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Tag: Rensil D

  • Colors ropes in Maruti Suzuki S-Cross as 24: Season 2 presenting sponsor

    Colors ropes in Maruti Suzuki S-Cross as 24: Season 2 presenting sponsor

    MUMBAI:  Colors is all set to kick off the second season of Anil Kapoor and Ramesh Deo Productions 24 after a two-year hiatus. Keeping the action going, the channel has roped in Maruti Suzuki’s S- Cross as the presenting sponsor for 24: Season 2.  It replaces Tata Motors, which was the title sponsor in 2013.  Estimates are that Maruti has agreed to ante up close to Rs 23 crore for the title sponsorship. The channel’s sales team is also in conversation with agencies and brands to come on as powered by and associate sponsors.

     

    Like in its first season, the Indian adaptation of the US series 24 is being co-produced by Anil Kapoor Film Co and Ramesh Deo Productions and directed by Abhinay Deo & Rensil D’Silva. Filming is slated to commence from 1 November, most of it in India, with parts of the show being shot overseas.

     

    Colors CEO Raj Nayak is quite happy about the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross association. Says he: “Maruti has been with us for many years now. We have associated with them in our other shows including India’s Got Talent, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and IIFA Awards. Also we wanted to have an association with an automobile firm which has a variety of vehicles because the show format demands that and Maruti Suzuki fits that bill. Additionally, we have a clause with Kapoor as he endorsing S-Cross for all practical purposes on Indian television for months now.”

     

    Maruti Suzuki executive director R S Kalsi too is pretty satisfied with partnering with Colors. Says he: “It’s all about the trust and faith we have with the channel.  Colors have always delivered more than what they promise.  S-Cross is a premium offering from Maruti Suzuki.  The target audience that 24 caters to and its genre allows us to draw synergies between the brands of S-Cross, 24 and Colors. 24: Season 2 is the perfect platform for us to integrate and showcase the premium crossover S-Cross to consumers while strengthening our expanded brand reach.”

     

    Colors launched the first poster of the show on 20 October in Mumbai and it features  an intense Anil Kapoor sporting a rugged look raising the intrigue levels about Jai Singh Rathod’s challenges in season 2. While season one saw Anti Terrorist Unit (ATU) chief had Rathod saving a Prime Ministerial candidate from being assassinated, in Season 2, audience will see him taking the bigger responsibility of saving the nation.

     

    The first season of 24 aired Friday-Saturday at 10 pm.  Nayak told Indiantelevision.com that the “time slot is something which we haven’t decided yet.  24 is a very expensive show so we have to put it in the prime time slot. As we are the number one channel therefore slotting is a huge problem but our team is working on it. Based on the research of last year’s time band we will come back with the slot that grabs more eye balls.”

     

    Like in season one, a  video game based on the show is being planned to be introduced before the first telecast. 

     

     Nayak is cock-a-hoop with delight that 24, a show he invested in a couple of years ago, is making waves globally. Says he: “At Mipcom in Cannes this year for the first time we saw people from international industry talking about 24. All international format owners wanted to meet us and it has never happened before and it only happened because of 24.  People are aware that in India we are one of the biggest buyers of the international format and we spend money on our non – fictions shows. It’s only after 24 there is feeling of different respect that we have received.” 

  • And now a 3D mobile game for Colors’ 24

    And now a 3D mobile game for Colors’ 24

    MUMBAI: It has been three weeks since Indian audiences have been introduced to a new fictional TV format in the form of real time story telling through the first international adaptation of the American hit 24. With a 360 degree marketing campaign – almost like that used for full length feature films – to help create the buzz around the series, host channel Colors has decided to perk it up by throwing in a sparkling digital ingredient for viewers.

    And it’s coming in the form of a 3D interactive mobile game for iOS and Android phones. Developed by Gameshashtra Solutions, it is targeted at those who want to have the thrill of playing Jai Singh Rathod (Anil Kapoor) – the main protagonist of the show – while on the go. Called ‘Safari Storme 24 – The Game’, it is available for download only in India. It will allow gamers to go through three maps of Worli, Dadar and Parel with 30 levels of two minutes each. As of now only the Worli route is available while the other two will be launched in the coming weeks.The first map of Worli is a rooftop setting.

    Four and a half months went into creating the 3D game. Fans will keep going through levels, scoring points, winning ammunition and then checking scores with others on the ‘leaderboard’ through their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

    “The three locations in the game are also there in the series,” says Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava. “We kept the game in the spirit of the show by taking the concept ‘race against time’ rather than the political drama in it,” he adds.

    Explaining the game technique Srivastava says that players have two ways of surviving – hit and survive or duck and survive. As the game levels progress, the enemies come in hordes and ammunition also stacks up.

    Coming up with a 3D game has probably cost sack fulls of money, apart from what has already been invested in the expensive show. But the channel seems to not be too worried about it.

    Vivek Srivastava is targeting a million downloads of the game

    “For the first season it is not about making money,” says Srivastava who is aiming at getting 1 million downloads for the free game. However, advertisements will be inserted into the game that would give them some amount of revenue.

    24 is Colors biggest fiction property created by Anil Kapoor Productions and Ramesh Deo Productions (RDP). Delly Belly director Abhinay Deo is the series director while Rensil D’Silva is the scriptwriter.

    The show is presented by Safari Storme while Next is one of the associate sponsors. The launch day saw it garner 3.4 million viewers with most of it coming from the urban areas while the second week saw it get an average of 2.6 million viewers.

    “Television executives in India are increasingly understanding that you can take a TV show into other experiences for viewers. Look at KBC which has a game which allows fans to test their general knowledge skills online and on the mobile. And now Colors has developed a 24 game which will allow youngsters and old alike to shoot, and kill while rising up in levels,” says a media observer. “The fact that it is primarily for the mobile will bring in a lot of fans who will play the game when they have a few minutes to spare, whether in the bus or the train or in between meetings. It’s a great move. Hopefully, some of the gamers who are not viewers of the series will be lured to watch it after playing the game.”

    Another media observer says that there is little hope of 24 ever becoming a massy series along the lines of soaps and dramas. “It’s great to flog the horse, but the horse only has that many backers,” says she. “Colors has gambled with 24 and it is to be lauded for the effort especially in terms of taking TV production and narrative to a different level. But it should bear in mind that 24 is going to be a niche affair for some time. So it should not expect too many incremental gains from the game as well.”

  • Will Anil Kapoors 24 be a game changer?

    Will Anil Kapoors 24 be a game changer?

    MUMBAI: Indian viewers are set to witness high octane action drama unraveling on their TV screens soon. The adaptation of the hit American series 24 unveiled its first look last evening. The Indian adaptation of the American thriller is being co-produced by Anil Kapoor Film Company and Ramesh Deo Productions with Delly Belly director Abhinay Deo helming the series.

     

    “The amount of content we have shot is humongous and is equivalent to seven feature films,” gushed Deo at the launch of the 24 trailer. As creative director and co-producer of the series, he feels that the series will definitely be well received by the audience which has been adapted keeping in mind the Indian sentiments, also giving it a tinge of soap operas. “We could do this as we had the leeway to modify and adapt as per the Indian setting,” Deo added.

     

    A fresh young crew of 200 people in production and post production were brought on board to navigate this real time series. On normal days, just two cameras were used while on days packed with action sequences five cameras were put into use with VFX being provided by Prime Focus. “We have shot a scene with a brush falling in a bathtub and we placed an underwater camera to capture the scene from below as well,” says co-producer Apurba Sengupta emphasising on the efforts they took to make it look realistic. Red Scarlet X cameras are being used, and everything is shot in HD format in about 100 locations in Mumbai. The two standing set-ups are – ATU (Anti Terrorism Unit) office and the Tulip Star hotel.

    A great ensemble cast has been roped in to set your pulses racing with high octane action

     

    Looking at the production aspects, the pre production team needed at least  eight to nine months to bring all creative heads to spot perfect locations in the financial capital to shoot. Apart from a thorough recce of locations, the team had to decide on costumes, colour schemes as well as finalise the cast.

     

    For an episode the team shot for almost eight to ten days, that meant that the end product was seven minutes of content produced per day which the team is very proud of as usually on an average only two and a half minutes of content is created.

    India is a diverse country so we had a lot of meat in it and yes it includes politics too says Abhinay Deo giving a sneak peak into the story

     

    Up until now, 16 episodes have been shot while the remaining eight will conclude in December. Out of the 24 episodes approximately 16 are shot by Deo and the rest will be done by Rensil D’Silva, who is also co-writing the adaptation, and Nitya Mehra, who was the AD for Life of Pi. “The level of drama needed for Indian audiences is more so we had to mix emotions,” says D’Silva. He also mentioned that scripting was a daunting task as they had to re-work it several times to get it absolutely perfect.

     

    With an edge of the seat thriller being shot with the best of cameras and a great ensemble cast; it would be natural to believe that the production cost is way beyond the average but Sengupta says the difference isn’t that farfetched either. “It’s promotion for them too. So if they give it to me at a particular price then next year someone else will approach them for it,” D’Silva explains on how the production deals pan out. Industry sources however feel that a show of this level cannot be shot at such a low budget and estimated it to be at a cost of a minimum of Rs 50 lakhs per episode.
    The Anil Kapoor starrer 24 is set to thrill the audiences with never before seen action

     

    Although only one season is on the cards right now, Colors CEO Raj Nayak is optimistic of seeing all eight seasons being made. Rumors are afloat that the story draws parallels with the Gandhi family but the claims were rubbished by the producers.  “India is a diverse country so we had a lot of meat in it and yes it includes politics too,” says Deo.

     

    The cast includes Anil Kapoor, Tisca Chopra, Mandira Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam and cameos by Anupam Kher and Shabana Azmi. The trailer showed Anil Kapoor caught in the middle of making time for his family and on the hunt of the to-be PM’s assassin.  It isn’t like the usual series that Indian audiences are used to watching with real time storytelling and split screens to show different people. “I have got a lot of people telling me that they want this to succeed because it will be a success for the industry,” says Nayak.

     

    The channel is yet to announce the launch date and the time slot for 24. “I signed the deal on 24 October which also happened to be Dassera last year,” said a beaming Nayak.

     

    It is the first time such a series is being produced in India on such a large scale. “It opens up a world of fiction like never seen before,” says Colors weekend programming head Manisha Sharma.

     

    But the bigger question here is that will such a show work with the Indian audiences who are tamed to watching saas-bahu serials? Media planners are positive about it. “I would be surprised if the show does not do well in India because if the content is treated keeping Indian sentiments in place then it is a sure shot winner,” says Madison COO Karthik Laxminarayanan.

     

    “The show is coming after a certain phase of digitisation so it will be interesting to see the ratings that it will get from digital homes. However, it should do well here as well,” says ZenithOptimedia Group CEO Satyajit Sen.

     

    The industry feels that the show will definitely be a game changer for the channel and the genre as well, but it is up to the audience to give their verdict.