Reality shows have now adopted the straight-from-home concept in a bid to get more viewers and participants from across India
Radhika Bhirani (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 11, 2020)

The reality of present times is driving a ‘new normal’ for reality TV shows. Entertainment channels are tapping into digital opportunities to set the ball rolling for their non-fiction content, in an attempt to not just woo a new set of viewers, but also to open up an alternate gateway to push participation from across the country.

For the first time, Kaun Banega Crorepati, for its 12th season, has rolled out a 100% digital selection and screening process for its contestants, amid the lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“The fact that a large number people are homebound and spending long hours on TV and digital media, made it conducive, says Ashish Golwalkar, head — Content, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and Digital Business. “We expect the participation to grow exponentially,” he adds, revealing that a digital process will soon be announced for their shows Super Dancer and Indian Idol, too.

There’s also Dance Deewane 3, which is employing a virtual screening process, enabling participants to stay safe and audition from their homes, through an app. The response has been “overwhelming”, says Manisha Sharma, head of content, Colors, adding: “We clocked 1,000+ entries in just two days. There’s no reason one should lose hope. We want our viewers to stay motivated during these tough times.”

Apart from that, viewer engagement is a key reason why MTV has formulated original content. While a first-of-its kind virtual audition for a wild card entry is happening for Roadies Revolution, the channel is also showcasing straight-from-home concepts such as Hustle From Home, a six-part series with rappers jamming from home, and Ace Quarantine, which has contestants trying to ‘ace the quarantine’ with specific tasks.

Be it amid the lockdown or even for the immediate future, straight-from-home content is becoming the norm, believes Ferzad Palia, head of Voot Select, Youth, Music, and English Entertainment, Viacom18. “Our properties have bridged the gap for new content on television. We’re adapting to the new normal,” says Palia, adding that shows riding on repute, such as Roadies, will continue to get traction.

Talking of that, to mark 25 years of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Zee’s flagship music reality show, the channel has planned a 25-hour music marathon on the web, with a concert with well-known names singing from the confines of their homes. “It’ll surely help uplift the mood of people across the world during the lockdown,” says singer Udit Narayan.

The #MeToo accused music composer says, no one asked him to step down but he did so as his name was being sullied; promises to be back after getting a clean chit
Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; November 23, 2019)

After the relentless outcry against him on social media over #MeToo allegations, music composer Anu Malik has decided to step down as the judge of the music reality show Indian Idol 11. On November 21, Anu announced his departure.

Singer Sona Mohapatra had accused Anu of alleged sexual misconduct in 2018. This year, singers Shweta Pandit and Neha Bhasin have made similar allegations against him. A few days ago, Anu wrote on social media claiming that “false, unverified allegations” were levied against him, and that he is “in pain”. Sona responded on Anu’s post, and she gained immense support on social media, on demanding Anu’s removal from the show.

Talking about this decision, Anu says, “I’ve not quit the show. I’ve taken a three-week break. I want to clear my name and return. If anyone is saying things against me again and again on social media, it gets to you. I wrote a post on Instagram explaining that I’m in pain and in a dark space. This twitter campaign has been going on for a while now, and I am tired of these false, malicious accusations. The best thing is to clear your name and go back to business.”

Anu reveals that Sony TV hasn’t asked him “to quit”. “Sony has been supportive. Last season, I quit (after the accusations) and this year, they got me back. They would not have brought me back if I wasn’t clear. If they had any doubts, they wouldn’t have approached me. This time, I told them that I’ll be back after clearing my name,” he asserts.

Ask him how he plans to come out clear, and Anu says, “That’s up to me. It’s sad that people have forgotten that I’ve made great music for 42 years. They’re trying to demonise me on Twitter now. It affects me, but I’m not here to fight a war with Twitterati. Log kuch bol rahe hain, par bhagwan hai. My name will be cleared. This has affected my creativity. It has been going on for long now, and now I want to end it.”

ACP Pradyuman, Shivaji Satam, on the channel’s decision to pull the plug on the crime drama series; producer–director BP Singh promises CID will be back but unsure of format, cast, budget
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 24, 2018)

Shivaji Satam who played ACP Pradyuman, the lead character of the popular crime drama CID, for 21 years is shocked by the channel’s sudden decision to pull the plug on the show. “CID has become a part of our lives. It is like someone has cut off an organ from our body,” said the distraught actor who was shooting for a Marathi film on the outskirts of Pune. He will return to Mumbai after a week, after which he plans to meet the team and discuss what is going to be their next course of action.

On Tuesday, Sony Entertainment Television released a statement: “Having completed 20 years, CID is the longest running cult show on Sony Entertainment Television. It has been a great journey so far, along with Fireworks Productions, CID will now take an intermittent break starting 28th October, 2018. The last episode of the show will be aired on 27th October, 2018. The show will gear up for a renewed season with a lot more contextual cases keeping alive the thrill that the audience has experienced so far.”

Satam revealed that they have banked three-four episodes, shot around 15 days ago. "Now that the channel has decided to abruptly end the show, I don’t know if they will even be aired,” he rued, admitting that the decision has come as much as a shock to him as it has to the many CID fans going by the calls and messages he has been inundated with since the announcement. “Everyone is equally stunned by the news. I don’t know if the channel will want us back. We weren’t even officially informed that it's going off air,” he groused. Reflecting on the show's two-decade run, Satam sighed that it is the fans they will miss the most. "We've been entertaining them all these years.”

Creator, producer and director B P Singh told Mirror that he plans to bring the show back in a few months. "We will propose and the channel will decide in what format it will return. It may not be episodic anymore. The cast too will be decided depending on their decision," he pointed out, adding, "Though we have a strong fan base, we are now competing with the web series. The most crucial thing is the budget which will not be as much as before,” he concluded.

HIGHLIGHTS

♦ CID started airing from 1998 even though the pilot episode was shot five years before. The longest running television series in India, it completed 21 years in April 2018.

♦ The crime drama entered the Guinness Book of World Records and the Limca Book of Records in November 2004 for the longest single shot of 111 minutes without any cuts. The episode, The inheritance, was shot in Lonavala on October 8, 2004, and telecast without a break on November 7, 2004.

♦ The show has been dubbed in various Indian languages, including Telugu, Tamil and Bengali.

♦ Many actors have made an appearance on CID to promote their upcoming films, including Salman Khan, Emran Hashmi, Sonakshi Sinha, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ajay Devgn, Aamir Khan and Sunny Deol .

♦ It aired in Pakistan too and has been shot in countries like Uzbekistan, France and Switzerland.

MUMBAI MIRROR (October 22, 2018)

CID, one of the longest running shows of Indian television, which has been entertaining audience for the past 21 years is all set to bid adieu to its fans. CID will air its last episode on October 27, 2018. The police procedural show that airs on weekends has completed 1546 episodes.

CID has given the small screen some memorable characters like Shivaji Satam as ACP Pradyuman, Aditya Shrivastav and Dayanand Shetty as Senior Inspectors Abhijeet and Daya respectively, and Dinesh Phadnis as Inspector Fredricks.

The show was recently taken off air for a brief period but had to be brought back on popular demand.

CID that kick-started in 1998, has been running for almost two decades now. 20 years and the show has managed to survive all odds and how. From the characters to the dialogues, CID has been a cult show. The show recently had a huge celebration as turn completed 20 years.

When contacted, Dayanand Shetty who plays Daya on the show confirmed the news and said, "Yes, it's true. We were recently informed about this development and we stopped shooting for the show some 4/5 days back. This Saturday (October 27, 2018) telecast will be the last episode of CID."

Talking about the show Daya added, "We were in our 21st year and had we shot for few episodes, we would have entered our 22nd year. It is quite unfortunate thing to happen as we were shooting like always and suddenly we were informed by our Producer (B.P Singh) that the shooting has been called-off indefinitely because there were issues with the channel. I am going to miss the character, but we feel sad for the audience as they enjoyed the show and it was doing well. The entire cast and crew is very dedicated towards their work and we are like a big happy family. We are going to miss each other as this was our second home."

Composer duo Salim-Sulaiman to be first guests to step in for him
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 22, 2018)

Singer-composer Anu Malik will no longer judge the singing reality show, Indian Idol. Sony Entertainment Television released an official statement on Sunday stating that Anu is no longer a part of the jury panel. “The show will continue according to its planned schedule and we will invite some of the biggest names in Indian music as guests to join Vishal Dadlani and Neha Kakkar to judge the extraordinary talent of Indian Idol season 10,” the statement read. Buzz is, the decision was taken following sexual harassment allegations levelled against him. Anu has been a part of this talent hunt contest right from its first season in 2005.

This is the tenth season. When contacted, the 57-yearold Anu insisted that the decision was his. “I asked the channel for a break because I’m not in the state of mind to work at the moment and they agreed,” he stated. When asked if he will make a comeback soon, he turned evasive, “I don’t know at the moment, let’s see.”

Anu was recently outed by singers Shweta Pandit and Sona Mohapatra, following which two more survivors opened up on their horrific experiences with the Bollywood veteran. When asked, he refused to comment on whether he is planning to take any legal action against these women.
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Will YRF take action against Malik?

MID-DAY (October 22, 2018)

After several women accused Anu Malik of sexual harassment — including three survivors who opened up to mid-day about how he had misbehaved with them — he was dropped from Indian Idol on Sunday. "Anu Malik is no longer a part of Indian Idol jury panel. The show will continue its planned schedule and we'll invite some of the biggest names in Indian music as guests to join Vishal and Neha to judge extraordinary talent of Indian Idol Season 10," read the channel's statement. Malik is also the music composer on board Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. It remains to be seen whether Yash Raj Films, the studio backing the project, will take action against him.

Sunil Grover won’t reunite with Kapil Sharma but insists he doesn’t hold grudges
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 27, 2017)

It’s been a month since Sunil Grover walked out of Kapil Sharma’s eponymous comedy show following a mid-air brawl on their way back from a live event in Melbourne. While the widely-reported incident sparked off countless speculations, Sunil isn’t ready to disclose what exactly happened. He only says he won’t be returning to The Kapil Sharma Show even though he doesn’t believe in holding grudges.

“I’m here to work, not to have an argument with somebody and walk out of shows. I just want to make people laugh. Whatever happened was unfortunate, emergency landing ho gayi meri,” he quips.

His unceremonious exit sparked three more walk-outs, by co-stars Ali Asgar, Chandan Prabhakar and Sugandha Mishra, who quit as a show of solidarity. Incidentally, ratings have plummeted since, with the show dropping out of the top 10 chart for the first time. “Ratings are not in anybody’s control. Even I have done a show (Mad in India on Star Plus), where the ratings didn’t meet expectations. If I was good with that system, I’d be working every day and doing 10 shows,” Sunil reasons.

It must have stung to have missed the 100-episode celebrations of a show he had been with since its inception? “It did but maybe it’s destiny,” he says fatalistically, adding that he is conscious of the fact that the audience enjoyed watching his Mashoor Gulati and Rinku Bhabhi’s verbal spars with Kapil on the show. Putting an end to a long and successful collaboration like that must have felt like a big risk. “Of course the association had been successful and I think Kapil is extremely talented and I wish him luck.”

Sunil goes on to say that he will be always be grateful to the platform and the characters the show provided but points out that the intellectual rights for these characters are with Sony (the channel on which Kapil’s show currently airs). “I can do these characters on live shows but not for another channel,” he points out.

Sunil’s big screen stint has also been riddled with controversies. After playing father to Shraddha Kapoor in Baaghi, the actor-comedian appeared in his first lead role in the January release Coffee With D but refused to promote it following an altercation with the film’s team. He subsequently took to the social media to reason, “How do I promote something I don’t know what is in it. Makers had promised me to show the film, they did not. Kal Kal karte Kalyug aa Gaya (sic).”

Revisiting the episode makes him laugh. “Mujhe graha pooja karani padegi shayad. You learn from experiences like these and move on. I am open to doing more films because I’m not a comedian. It’s very difficult to be one. I am an actor who makes caricatures out of characters,” he asserts.

Currently in transit on TV, Sunil has taken to making appearances on other Sony shows like Indian Idol and Sabse Bada Kalakar. “The channel has been kind. Mahine mein ek aisa episode ho toh meri EMI (Easy Monthly Installments) nikal jaati hai,” he smiles.

What’s next? “There are offers from 10 places but there is no point talking about them till something materialises. Right now, I’m not in the state of mind to lock anything. I need to understand what I’m getting into first,” he signs off.

Upala KBR (DNA; August 19, 2016)


Says a source, “Hrithik has made a deal with Star TV for the exclusive privilege of premiering and broadcasting of all his films releasing in 2017. While Hrithik had brokered this deal himself, sometimes a production house and a TV network do it too for specific films or a certain number of films as a package. In Aditya Chopra’s case, he has brokered a deal with a rival TV channel, Sony, for the films produced by his banner.

When Salman Khan signed Sultan, YRF allowed him to give the satellite rights of the film to Star, but in Hrithik’s case, for Thug, Adi wanted to pay him off with a certain amount, but not give him the satellite rights as he had to stick to his own contract with Sony. This irked Hrithik who was adamant about sticking to his commitment. Says a source, “His stand was, if Salman got his satellite rights, why not me? It was a matter of principle and he couldn’t understand why the differenciation. Once Hrithik walked off, Aamir was approached as he doesn’t take satellite rights, only a fee and back-end of the profits.”
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Insiders blame Duggu’s exit on a Rs 60cr fee demand
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; August 19, 2016)

A trade source on the condition of anonymity reveals, “Hrithik asked YRF for a hefty fee of Rs 60 crore for Thug, which Aditya Chopra felt was too high. They tried to negotiate but when they couldn’t reach an understanding, they decided to part ways.”

Adds our source, “Even superstars like Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir Khan have a reasonable take-home. They are bankable stars and still charge into a profit-sharing agreement with production houses. Hrithik didn’t want that. He wanted a flat fee of Rs 60 crore and that was outright rejected by Adi. Profit sharing also means that the actor might not make major moolah if his film fails to work at the BO. So it’s risky, which is why Hrithik perhaps wanted a flat fee, which is safe.”

Being an adventure saga, Thug will be an expensive film. Add to it, Hrithik’s Rs 60 crore demand and the film would have had to make over Rs 250 crore to break even. With Hrithik at the helm, that figure was gettable, but not a certainty. With Aamir’s record, the rs 250 crore-mark is a sure-shot. And with AK accepting Thug on a profit-sharing basis, the film will not be loaded with extra cost. All’s well that ends well?

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 5, 2016)

On January 24, the curtains came down on Comedy Nights with Kapil after two-and-a-half years. Ali Asgar, Kiku Sharda, Sumona Chakravarti, Upasana Singh and Sunil Grover were with Kapil Sharma, bidding a tearful adieu.

A week later, on January 31, Krushna Abhishek took over as host, with stand-up artistes Bharti Singh and Sudesh Lehri for company. The popular show has been renamed Comedy Nights Live.

Meanwhile, if the buzzvine is to be believed, the stand-up comedian-turned-Bollywood actor, Kapil, is all set to move with his biggest property to a rival channel. While some have been speculating that the channel could be Star, Mirror has learnt that discussions with Sony are in the final stages.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Sunil Grover who played Guthi and Kapil's father-in-law on the original show, posted from a fake Facebook account, 'Soon on sony dnt miss take care luv u all(sic)'. That was enough to fan speculations, but Sunil was quick to refute the rumour, "Somebody who is right now jobless like me, posting from a fake Facebook account. Kindly ignore. My original page is verified by Facebook." The official page of the social networking site had a profile picture of him, not in get-up and the cryptic message, 'See you soon.' He also wrote on his official Twitter handle, 'I want to wear make up soon. See you soon. Before monsoon.' However, he didn't clarify if he would be joining hands with Kapil again.

Meanwhile, a source told Mirror that Kapil's show will be back on Sony by mid-year with most of the original cast being retained. The channel refused to comment.