Entertainment - Hindi GECs out to woo back viewers with a slew of new shows

Swapa Rahul Shah

Feeling the need to give the audiences an extra hook to get on the Hindi GEC platforms, many channels have lined up a slew of new shows beginning December 1, 2008. Some of the weekend shows would be seen from December 12 and 13, 2008. Channels that are in the aggressive mode include Colors, which is launching four news shows this week; Zee TV is launching two new shows soon; Star Plus and NDTV Imagine have lined up new shows too.

The two new shows that Colors has launched in its 10.00 pm and 10.30 pm block to replace ‘Bigg Boss’ are ‘Uttaran’ and ‘Jaane Kya Baat Hui’. While both are daily dramas, there are two format shows lined over the weekends, which are ‘Dancing Queen’ that premieres on December 12, 2008, which would be on Friday and Saturday at 10.00 pm and ‘Chhote Miyan’ that launches on December 13, 2008 in the 9:00 pm block.

Colors has also acquired a slew of new movies such as ‘Jodha Akbar’, ‘Life in A Metro’, ‘Race’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Singh is King’, ‘Kismet Konnection’, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’, ‘Aap Ka Suroor’ amongst others.

‘Uttaran’ too would see a child protagonist, as seen in ‘Balika Vadhu’. A few media observers even state that the show has the ‘regression’ factor too. Ashvini Yardi, Programming Head, Colors, explained, “What we are addressing in ‘Balika Vadhu’ is a tradition that is still practiced in some parts in India. We are not being preachy, and it is clear that the way the audiences have reacted to show in the various markets that everyone relates to it. ‘Uttaran’ has nothing to do with any tradition but is more about destiny and life, and you never know which way the show moves.”

She also said that the concepts of the shows, that were made keeping family audiences in mind, required the kind of casting that it has. The scheduling of the programming is on the same lines that the channel has been following so far, which is moving from small towns to metros. While ‘Uttaran’ is Mumbai-based, ‘Jaane Kya...’ has a Delhi focus. Yardi elaborated further on the show that unlike most other dramas where it is extreme positive or negative female characters, ‘Jaane Kya...’ is about real emotions, and shows the grey shades. She said, “The female lead may just have an affair.”

The on-ground marketing of the shows would begin soon, and the tent-pole marketing property would be ‘Dancing Queen’.

The other new show that began on December 1, 2008 was ‘Aap ki Kachehri’ on Star Plus. Zee TV has marked ‘Choti Bahu’ and ‘Shrii’ for its primetime block over the next few days. Tarun Mehra, Business Head Zee TV, said, “There were so many highpoints and new launches that were planned and then the strike began. Now we are getting back on. The marketing activities are also on a high decibel and we have a 360 degree communications strategy in place for these initiatives.”

Amongst the new shows from NDTV Imagine ‘Oye! It’s Friday’ would launch on December 12, 2008 and comedy show ‘Still Moving, Still Shaking’ begins on December 14, 2008. Sony Entertainment Television’s Business Head Albert Almeida informed to exchange4media that it has not planned any new launches for now. Even as shooting has so far been happening only for ‘Remote Control’ for 9X, the channel has already begun promoting ‘Angad’ and ‘Ramlal’ as well.