Tag: takes

  • Donald Trump takes ‘The Apprentice’ to China

    MUMBAI: Donald Trump’s reality show The Apprentice is all set to make its mark in China.

    Trump has joined hands with Chinese producers to develop the Chinese version of The Apprentice, which will be hosted by 41 year old Beijing real-estate mogul Pan Shiyi.
     
     

    According to media reports, the Chinese edition of the show is likely to stick close to the original’s design, with 16 budding capitalists vying for a $250,000 job working for the Trump Organisation for one year.

    In India, The Apprentice airs on Star World.

  • Sahara takes India to the world through musical ‘Bharati’

    MUMBAI: Sahara India Parivar has unveiled a mosaic of music, dance, culture and tradition in a stage musical on India called Bharati.

    The vision of Sahara managing worker and chairman Subrata Roy, Bharati explores India on the world stage with the exuberance, richness of content, colours, dimensions and depth.
     

    This 90-minute show, with a cast and crew of 150 people will be traveling all over the world and performing in French, German, Italian and other languages, besides English and Hindi.
     
    The musical has been written by Kamlesh Pande and is interpreted into theater by theater production house PGP.

    The theatrical will be internationally launched at Tel Aviv, Israel at the National Center of Performing Arts in September 2005. The entire cast and crew will be leaving India in July for Israel for the grand launch post which Bharati will be staged across the globe in Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, New York and other cities.

    Present at the launch were of Bharati were script writer and executive producer of Bharati and consultant to Sahara India Pariwar Kamlesh Pande, Sahara Corporate Communications head and executive producer of Bharati Abhijit Sarkar, Pasha Goshi Productions (PGP) Pvt. Ltd managing director and executive producer of Bharati Gashash Deshe and PDM International managing director and CEO and co-producer of Bharati Sanjay Lal.

    At this occasion in his message Subrata Roy said, “Bharati, the stage musical is the latest offering from Sahara India Pariwar. It is perhaps the first effort of its kind to take India to the world and Sahara India Pariwar is proud to develop it. It is not just an Indian effort but a global initiative because the best of Indian talent has teamed with the best of European talent to bring it to the international stage. Bharati is a journey into the spirit of India, the essence of India, the heart, mind and soul of India into the beauty of our traditions, the richness of our art and culture and the depth of our values. It is a journey into the ideals of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ that the entire world is one family, one Pariwar to survive; the world must team to coexist as India exists – with all its diversity and contradictions.”

    Speaking at the occasion Pande said, “Bharati is perhaps the most successful ambassador for India to the world. India is a miniature world and we have managed to survive despite the difference and diversity. The key message that Bharati wants to give is the art of survival and it is the most spectacular way to give India the global platform.”

    Sarkar said, “India is a confluence of various cultures, art, religion and languages. Despite that India is one and will always remain one. Bharati is going to depict this spirit of India by presenting our in-depth traditions, richness of our art and culture which has been inherited by us through age.”

    Deshe said, “The venture aims to bring to life an everlasting story, woven around the fabric of Indian culture and tradition – epitomized in an Indian woman. This woman represents the essence of India, and she gradually induces the audience to appreciate and respect the deep-rooted spirit of India, that simmers under a flame of chaos and confusion.”

    Added Lal, “PDM is proud to be associated with PGP in bringing to Indian and foreign audiences, a colorful mosaic of Indian life in the form of Bharati. The opportunity to take India to the world seemed extremely unique and challenging. Add to that, the making of a world class product in India which compete against the ever so popular musicals like Riverdance and Mama Mia fuelled our desire to develop this extremely extravagant showcase. After two years of hard work and dedication by a diverse cross section of people from different cultures, today we are ready to launch. All this would not be possible without the backing and support of the esteemed Sahara India Pariwar. My greatest gratitude to them and best wishes to the cast and crew of Bharati.”

    Bharati is not just about India, it is about every man and woman who is either connected to or forced by circumstances to go away from his/her roots. The core message of the show is: Human nature likes to hold on to his roots, belong to his roots because a man’s roots are his identity.

    For musical score, Bharati will feature 14 greatest hits from Hindi films specially selected for their appeal to the western audience and choreographed for stage by well-known choreographers.

    The visualisation of the songs will be according to the situations in the musical and not according to the situation they were used in the films. All the songs will be specially orchestrated for the show and conducted and sung live on the stage. The visualisation will be achieved by combining innovative and imaginative sets with latest multi-media techniques used on stage currently in international musicals worldwide.

  • ‘The Apprentice’ legal tangle takes a fresh twist

    MUMBAI: It is all about the money honey! Reality television has generated ratings by showing the extent of participants’ unadulterated greed for money. It now seems that the people creating and marketing the shows are no different.

    A week ago the creator of the reality show The Apprentice Mark Burnett sued entertainment company Madison Road accusing it of telling advertisers that it has exclusive rights to broker agreements to place products on the show. Burnett had accused Madison Road of overcharging advertisers, demanded exorbitant fees and then pocketing money that should have gone to him.

    Now Madison Road has filed a countersuit seeking $40 million for defamation and trade libel.
     

    Madison Road disputes the claim in Burnett’s suit that it misrepresented its relationship with Burnett and charged up to 250 per cent more than Burnett’s fee for placements. The nasty fight stems from the two companies’ involvement in product placement deals with the successful NBC show. Most episodes involve contests showcasing brand-name products, such as a battle to see which team could sell more Mars and M&M candy bars.

    The Madison Road countersuit cites an e-mail purported to be from Kevin Harris, co-executive producer for Mark Burnett Productions, to Madison Road and AIM Productions, a New York-based product placement firm, asking for a $5 million fee for placements on the third season of The Apprentice.

    Madison Road has stated, “Burnett is the 800-pound gorilla who is making fabricated, defamatory and malicious accusations about Madison Road and then spreading those lies to third parties. Burnett is emulating the conniving, unethical and devious behavior that often leads to success for his reality show contestants.

    “Madison Road purchased from Mark Burnett’s companies the opportunity for a task sponsorship on The Apprentice on an episode by episode basis, and then marketed and sold those opportunities to sponsors for a fair fee based on the actual success of the programme. There was nothing underhanded about the manner in which Madison Road secured or sold the opportunities.

    “It was Burnett — not Madison Road — who drove up the price of getting a product front and center on The Apprentice to as much as $5 million. Then when the market wouldn’t bear his fees he looked for a scapegoat. Indeed it was Madison Road who began questioning the outlandish fees demanded by Burnett’s companies, not the other way around”.

    Madison Road has been credited with bringing Procter & Gamble’s Crest, Levi’s and Mars to The Apprentice and those three brands are mentioned in a letter purported to be from Harris thanking Madison Road and AIM for their help securing marketers for The Apprentice’s second season.
     
     

    Media reports indicate that Burnett filed his lawsuit was filed at the same time his company is expanding the internal team it uses to broker and manage branded-entertainment deals with advertisers for Survivor, The Apprentice, The Contender, the upcoming Rock Star and two upcoming shows starring Martha Stewart.