The StAr with a pLuS !!!

Last week or may be last to last, I was reading an article regarding the TRP's of all popular channels and to my surprise ZEE TV was on the number one position defeating the utmost popular and rival channel STAR PLUS. And I ought to write "to my surprise" purposefully because STAR PLUS ruled the roost of being the Number One since a long time and ZEE on the other hand would always keep dwindling in between the third and fourth spot. But never mind, STAR PLUS was back to number one the very next week. So the point here is, how does Star always manage to be on the Number one spot. Lets rewind a little bit and go back to the time when STAR PLUS was launched........

" Star Plus logo till 13th July 2010 "

Star Plus was launched on 21st, February 1992 as Star TV initially being an English channel broadcasting content from the UK and US. Whereas Zee TV was the Hindi GEC. Later on Star ended its relationship with Zee and was acquired by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. Star was then transformed into a Hindi GEC in competition with Zee TV and MSM's Sony TV. Later in the year 1996, Star added a plus to its logo making it Star Plus. Initially Star PLus had a slow start with shows like Kora Kagaaz starring Renuka shahane and famous cricketer Salil Ankola and Neena Gupta's Saans, Rajdhani etc.

"A Still from the serial Saans"

Star Plus started gaining popularity when Balaji Telefilms came into picture and brought along with it the series of " K " serials like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kahin Kissi Roz to name a few. Also Kaun Banega Crorepati had its inception in the year 2000 gaining enormous TRP's for the channel simply taking it to the Numero Uno spot.

" Balaji Telefilms old Logo "

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi BahuThi was the main weapon for Star Plus that made Star a clear winner. It is one of the longest running Indian show with 1830 episodes over a span of 8 years. Acc. to Wikipedia, it maintained a double digit TRP for five consecutive years and clocked a whopping 22.1 TRP for a particular episode. Following Kyunki's footsteps Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki was the second most watched show and second longest running series with 1700 episodes and a TRP of 40.9, and the Third most watched show was Kasauti Zindagi Kay, which completed 1400 episodes and was the fifth longest running series in India. Kahin Kissi Roz, KumKum, Kavyanjali, Kahin to Hoga etc were other Hit shows which Star Plus broad casted over years. These factors clearly indicate how Star Plus managed to top the TRP charts with such an amazing lineup of shows. Zee Tv and Sony on the other hand were struggling to get even close to Star Plus. It wouldn't be completely wrong to say that Balaji made what Star Plus is today.

Even after Balaji's stint with Star Plus got over, Star Plus had maintained a strong foothold over the market and it continued to deliver Back to Back hit shows like Son Pari, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, Shararat, Tu Tu Main Main, Hatim, Khichdi etc. It revamped itself on 3rd April, 2010 with a new logo and a new Theme of "Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi". With this Star Plus seemed to have begun its new innings and indeed it did. Again new shows were brought in and each being super popular took Star Plus to new Heights. 

" New Logo of Star Plus unvieled at Star Pariwaar Awards"

Even today Star Plus is topping the TRP race with all of its shows like Saath Nibhaana Saathiya, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain, Diya aur Baati Hum etc grabbing amazing response. It would be interesting to see how long does Star Plus manage to be at No.1 with Zee getting very much close to it. Till then we know, Star Plus is going to entertain us for a long time and we as an audience are definately going to be glued to it. Way to go Star Plus !!!

Delicious Barfi !!!

Since a long time I was thinking to incorporate something related to films in my blog. But it was an extremely difficult task for me to actually start, because I didn't know about what movie I shall write about. The last movie I remember I liked was Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani. But then  There was no inner push to write something about it. And finally I happened to watch " Barfi ", after all the hype and interest it generated. And yes, it was true, like Ranbir's muteness, I have no words to describe Barfi. Director Anurag Basu has impressed me to leaps and bounds. It seems he had left no stone unturned in making this film a super cute romantic story. 

" Theatrical poster for Barfi "

What works for Barfi is the simplicity of the script, Though the narrative can be a little bit confusing at times, but in the end you come out with a smile on your face. Shot in the beautiful locales of Darjeeling, Director Anurag Basu has made perfect use of the Toy Train Train (the same used in the film Parineeta) in most of the scenes, the local  market shown on the tracks from where both Murphy and Jhilmil pass etc.

" Darjeeling Toy Train"

The film completely takes you inside Darjeeling and you find yourself amongst the characters, feeling every emotion and action they do. Ranbir Kapoor as Murphy (Barfi) once again delivers stunning performance with a challenging task of a Deaf and mute character. Ileana D'cruz as shruti does complete justice to her role too giving total support to Ranbir's character. Priyanka chopra as Jhilmil however was the best I feel, playing the character of an autistic girl. It takes immense practice to completely get inside such a challenging role which priyanka did beautifully. There are some scenes when you really feel pity for these people but then it is overshadowed by portraying them in positive ways. Both "Murphy" and "Jhilmil" being disabled are shown to be completely enjoying life to the fullest. The feeling of finding Joy and Happiness in small things, is what makes Barfi stand out amongst the crowd.

The narrative has a very different approach. A running shot is always combined with a flashback sequence or sometimes a different story and then you know how both the shots are related to one another. The moment when Murphy aka Ranbir expresses to shruti (Ileana) that he is heartbroken has been amazingly done. There are no words, just music, yet you can feel the pain Murphy is going through. The comic touch is just perfect which make you smile every time Murphy does a prank. The music is done by Pritam and all the songs are just melodious. The background scores are the best thing which keep you glued to shots where absolutely no dialogue is present.

The climax scene is picture perfect. The moment when Jhilmil is shouting and crying out to murphy and shruti has to decide whether she should tell Murphy about it is amazing. But then you know that there needs to be a happy end to every Hindi Film or else the cliched audience term it as a flop. To sum it all, Barfi is an extremely cute romantic love triangle where people with certain disability have been shown in absolute positive light, living life to the fullest without any complaints. It has a great message for people who neglect such people or always feel pity for them. Hats off to Anurag Basu for giving such an amazing masterpiece to Indian Cinema. If you yet haven't watched Barfi, then you are surely missing out on this cutie romantic story !!!

The " Idiot Box " goes DiGiTaL !!!

We have been watching Analog Television in our country since ages and had learnt to compromise for quality, be it picture or sound. No matter how much we crib to the cable operator for channel clarity issues, non availability of channels or any other related issues, the problem always remained intact. I remember one such issue when my local cable guy used to switch service providers very often which resulted in addition or subtraction of channels, and the worst thing was the change in ordering. My mom used to get completely irritated to find the channel that she always found on that specific number. Regardless of that, the "Chalta Hai " attitude still existed, no matter how much that cable guy was cursed. Then came DTH with superior quality sound, amazing picture quality and more number of channels. Of course DTH was a success but still there are a million homes where Analog cable still exists. And here enters the " DIGITISATION ACT" or "THE CABLE TELEVISION NETWORKS (REGULATION) AMENDMENT ACT".

According to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) the watchdog for Telecom and TV had recommended the government to go complete Digital by December 2013 in a phased manner. The four metro cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai are to be initially covered under the digitisation process of Phase-1 and the rest of India under Phase-2 and 3. Initially July 31st was the deadline set by the TRAI to go complete digital. Advertisements were run all over TV, Radio and print media. But there was opposition from MSO's (Multi system operators) like Hathway and Digicable that the deadline was too early and that it would be impossible to shut Analog services by July 31st.

Also the local cable operators needed more time to deal with various problems like consultation with MSO's, Availability of Set-Top Boxes which were already running short. Cable operators across Mumbai and Delhi, reportedly had moved court seeking an extension to the deadline Hence the deadline was further pushed to November 1, 2012 after it was known that only 25% of STB's (Set-Top Boxes) were placed till date across the four metros. The process of going completely Digital is not an easy task. A lot of awareness is still needed amongst people to switch to digital. MSO's have deployed quality STB's from different manufacturers like Humax, Kaon, Indieon, Cisco etc which are Fully compliant to MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818 TS Specifications and DVB-C Compliant. 

" Digicable Aspire 1000 Set Top Box provided by Indieon Technologies "

 

" Hathway STB provided by Skyworth "

 

These STB's provide high quality picture along with digital stereo sound. Plus it gives viewers 7 Day EPG (Electronic programming guide) through which users can have a complete list of the programs that the channel will be broadcasting over the week. Games, Internet on demand, channel lock, program reminder are other features available via these STB's. Also most of the MSO's now provide a minimum of 250 channels at affordable rates. Digicable recently increased its channel list from 250 to a whopping 500 which include not only TV channels but Radio channels too, making it " Asia's" first and only Operator to provide 500 channels at cheap rates. The DTH biggies like Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon d2h and others have geared up to grab maximum opportunity of the digitisation process and are also focusing to digitize the whole building instead of single apartments which are called Multi Dwelling Units (MDU). The benefits of Videocon d2h’s MDUs are clutter free terrace, systematic wiring, no line of sight issue, one single antenna and the cost.

 

 

Starting today, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all broadcasters will switch off transmission, at the same time at 7:58 pm, 8:58 pm and 9:58 pm to make way for an advertisement in both Hindi and English. the advertisement will end with a brief warning in English, “Go digital or go blank”, and in Hindi, “Set top box lagayein ya TV bhool jayein". As the deadline is nearing, all the Broadcasters are doing their best so that the viewers make the switch as soon as possible. The MSO's have geared up, STB's are being seeded in at cheaper rates and Tariffs are being lowered. Its high time that the transition from Analog to Digital takes place. Have you switched to DIGITAL Yet ????

-Consultation paper on DAS (Digital Addressable System)TRAI -

DAS- Digital Addressable System consultation paper- TRAI

Radio One goes the " ReBoOt " way !!!

Radio as a medium has always been fascinating me since childhood. I remember those days when my mom used to work at Churchgate and she used to take me to her office many times. That was the time when I spotted local vendors selling small FM Radio sets other than the normal stuffs, the portable ones which run on A4 Batteries. At that time, Radio City 91 FM (Now Radio City 91.1 FM) had an aggressive campaign going on in the city about its latest offering " Babbar Sher ". Everywhere I could see colourful posters, hoardings, umbrellas and there were ads on TV too. Out of curiosity, I forced mom to buy me a Radio set and I was completely glued to it all the time, may be because of which I am a Radio addict now. Mumbai had a few stations at that time which mostly played Hindi songs only. But there was only one station which played English songs 24*7 and it was " Go 92.5 FM " (Now Radio One FM 94.3).

" Radio One current Logo (couldn't find the original Go Fm's logo) "

Lets have a look at the transition and changes that Radio One went through over all these years. Radio one was launched as "Radio Mid-Day" in the year 1997 by "Mid-Day Ltd". Initially it used to play a mix of Hindi and English music and its only competitor was Millennium owned "Win 94.6 FM" and a little bit of AIR's "FM Rainbow" which had dedicated AM and PM slots for English music. Later on Radio Mid Day Re-Branded itself as "GO 92.5 FM" where 92.5 meant the Office working hours of 9 to 5 and it switched completely to English music making it the only station in Mumbai to broadcast English songs 24*7. Go 92.5 FM became an instant hit amongst the college going youth and "RJ Jaggu and Tarana" were the show stoppers for the station connecting instantly with the listeners. 

" RJ Jaggu and Tarana"

Go 92.5 FM had created for itself a special listener ship base, though not as much as in the Hindi music segment , but it still appealed to its listeners a lot. Go92.5 FM still smoked competition on all counts. But later on in the year 2006, on June 8th, Go 92.5 FM decided to turn into a complete Hindi Music station and Re-Branded itself as " Radio One FM 92.5" with the tag line "Masti Fataafat". It was very much obvious that Go 92.5 FM's listener ship was lost as there was now no Radio station playing English music 24*7. Win 94.6 FM had shut shop due to licensing issues and the only option left was AIR's 107.1 FM Rainbow. A listener wrote in one of the forums when Go FM Re-Branded " Sometime last week, Tarana started to speak Hindi more than usual and I thought I was hearing a tad too many Hindi songs. And today, Sunday, 9th April, I woke up to "Chura liya hai tumne" instead of T-Man's Old English songs on his Sunday Brunch show. So I'm guessing Go has gone full Hindi." Later on Radio One had to shift to a new frequency of 94.3 MHz in all cities(except in Ahmedabad where it broadcasts on 95 MHz because My FM broadcasts on 94.3 MHz) due to ADAG's 92.7 BIG FM entering the FM business.

Since then Radio One broadcasted only Hindi music content until now in the month of February 2012, Next Media Works (Formerly Mid-Day ltd) in a joint venture with BBC Worldwide again Re-positioned itself as a 24*7 English Music station in Mumbai and Delhi delivering purely International content. All present Rj's were replaced with new ones suiting the stations new genre. A post on the Internet read "An English FM radio station in Mumbai and Delhi may add a fair deal of differentiation in music, but what remains to be seen is how advertiser-friendly it will be, given that listener ship levels are lower than those playing just Hindi music." When Fever 104 FM was launched in Mumbai, it played a mix of English and Hindi content but later on switched completely to Hindi music content due to less listener ship for English content. This creates a dilemma whether Radio One with its continuous genre shift will be able to survive in the market with huge competitors like ENIL's Radio Mirchi, Red FM and Radio City. If RAM Ratings are to be considered, Radio one is placed at the 8th position sharing space with Oye 104.8 FM in most of the cities which isn't a very good spot to be. It would be interesting to see how Radio One differentiates content amongst the english loving audience and whether it will be able to stick to its genre or switch back to Hindi once again. Way to go Radio One !!!

RJ Malishka shouts Bajaate Raho @ Zurich !!!

Radio as a medium, is a rich source of information. The first ever radio-broadcasting came to the face of Earth in 1906, it was made possible by Mr. Reginald Aubrey Fessenden. Eleven years before the independence, the All India Radio (AIR) was formally launched in 1936. Through its six channels, only News was being broadcasted. It was in 1952 that the First National Programme of Music broadcast was telecasted from AIR. Privatisation of radio began in the early 90's. Radio City was the first pvt station to be launched in India in the city of Bangalore (Now Bengaluru) in the year 2001, eventually followed by Radio Mirchi and the others in different parts of the country. When we talk about RJ's or the Radio Jockey's, how can one not talk about our very own Malishka from  93.5 Red FM, Mumbai.

 Malishka hosts the "Morning No.1 " show on " 93.5 RED FM , Mumbai" and it is the most loved show on radio. Recently Malishka has been selected to represent India at the International Radio Festival (IRF) in Zurich, in the month of September. Why Malishka???? Lets see, what makes Malishka the most preferred Radio Jockey among the others......

Before joining Red FM, Malishka was a radio jockey at Win 94.6 FM, a pvt radio station owned by Millennium. WIN 94.6 FM surrendered its license to protest against high enforcement of taxes from a radio channel. That is when Malishka joined Red FM with her Breakfast show "Morning No.1" and the show was an instant hit. Malishka has won several awards for her show. It is her crisp and quirky voice that makes any topic interesting. She has also won the " RAPA Award for Best Female Radio Jockey- Hindi". She has also trained Vidya Balan for her role as an RJ in the film " Lage Raho Munna Bhai ". 

"

"Malishka wins award for best show at IRF "

There are 9 Radio stations in Mumbai including two public radio stations with many RJ's. But still Malishka clearly emerges as the winner for every Mumbaikar. She has an impeccable way of dealing with topics, sometimes hilarious though, but this is what makes the connection between her and every Mumbaikar. I am thankful enough that I had a chance to meet Malishka in real life, through " RED FM- Vote for boat campaign" and indeed she is bubbly, very cheerful, Happy go lucky person and always smiling. The fact that Malishka is the choosen one amongst the more than 100 entries from radio jocks and radio show producers from more than 70 private and public FM radio stations all over India proves her hard work and popularity amongst masses. RJ Malishka and her show producer Naheed will go live with their radio show from the magnificent castle of Schloss Sihlberg, Zurich to entertain the international audience in Europe. The show will also be aired on Red FM 93.5 in India.

We congratulate Malishka and wish her All The Best, we know that she is going to emerge as a clear winner. It would be incomplete for me to end this article here without saying this.........." Bajaate Raho Malishka !!! "

Devon Ke Dev Mahadev........A Success !!!

According to my dad, there was a time when people used to run to their homes just to watch Ramayan and Mahabharat on Doordarshan, the then sole broadcaster for television. These were the two epic mythological shows which people would never ever forget throughout their lives. Times changed and the way mythological shows were produced also changed. A number of other mythological shows sprung up in years but none were able to match the standards that Ramayan and Mahabharat had set. Rani laxmi bai, Jhansi ki rani, Chandragupta maurya and more such shows were produced in the recent years which ultimately shut shop due to dipping TRP's. Then came Triangle Film Company's "Devon Ke Dev Mahadev" on Life OK which proved to be a huge success. What was the reason that Mahadev gained such huge popularity???

Devon Ke Dev Mahadev was launched on December 18, 2011 on the newly born Life OK channel formerly known as Star One. It is produced by Triangle Films Company where Nikhil Sinha is the producer and Anirudh Pathak is the Creative producer/director for Life OK. It portrays the life of Lord shiva and his journey of getting married to Sati and later known as Parvati (Re-incarnated).The show has also been the highest TRP grosser for the channel and has seen a steady growth in viewership since its launch. Being placed at the prime time band at 8pm, the show looses out from being in the top ten watched shows because of other Saas-bahu shows on other channels. According to me there are a number of points responsible for the popularity of this show. Lets have a look at a few points:

To begin with, Casting is the most important ingredient for the success of any show. Two people having perfect chemistry adds life to the characters. Mohit Raina as Shiv and Mouni Roy as Sati proved to be a boon for the show.

Mohit Raina's impeccable expressions depicting anger, happiness and almost every other feeling is worth watching. Whereas Mouni Roy did absolute justice to Sati's character by portraying every emotion the character of sati required, the grace, the posture, the anger and the love towards Mahadev. Even the characters of Prajapati Daksh, Prasuti, Lord Vishnu, Lord Bramha, Devi Laxmi and every other character has been spectacularly choosen. There is not a single character which can be complained about. Coming to the casting of Parvati played by Sonarika Bhadoria, initially it was difficult to accept her, as Mouni had set a benchmark while playing the character of Sati. Still, with time, she improved a lot and now people have accepted her well as Parvati.

The second best thing about the show is the Soundtracks. The title montage opens with the track "shiv shiv shiv shiv....." 

Link- " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH3SFITdDIw "

The music is composed by Sandeep Mukherjee, Karthik and Bawra Brothers. The song " Karpur Gauram Karunavataaram" is the official Theme song played mostly during the show. A number of other melodious songs were played during the show which was liked very much by the audience. Famous pakhawaj player Pt. Bhavani Shankar recorded an original composition for the Tandav sequence shown after Sati's demise.

The next best thing on the list will definitely be the Lavish Sets, Aesthetic costume and amazing Make Up which give Mahadev a beautiful and complete look. 

The beautiful Drapes, Colorful Saree's, Jewellery and almost everything has been given very fine detailing which adds up more life to any character. The costumes are royal and vibrant . The Make up on the other hand for Mahadev was just eye pleasing. Nobody could have ever imagined a better Mahadev than this. Even the Rudra Avataar and Veerbhadra Avataar make up was amazingly done. 

There are promos on air for an upcoming episode where Parvati is shown as Goddess Kaali which again has stunning makeup. One would be shocked to know that Mohit Raina takes almost 90 minutes to don the complete Mahadev attire.

In all, there is no one sole thing that can be given credit for the success of Mahadev. People from all age groups can easily relate to Mahadev and have very well made Mahadev a part of their lives. One such personal incident i would love to share regarding Mahadev which happened very recently while travelling to college. There was this guy in his early twenties, who got in to the train from Borivali. He was watching "Mahadev" on his Blackberry which proves how successful the show has been and how not only elder people, but also teenagers are influenced greatly by its amazing storyline and realistic portrayal. I am a great follower of Devon ke Dev Mahadev and do not miss even a single episode. I hope people who are addicted to Saas-bahu dramas take out some time and at least for once watch such an amazing content along with thier family and children which is called  Devon Ke Dev Mahadev !!!