ITV

Tag: Sharad Raj

  • Sahara One on lay off binge, more to follow

    Sahara One on lay off binge, more to follow

    MUMBAI: The axe is being wielded at Sahara One Media and Entertainment. The loss-making entertainment vehicle of the Sahara Group has already issued pink slips to 17 senior employees in February and the head chopping is expected to continue in March with another 18 employees being laid off. Sahara One Media employs around 150 employees with most of them being concentrated in Mumbai.

     

    Among those who have been asked to resign include:  Delna Deshpande (operations head), Sharad Raj (programming head and creative), Rajeev Berry (head of revenue), Bakulish Baggade part of the distribution team), Piyush Ratnu (head of IT & digital), Kailashnath Koppikar (programming and international syndication), Ashish Mathur and Saroj Jha (ad sales), and Baludutt Papne (commercial executive)

     

    Says a senior executive who has been asked to put in his papers. “We have been told that executives who were earning in excess of Rs 3 lakh a month were targeted first; followed by those in the Rs 1 lakh a month range. I was told ‘put in your resignation. 28 February is your last date.’ When I asked them to let me continue for a couple of months or at least till  March end so that I could find another job, I was told February layoffs cannot be extended to March as more blood is going to flow next month.”

     

    Sahara’s television business operates three television channels – Sahara One Television, a Hindi general entertainment channel; Filmy, a Hindi movie channel and Firangi, a world television channel in Hindi.

     

    According to sources, the Sahara management is resorting to downsizing as it is readying to hand over the running of the GEC to Entertainment Hub, which produces shows for it. Just a little less than a month ago indiantelevision.com had reported that Entertainment Hub – which is part of Bombay stock exchange listed Trilogic Digital Media (the producer of Mickey Virus) – will be looking after Filmy’s content scheduling, distribution and also revenue generation in a joint venture.

     

  • Sahara One gives Indian Television the first ever FIRANGI BAHU

    Sahara One gives Indian Television the first ever FIRANGI BAHU

    MUMBAI: As more and more foreign nationals come to India, one is often prompted to ask “Can a foreigner feel at home in India?” Sahara One will address this question through its brand new, light hearted family show ‘FIRANGI BAHU’ to go on air from Monday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m. The show will put forth a concept that has never been seen in the history of Indian Television: a foreigner who comes to stay in her sasural in India.

    It is a well known fact that foreigners are fascinated by India, its colorful festivals, traditions and diverse cultural heritage. This fascination makes them want to try and become a part of Indian culture. At the same time Indians too, are quite curious about the West. They have accepted Western influences on Indian food, attire, art, music and many other things. However when it comes to the sacred institution of marriage, Indians still consider people from the West to be unwelcome representatives of a world that is too different and alien. And it is amidst this background that ‘FIRANGI BAHU’ is set.

    The show will take viewers through the journey of a British girl, Camili Jonathan, who marries into the conservative Desai family in Rajkot, Gujarat.

    The story starts with Pranay Desai (Rohit Bhardwaj) the youngest son of the Desai family, who is in London for higher studies and meets Camili Jonathan (Sippora).

    Slowly through her eyes, Pranay begins to see India, his own country, in a new light. He begins to admire things that he had overlooked over the years, despite being an Indian himself. In the process, Pranay falls in love with Camili’s simple lifestyle and her perspective of India.
    Aware of his conservative family background, he decides to marry Camili in London and return to India.

    Commenting on this, Sharad Raj, Content and Programming Head, Sahara One, says, “At Sahara One we are constantly innovating with the aim of providing interesting and novel content to viewers. This is the first time that a foreigner is playing a bahu in a Hindi serial. This is clutter breaking; a real FIRST TIME event on Indian television. Moreover, this provides sufficient scope for drama and lighter moments. Viewers will enjoy watching a European lady adapt to a conservative Gujarati family. At the same time, her journey will result in a lot of drama. I hope viewers support us in our endeavour to bring them something new. And I hope they appreciate the effort we have made to do this.”

    Adds Vipul D Shah, Managing Director & CCO (Chief Creative Officer), Optimystix Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd., “Firangi Bahu is a clutter breaking concept, which is an unusual and never-seen-before concept on Indian Television. Firangi Bahu is a slice of life, dramedy (Drama & Comedy) story of Camili Jonathan, a 20 year old British citizen, who falls in love with a Gujarati boy in London.

    Motivated purely by love and devotion, she decides to settle in India in a joint Gujarati family (her sasural). This is in a way, a celebration of India and Indianness through a foreigner’s point of view. All characters and situations in the serial are endearing and believable.”

    Sahara One’s show ‘FIRANGI BAHU’, showcases the struggle of Camili Jonathan, a British girl, who enters India and its culture that is rich, diverse and different from her own. In the process she discovers her own ability to adapt, after getting married into a traditional, conservative Indian family and winning over members of the family with her knowledge and love of Indian culture.

    ‘FIRANGI BAHU’ will introduce the beautiful SIPPORA ZOUTEWELLE, a Dutch debutant actress, who will play the title role of FIRANGI BAHU. The Desai family will see an ensemble of seasoned actors like Indira Krishna, Pranoti Pradhan, Deepmala Parmar, Dilip Darbar, Hetal Puniwala, Paresh Bhatt and Rohit Bhardwaj.

  • Sahara One ignites a societal debate with its new series

    Sahara One ignites a societal debate with its new series

    MUMBAI: Sociologists wonder why today joint families across India are giving way to nuclear families. There are many reasons but the primary difference is in the expectations that mother-in laws and their daughter-in-laws have from each other. And here is where Sahara One is looking to score with its brand new show Aakhir Bahu Bhi Toh Beti Hee Hai set to air from 30 September at 9:00 pm.

    This story is set in Gorakhpur, up and revolves around a typical conservative family where the mother-in-law Naulakha Devi (Prachee Pathak) is a very strict and a very dominating woman who is ritualistic to the core. She sees her bahus in a very orthodox light. She believes that the bahus of the house should be ruled with an iron hand and any change will break the entire house.

    On the contrary, the main protagonist Sia (Payal Rajput) is a young, vibrant, bubbly and extrovert. She is a today’s girl representing the young women, fearless and with self-respect. She is intelligent, confident with an opinion of her own and stand up for what is right. She firmly believes that her sasural is not going to be any different from her maayka.

    Sahara One media and entertainment programming head Sharad Raj said, “With changing times, social and family dynamics also need to change and evolve, and this is what we intend addressing in our forthcoming show. The evolving young women of our country have a question in their minds, that if a girl leaves her family, adopts her husband’s family as her own family and delivers all the duties expected of her, then why can’t her in-laws, more specifically her mother-in-law treat her as her daughter? Why does she have to be a “typical” daughter-in- law distanced, restricted and bit removed from the rest of the family, when she has the right upbringing, right “sanskaars”? The series attempts to address this question which women of today are asking…it is an emotional aspiration of every bahu today and it is time that this debate should come out in the open.”

    Impact Tele Network producer Bharat Srivastava, who debuts with his first show on Indian television said, “Aakhir Bahu Bhi Toh Beti Hee Hai is a saga of different shades attached to this most celebrated tradition of Indian wedding where a girl transforms from innocence to maturity, from carefree life to a role of responsibility and from a girl to a woman. In the process, the girl sacrifices a lot but the same is not taken by the society in the right spirit. Her biggest challenge then becomes to make the new family fill the gaps of the old one. Her mother-in-law undoubtedly becomes the centre point, especially in a joint family. Our story revolves around these two characters as how the interesting unfolding of incidents bonds these two strangers so strongly that the daughter-in-law is accepted as a daughter and mother-in-law as a mother.”

    Aakhir Bahu Bhi Toh Beti Hee Hai is a story of a mother-in-law, Naulakha Devi and her daughter-in-law, Sia and the conflict between them when two different people with different thinking meet. The show captures evolving relationships between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws and the eternal concept of how bahus and betis are treated differently in our society. The show attempts to add muscle to its socialistic storyline with versatile actors like Payal Rajput, Prachee Pathak, Seema Pandey, Aryan Pandit and Paritosh Sand.