aizawl.

  • Maharashtra governor felicitates Mukesh Sharma for his Excellency

    Maharashtra governor felicitates Mukesh Sharma for his Excellency

    MUMBAI: Mukesh Sharma was recently felicitated by the Governor of Maharashtra for his Excellency CH Vidyasagar Rao when Svajan an NGO run by the former Addl Chief Sec Gov tog Maharashtra and also the former Municipal Comm of Mumbai, Shri Karun Shrivastav who noticed the hard work put up by Mukesh Sharma in the field of PSB.

    Awards and felicitations are not new to the Additional Director General of Doordarshan who was a fortnight ago felicitated by the Global Sindhi Council at the hands of former Law Minister Shri Ram Jethmalani.

    Most of us may think that PSB is a losing proposition but Mukesh Sharma with his innovation, ingenuity and skill has set a record as the only Head in the entire DD fraternity to run Doordarshan in PROFIT.

    In the year 2013-14 DDK Mumbai spent 52 crores to run the channel and the station and posted a business of 57 crores through corporate, government and hiring out equipment of the Kendra to generate revenue. In fact Doordarshan National can take a leaf out of the book of Best Practices adopted and implemented by DD Sahyadri as this commercial success was achieved without compromising with the mandate of Public Service Broadcasting. Conceptualizing market driven programmes in fields as diverse as women empowerment, Krishi, organ donation, education for the girl child, robotics, film festivals among others were the channel drivers during his tenure.

    Serialized TV shows like Young – Tarang, Krishi Darshan, Amchi Maati – Aamchi Mansa, Aswaad, Sakhi Sahyadri, Hello Doctor, Swastha Bharat, Patla Tar Ghya, Kridangan,Music Masti Gappa Gane (M2 G2), Contests based reality shows like Sahyadri Antakshari, Dhina Dhin Dha, Dam Dama Dam, Naad Bhed, Aajche Davedaar – Udyache Superstar etc. have not only entertained viewers over the years, but also have created awareness about richness of the culture and traditions of Maharashtra.

    With revolutionary changes taking place in an around the world addressing citizen is becoming the most difficult and challenging job undoubtedly for a public service broadcaster. But the “CALENDAR EVENTS” of DD Sahyadri created and conceptualized by Mukesh Sharma clearly demarcates his outstanding contribution as a Public Service Broadcaster.

    A brainchild of Shri Mukesh Sharma – DD Sahyadri offers about sixteen calendar events in a year mainly in compliance with its responsibilities as a Public Service Broadcaster.

    1.    Prerna Puraskar is specially designed event for celebrating “Mother’s Day” which is a special award function showcasing the unique bonding of “Mother-Daughter “relationship as well as working towards girl child progress (education).

    2.    Navaratan Awards wherein nine prominent Maharashtrians every year are felicitated by the Governor of Maharashtra for their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Medicine, Social Service and Public Affairs.

    3.    Hirkhani Awards are organized to felicitate nine woman of substance who, with sheer grit and determination, left their stamp in a male-dominated arena and brought the desired social change in the society.

    4.    Sahyadri Cine Awards felicitates Marathi Cine Artists and Technicians to promote and applaud the Marathi Cinema for the excellent work done in the entire last one year.

    5.    Sanjeevani Awards acknowledging the outstanding work done by the medicos in the rural areas and to the under privileged. It honors these “COMMUNITY LEADERS” for with a view to encourage/motivate the young medicos to go the rural areas and work for the masses in the villages.

    6.    Navjyoti which is a joint venture of UNICEF and DD Mumbai Kendra, the programme aims at giving recognition to nine girls from remote Maharashtra for resisting child marriages and also helping other girls fight the scourge.

    7.    First Television event “Naate Janmaantaricha” on Organ Donation to create awareness among the people on the noble cause of ORGAN DONATION.

    8.    Sahyadri Sindhu Sahyog Awards to felicitate the Sindhi Community who had done extraordinary work in their respective fields.

    9.    Krishi Awards in which farmers, scholars and experts are honored for their contribution in the field of Agriculture.

    10.    Arya Chanakya Maharashtra Rajya Puraskar, an annual state-level award, honoring the contributors in building a strong democracy from the fields such as legislature, judiciary, administration and media.

    11.    Monsoon Marathi Chitrapat Mahotsav at DDK Mumbai in order to promote good cinema which showcase award winning films and an interactive session with the film maker’s and the audience.

    12.    A specially designed event to recognize the contribution of Nation Builders on the Public Service Broadcasting Day – “Shiladaar Rashtra Nirmiteeche”.

    13.    Jaago Re Jaago – A live program on the eve of “Independence Day and Republic Day to rekindle and reignite the value of freedom in the minds of young and old of this great nation.

    14.    RBI National Quiz, promoting Financial Literacy among the youth.

    15.    National & International Robotic Contest, Robocon offering young engineers a platform to excel in their creative thinking apart from demonstrating their technical ideas in robotics as well as establishing a cross cultural awareness facilitating their overall development.

    16.    Celebrations of festivals like Govinda and Ganesh Chaturthi – “Aaley Ganray” and major sports and cultural events are brought live to the viewers by the channel every year.

    17.    All India Urdu Mushaira, to promote national integration and to provide a wide reach platform to the Nations Urdu Poets.

    Very few people know that he has produced nearly 50 feature films and directed one for which he was honoured with the national award. He has also worked in All India Radio, Doordarshan Sales and Commercial Services; and at the moment apart from looking after the DD Kendra at Mumbai he also heads the Commercial and Revenue Division single handedly.

    Mukesh Sharma is perhaps the last of the Mughals to survive the onslaught of commercial broadcasting, to not only survive but to give them a run for their money.

  • Sahyadri Hirkani Award salutes nine woman of substance from Maharashtra

    Sahyadri Hirkani Award salutes nine woman of substance from Maharashtra

    MUMBAI: A woman of substance is a woman of power, a woman of positive influence and a woman of meaning. A brainchild of Doordarshan ADG Mukesh Sharma, Sahyadri Hirkani Awards honoured nine distinguished women from across Maharashtra who, with sheer grit and determination, left their stamp in a male-dominated arena and brought the desired social change in the society.

    The awards were decided by an independent jury and prominent personality’s viz., Neela Satyanarayan – Retd. State Election Commissioner of Maharashtra, Smita Jaykar – Film & TV personality, Vikram Gokhale – legendary Film & TV Personality, Sunder Chand Thakur – Editor, Navbharat Times Newspaper.

    The Nine Hirkani Award recipients during the award ceremony were:

    Surekha Dalvi : For over 25 years, land rights activist Surekha Dalvi has been championing the cause of tribal ownership of land in Maharashtra’s picturesque Konkan region.  A great fighter, Surekha and her activist colleagues taking this cause as a mission work for all over upliftment of the adivasis.

    Kalpana Kharade: “A visionary without sight” Kalpana Kharade, inspite of losing her eyesight, pursued academic milestones, a former elementary school teacher with teaching experience in urban BMC and Private schools , has scaled great heights professionally all due to sheer determination and persistence. She is presently Associate Professor, a recognized PHD guide and vice-president of K J Somaiya College of Education, Training and Research.

    Malati Waman Joshi: Since last 30 years her institution “Chaitanya Mauli Vishwasta Mandal” developed conductive programs for empowering children and women belonging to the socially and economically marginalized groups. Her project “Sanskar Varg” benefited adolescent children from various oppressed locations. Its activities are closely linked with Study centre (Abhyasika) along with vocational training and are providing various health related services in the form of regular health camp.

    Shobha Sakharwade: Hailing from Banaras, Sakharwade work in the social sphere since two decades through the voluntary organization Prakriti. Sakharwade decided to focus on upliftment of women after knowing the three biggest challenges that the women were facing – livelihood, children’s education and hindrances created by the society especially in backward areas. She initiated local resource teams which are active in reaching even those women who are not confident enough to ask for help and accordingly, her organization focused on making women self-sustaining by instilling self-confidence in them.

    Anuradha Bhosale: A renowned grassroots women’s rights and anti-child labor activist based in Kolhapur. A former child-laborer herself at the age of six, she has spent the past 20 years fighting for the prevention of child exploitation, labor, trafficking, and female infanticide. As founder of the AVANI organization, she has facilitated the rescue of 541 child laborers, provided 5,604 nomadic migrant children and school drop outs the right to health care and education, organized the construction of schools inside the brickyard labor camps and established a residential home for migrant children.

    Rajani Limaye: The Founder & Chairperson of Probhodhini Trust, an institution for the welfare of mentally challenged individuals. It functions as a training and rehabilitation center for adult mentally challenged individuals, who get trained for a life they can lead with dignity, making them self sufficient, independent and a productive part of the family and the society. Over 300 students are on roll participating in various activities of projects of the institution.

    Neeta Tatke: An expert/ Trainer and PhD in “Sport Psychology”, she has been training girls in Mallakhamb, a traditional Indian sport. Dr. Neeta has represented India at various international platforms and coordinated the 1st German Mallakhamb tour.

    Vaishali Ruikar:  She is a trained Auxiliary & Midwifery Nurse in Pune. Since last 45 years she has been working each day to reduce the pain of her patients especially by doing those impeccable bed sore dressings. Her dedication to the work keeps her going even today, in-spite of her failing health. In today busy world it has become very difficult to take care of bed ridden patients. Long back in 1994 she gave this a thought and came up with the idea of Patient-care Bureau. She is also a recipient of National Florence Nightingale Awards, 2014.

    Rohini Limaye: Started her career as a voluntary social worker for the handicapped and became a professional trained teacher for the deaf. She is the founder trustee of Janikibai Shiukshan Sanstha, Vikas Vidayalaya established in 1966 which educates the deaf students with Proper education while providing suitable hearing aid which is the only remedy for deafness. This sanstha also received the National Award for the “Best school for the Handicapped” at the hands of the president of India in New Delhi.

    A special ‘Hirkani Visesh Sanman’ is given every year to a talent for appreciating the work done by a woman in their respective field and this year Urmila Pawar is awarded in this category. She is considered to be one of the most acclaimed Marathi writers representing Dalit culture and gender issues. Her stories resound with her own self definition, which is, a woman, a dalit and a Buddhist. Her Book “Aaidaan” is  her own autobiography which is translated in English as “The weave of my life – a Dalit woman’s Memoirs’” Her most recent work, Mother Wit, is testimony to her gritty, vivid stories, which are an important part of Indian Dalit Literature, as well as Indian feminist literature.

    These Hirakani’s received awards from Anil Wanvari – Editor in Chief – Indian Television Dot Com, Ravindra Awati – President Corporate Affairs – Reliance Industries, Kiran Juneja – Film & TV personality, Bharat Dabholkar –Actor & Director, Mahesh Kothare -Film & TV personality, Aishwarya & Avinash Narkar – Film & TV personality, Kiran Shantaram and many more.

    Sahyadri Hirkani Sanman Sohala will telecast on DD Sahayadri Channel on the special occasion of International Women’s Day, Sunday, 8 March 2015 from 4:30 p.m. onwards.

  • The Content Hub: Broadcasters are averse to experimenting with content

    The Content Hub: Broadcasters are averse to experimenting with content

    MUMBAI: The first edition of Indiantelevision.com’s The Content Hub saw a full panel of broadcasters, producers and writers discussing how to change the dynamics of TV content. Moderated by Bodhi Tree Multimedia director Sukesh Motwani, the panel consisted of Doordarshan ADG West Mukesh Sharma, Zee TV business head Pradeep Hejmadi, Cinevistaas producer Siddharth Malhotra, Shashi Sumeet Productions co founder Sumeet H Mittal, Satyamev Jayate director Satyajit Bhatkal, Viacom18 head of content regional network Sanjay Upadhyay and writer Purnendu Shekhar.

     

    Motwani started off by asking whether the only model of monetising was through having daily soaps with the 23 minute per episode limitation? Upadhyay responded to this saying that some efforts have been made to break away tried to break away. “For instance, Viacom18, we have attempted to do this with our regional shows with one hour shows run twice a week,” he said. “What we found with this is that the audience’s addiction level isn’t as good as a daily because they are so used to dailies. At the same time, economics do play a big role.”

     

    Motwani further queried if broadcasters could experiment with hour long episodes during weekdays while restricting certain genres to only weekend? Hejmadi  pointed out that it isn’t easy to do dailies, as people generally think. “There is a need for change, yes. But the manner of migrating the audience is also needed. Some people have tried that but even then there is a thought process that broadcasters don’t encourage innovation,” he said.

     

    On the other hand Malhotra said that when the 9pm-10 pm time band became successful, the economics improved and after that no one even tried to experiment with hour long episodes. Upadhyay clarified that though the broadcaster makes an effort, the pressure on them is heavy. Shekhar lamented that broadcasters are scared of losing loyal audiences by introducing short stories that conclude in four episodes from Monday to Thursday.

     

    In most shows, the characters drive the shows and shows are scripted accordingly. Hejmadi pointed out that it takes to build characters and promote them amongst viewers to develop stickiness, hence having limited episode shows – like say which run from Monday to Friday does not really work, thanks to the attention deficit among Indian veiwers.  even suggested that producers should comHee with their own research insights that they should show broadcasters.

     

    Public broadcaster Doordarshan, on the other hand,  tends to look at art, culture and of course  literature for inspiration. Sharma said that this was mainly due to them having a different mandate. “For us the universe isn’t between 7pm to 11pm. We also do events such as every second Sunday is a ‘mothers’ day’ where we bring mothers and daughters to talk about them and this makes good money. But we don’t interfere with producer whether or not a show makes money.”

     

    As to Motwani’s question of whether there can be different shows for ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’, Upadhyay said, “Honestly, we don’t try hard enough because we don’t have patience. We shift goal posts depending on hits.”

     

    With a few shows having big names backing them such as Saraswatichandra and Everest, he also went on to say, “The noise that comes out of big shows may amortise costs in a shorter time.”

     

    While format shows are slowly losing audiences in India, the TV community needs to look at other metrics than simple TVTs and TRPs,  opined Satyemev Jayate director Bhatkal. “We chose the graveyard slot – Sunday morning  – when no one is really watching television to do the show,”he said. “We wanted to reach those viewers who don’t generally watch television, we wanted to encourage appointment viewing. People who would take the trouble  to switch on their sets at that early hour. And we apparently did, if we look at the buzz that SMJ generated online. And this is what sellers of channels also need to do, show the media buyers and planners the  volumes of social media data. In six episodes, we had billions of impressions and we were trending worldwide,” he said.