English Entertainment
This Koffee will be served at 11 pm
MUMBAI: If you thought Salman Khan’s confession about being a virgin on Koffee with Karan was a bit much, wait till you see this one…
Buzz is: an upcoming episode of the celebrity chat show featuring Freida Pinto and Nargis Fakhri has turned out so steamy that the channel has decided to serve the ‘adults only’ brew at 11 pm instead of the usual 9 pm slot.
While viewers wait for the drama to unfold on 2 March at 11pm, indiantelevision.com did some finding to know the motive behind the move.
Revealed Star India head of content – English GECs Rasika Tyagi: “The girls have been very naughty! Staying within the IBF guidelines, we didn’t want to air the episode before 11 pm. The alternative would have been to edit out a lot of the conversation, which we chose not to do. The episode is worth staying up late for.”
Apparently, both actresses were very forthcoming in their answers to Karan’s queries about love and sex. With Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) guidelines clearly stating that any person or group of persons can file a complaint against any programme broadcast on any TV channel if it violates social mores pertaining to sex and nudity, violence and crime, and gambling among others, channel heads were not comfortable airing the episode at the regular time. Also, Karan’s tweeting a picture of the duo saying: “Just shot the most hysterical Koffee episode with 2 very naughty girls…Freida Pinto and Nargis Fakhri!!!” didn’t help the situation.
It was a tough call but the channel decided to play by the book. Tyagi explained: “My point of view is that it will be counteractive to viewership to push the original slot from 9 to 11 pm and it may also have a viral impact for the following weeks. But we play by the rules.”
Star India general manager – English Channels Kevin Vaz echoed similar sentiments. “At the end of the day, we play by the law of the land. There is no two ways of us pushing the envelope or doing something which is not acceptable by the people. We follow very strict SMP guidelines. After the finish of the shoot of the episode, looking at some of the words and language that were used, we thought this should be telecast at late prime-time,” he said.
So have the viewers been informed? Post the episode this Sunday with Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla as guests, there will be on-air promos and in-show integrations communicating the change in timing. “We will have a ticker running to support the announcement and we will also be pushing this further through our digital and PR efforts,” informed Tyagi.
The vacant 9 pm slot will see a repeat of the episode featuring Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. “This was the funniest and yet, the most hard-hitting episode we’ve had on Koffee with Karan this year. On one side, we had crazy funny antics from Ranveer and on the other, we had a heart-wrenching story from Arjun. It’s a great story to re-live and that’s the one we will air on 2 March before we air the fresh episode of Nargis and Freida,” said Tyagi.
As for the Freida and Nargis episode, the uncensored edition will be telecast at 11 pm on 2 March while an edited version will be aired the following Sunday at 7 pm.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
