GECs
Saregama to launch entertainment portal
MUMBAI: As part of its restructuring strategy, India’s oldest music company Saregama is increasing its digital presence. The RPG Group firm is launching an entertainment portal where it will make available music, movies and a whole host of other products.
Consumers can download music through the portal and movies will be added on. “We will have a subscription and ad revenue model as well. The portal is likely to be called saregama.com. The aim is to make the portal the digital supermarket of entertainment,” says RPG Enterprises – Entertainment Sector president and CEO Subroto Chattopadhyay.
Saregama generates 15 per cent of its revenues from the digital format. The company’s turnover stood at Rs 1.19 billion during the fiscal ended 31 March 2006.
Saregama has also digitised 190,000 out of the 300,000 tracks it owns. “We will have the remaining content digitised. We will start work on it by April-May. We have a vast library of content. During the digitisation process, we discovered that we had 30,000 tracks in Tamil. The challenge is for us to go out and make our products locally relevant,” says Chattopadhyay.
The company is making a re-entry into films and has taken on board BR Sharan of Lalita-ji Surf ad fame and noted film actor-director Aparna Sen who will look after the Hindi and Bangla movies. “We will be producing movies in these two languages initially. We have taken in Sharan and Sen for this purpose,” says Chattopadhyay.
Saregama is also going to produce TV content in Hindi and Bangla. Sharan, Sen and noted cinematographer Vijaylakshmi will be taking care of the TV content business as well. The company already produces 14 hours of programming per week for the Sun network channels.
GECs
Asianet Television Awards 2026 celebrates women power in Malayalam TV
“She is the Colour” theme honours icons as ceremony airs on March 14 and 15 at 7 PM.
MUMBAI: If television lights up living rooms, this year Asianet decided to let women provide the colour. The Asianet Television Awards 2026 turned the spotlight firmly on women empowerment with the theme “She is the Colour”, celebrating the strength, resilience and achievements of women who continue to shape society and the Malayalam entertainment industry.
The ceremony honoured several distinguished personalities whose journeys have left a lasting cultural imprint. Among them was legendary playback singer Vimala Varma, widely recognised as the first Malayalam playback singer. The evening also paid tribute to Padma Shri awardees Devaki Amma and Vimala Menon for their exceptional contributions in their respective fields.
Leading women from the Malayalam film industry were also recognised during the event, including actor Shweta Menon, who currently serves as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, and National Award winning actor Surabhi Lakshmi.
The awards ceremony brought together a glittering lineup of actors and industry figures, including Jayasurya, Vijay Babu, Asha Sarath, Lena, Esther Anil, Anumol, Akhila Bhargavan, Sarayu Mohan, Prajod Kalabhavan, Gayathri Suresh, Sabumon Abdusamad, Swasika, Tini Tom, Sijoy Varghese, Kailash, Veena Nandakumar, Sabareesh Varma, Ansiba Hassan and Dinesh Prabhakar. Kishan Kumar, executive vice president Malayalam at JioStar, was also present at the event.
Beyond individual recognitions, the awards celebrated excellence across Malayalam television, acknowledging artists and technicians whose work continues to drive the industry forward.
The evening also offered plenty of spectacle, with elaborate dance performances, stunt acts and comedy skits performed by popular television and film personalities, turning the ceremony into a full fledged entertainment showcase.
Viewers will get to watch the celebrations when the Asianet Television Awards 2026 air on Asianet on March 14 and 15, Saturday and Sunday, from 7 pm onwards, bringing the star studded tribute to homes across Kerala and beyond.
