MUMBAI: Malayalam channel Asianet is replacing its 8:30 pm serial Suryaputri with a new one Koodum Thedy (In Search of the Nest).
Suryaputri is now shifted to the 6 pm slot.
Veteran Malayalam actor Thilakan dons the title role in Koodum Thedy. The story revolves around Thilakan’s character who becomes the victim of his own wrongdoings. The supporting cast includes Sai Kumar, Ambika, Riza Bava and Manju Pillai.
The serial is directed by popular Malayalam film director Mohan Kupleri.
MUMBAI: At a time when its Hindi counterparts are devoting more night-slots for primetime shows, Zee Network’s Marathi channel Alpha Marathi doesn’t want to be left behind. In an attempt to wrest Marathi viewers from Hindi channels, the channel has extended its primetime with a daily soap and news fare.
Alpha Marathi has launched a daily soap Adhuri Ek Kahani for the 10 pm slot. The channel has pushed its 10 pm’s half-an-hour news bulletin to 10:30 pm and its duration has been increased by 30 minutes. The daily political satire Ghadalay Bhigadalay at 10:30 pm will now make its appearance as a weekly on Sundays at 12 pm with a repeat on Tuesdays.
“Primetime should be the time when you have your viewers. So following that theory, we have now expanded our primetime to 11:30 pm,” offers Alpha Marathi senior VP programming Nitin Vaidya.
Vaidya is making his intentions clear. “The attempt is to make a dent on Hindi channels’ Marathi speaking primetime viewership. Any region which offers Marathi viewership is our target. The whole attempt is to divert the Marathi viewership from Hindi channels, ” he says. “Entertainment programmes are very crucial in the night-slots. The game plan is to bring the Marathi viewer entertaining shows throughout this time segment so that he wouldn’t need to switch to Hindi channels. So we have now dedicated the 10 pm slot to an entertainment property.”
For the new show Adhuri AK Kahani, Alpha Marathi has roped in many of the reputed Hindi serial artists who are Maharashtrians. According to Vaidya, the strategy is to capitalise on the regional factor and thereby giving competition to Hindi soaps even star cast-wise.
The channel has kicked off an aggressive promotional campaign for Adhuri Ek Kahani. Apart from an outdoor campaign which has put up 50 hoardings across six markets in Maharashtra, the channel has been conducting on-ground activities to promote the show across Maharashtra. The below-the-line activities included hydraulic vans travelling across the state promoting the show, entertaining the audience with songs, plays and puppet shows and installing reminder boxes.
“The effort was to make the customer involved to the maximum. All these methods were used to build up a pre-release hype. Now post-launch of the show, we will be coming up with more activities,” informs Zee Network senior marketing manager Pranita S Loke.
According to Vaidya, Alpha Marathi will be launching its 10:30 news bulletin in a week’s time. Since the duration is increased by 30 minutes, the channel is planning to add more features to the news bulletin. Live interactive sessions with newsmakers and a section on crime are some of the new features being planned.
The channel is converting its daily political satire Ghadalay Bhigadalay to a weekly show now. “When we launched the show in December 2003, the decision was to run the show till Maharashtra assembly elections as a daily and post-elections as a weekly. We are going ahead with our plans,” says Vaidya.
The channel launched a daily interactive game show Home Minister in August-end to lure the `D’ class segment. The 7:30 pm show is targeted at housewives.
“During our annual conference last year, it was revealed that we have not been getting our due share from the `D ‘class segment. So we have come up with this new show, which offers a lot of attractive prizes. Slowly we are consolidating,” says Loke.
MUMBAI: Director Ajai Sinha, the man behind critically acclaimed shows like Astitva-Ek Prem Kahani and Hasratein, is on the lookout for fresh talent to act in his forthcoming venture Anchhui.
Sinha will be traveling extensively to select the characters. Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Delhi and Ahmedabad are some of the destinations that he proposes to visit apart from Mumbai.
Anchhui, is a story of two sisters, the elder one being mentally challenged. The story focuses on how the society at large treats or rather exploit such people so as to derive maximum benefit for themselves.
Sinha’s serial Hasratein, based on the novel written by Jaywant Dalvi was telecast on Zee TV ten years ago. Astitva-Ek Prem Kahani, currently on Zee TV also deals with the differences of opinion that arises on account of a vast age gap between a couple.
MUMBAI: Sun TV has pulled off a ‘soap coup’ with its latest serial Manaivi (wife). Directed by ace television director J Bhaskar and starring popular South Indian heroine Kausalya, the soap launches on 21 June .
The weekly show produced by New Age Entertainment will air at 10 pm.
J Bhaskar’s earlier work Chiththi was one of the top grossers in Tamil television history. Kausalya, who is known by the name Nandini in Malayalam, is one of the reigning film heroines of South India. Manaivi marks her entry to television.
“Adaptability to changing viewer trends and an easy style of storytelling are some of the unique features of Manaivi. This contemporary soap is backed up by months of experimentation and research. Obviously we didn’t want to leave anything for chance now that we are on our way to create the number one daily,” said New Age Entertainment Pvt. Ltd all India vice president Santosh Nair.
Kausalya has a Malayalam serial also up in her sleeves. The serial Chitta directed by Kiran is scheduled to air on Surya TV.
MUMBAI: She’s known more for her skill at keeping viewers glued to the TV set through a twist in the tale in the plethora of serials produced by her production house. But now viewers are getting to know Ekta Kapoor in a new avatar. As a front lady for a show Balaji is producing for MTV India.
For the past week, the channel has been airing promos in which Kapoor has been talking to camera – a la Lee Iacocca – urging youngsters to participate in her company’s first major attempt at churning out a show aside from a sitcom, thriller or soap.
The yet to be titled show in question is Balaji Telefilms’ youth based Hindi fiction serial that will air on MTV India sometime in August. The promo featuring Kapoor is meant to call for a nationwide hunt to uncover some new faces to star in the series. The promo was shot under the supervision of an MTV in-house director.
MTV, along with Balaji, will run auditions across five cities namely Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Pune and Chandigarh. The process of auditioning and selections will feature on MTV. The six people who will be selected at the end of the auditions will go through a rigorous training process which would involve acting, dancing, action, voice projection and camera moves.
In fact, this is probably the first time in the history of Indian television that the creative head of a production house or a producer of the show has been directly involved in promoting a campaign.
“We have shortlisted three-four names for the show, but a final decision in this regard will be taken in the next three days,” said Kapoor.
Speaking at length about the shoot and why she choose to take up the position in front of the camera, Kapoor said, “This programme is going to be extremely innovative. We can’t give away the details, it is still two months away. Keeping the innovative content in mind, we did the promo somewhat differently. Instead of going to the usual studios, we shot the entire promo in a plush flat at the Hiranandani complex in Mumbai.”
Kapoor said that acting was a very difficult profession, at least for her. “It took me one full day to do the whole thing. I guess I am a very bad actress. Being behind the camera and in front of it are two different ball games altogether, which can be genuinely felt only after first-hand experience,” she laughed.
Kapoor tried to be modest by evading the question as to why she did the promo, unlike in other star-hunts where actors are employed for the same. Another innovative method? Kapoor reluctantly said, “We thought that perhaps my direct call would invite a larger number of entries. Let’s hope it turns out that way.”
MUMBAI: Asianet will air Dilmunile Sandhyakai, the first Malayalam TV serial exclusively shot in Bahrain, from the third week of June.
The story revolves around the lives of expatriates in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Directed by Mohan Kadathanadu, the serial is produced by Sibachose in associating with Gulf E Bay, the official Asianet franchise holder in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Dilmunile Sandhyakai is part of a series of shows covering expats, with two programmes already shot in Dubai. More than 100 artistes from Bahrain took part in the serial.