Entertainment - NDTV Imagine on programme overdrive for first anniversary

Swapna Rahul Shah

NDTV Imagine is celebrating completion of its first year of operations with a slew of new programmes. Starting with the recently announced show ‘Ghar Ki Baat Hai’, produced by SRK’s Red Chillies Idiot Box, NDTV Imagine is planning to launch more shows in the next two months.

‘Ghar Ki Baat Hai’ is slated to go on air from January 30 at 9.30 pm and will be aired on Fridays and Saturdays.

Elaborating on the plans for 2009, Shailja Kejriwal, EVP - Content, NDTV Imagine, said, “We have a bouquet of new shows for 2009. Recently, we launched two new Balaji dramas – ‘Bandini’ and ‘Kitani Mohabbat Hai’ in the 10-11 pm time band. We also have SRK’s Red Chillies Entertainment producing a sitcom, ‘Ghar Ki Baat Hai’, that will add variety to our weekend slot. No other channel has any original sitcoms currently. There is one more upcoming show from Red Chillies, ‘Knights and Angels’, which is a talent hunt show that is expected to launch in March. There are also other shows such as ‘Jyoti’ and ‘Dehleez’, which are expected to go on air in February and March, respectively. We also plan to recreate the magic of the 70’s blockbuster film ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ into a TV series that will be produced by the Bohra Brothers. Add to this, our existing shows like ‘Oye! It’s Friday!’, ‘Radha Ki Betiyaan’, ‘Ramayan’, ‘Mahima Shani Dev’, etc., will also keep entertaining audiences with engaging, evolving content.”

Commenting on the year 2008, Kejriwal said, “For us at Imagine, the year has been a year of good learning. Our differentiated content like ‘Ramayan’ on prime time, ‘Radhaa Ki Betiyaan’, ‘Nachle Ve’ with Saroj Khan and ‘Jassuben Jayantilal Joshi Ki Joint Family’ was well received by audiences. 2008 has been a year of unforeseen events like the IPL tsunami, the television workers strike, the economic slowdown, the terror attacks, and we’ve had tremendous amount of learning from all of this.”

Adding on the growth drivers for broadcast in 2009, Kejriwal said, “There are many, but to mention some, the first is ‘Innovation in content’. The audience has begun to reject run-of-the-mill content and is also evolving their appetite for entertainment. They want new ideas, fresh concepts and variety. Second is the growth of the DTH platform with existing and new players, which will be a shot in the arm for us all because it expands the viewer base and also exposes us to a whole new set of audiences. And the third one is ‘Winning over advertisers with strategic offerings’. Given the current economic scenario, this will prove to be challenging and extremely exciting.”