Food
FoodFood appoints SK ‘Raj’ Barua as CEO
MUMBAI: Food and lifestyle channel FoodFood has appointed former Freemantle Media India managing director SK ‘Raj’ Barua as its CEO.
Though no formal announcement has been made, an industry source has confirmed the report.
Barua has more than two decades of experience in the broadcasting business, starting out with Discovery Communications India where he was VP finance from 1995-2007 and then elevated to CFO- Asia Pacific which he served from 2007 to 2009.
He joined Fremantle Media India in August 2009 where he was part of the start up team, which successfully got it going after a couple of false starts prior to that. It was under his watch that Fremantle Media India got shows like Indian Idol, India’s Got Talent, X Factor, among others off the ground.
Food
Rocky Singh takes Road Trippin to Uttar Pradesh for a flavour-packed season with an unexpected finale
The sixteenth season of the HistoryTV18 travel and food franchise rolls from Mathura to Lucknow before pulling a surprise detour to Chandigarh and Delhi
MUMBAI: Rocky Singh is back on the road, and this time Uttar Pradesh is the destination. Season 16 of Road Trippin With Rocky launches on 25th March on HistoryTV18 and across Rocky’s social media platforms, running through 31st March in what promises to be one of the more ambitious outings of a franchise that has quietly become one of Indian digital television’s most enduring food and travel properties.
The route this season threads through the heart of the state. The journey begins in Mathura, where Singh will visit local institutions Shankar Mithai Wala and Mittal Foods, before moving on to Agra. The city is better known for the Taj Mahal, but Singh is after its food trail, stopping at Gopal Das Petha Wala, GMB Gopika Sweets and Restaurant, and the irresistibly named Mama Chicken Mama Franky House. From Agra, the road leads to Kanpur, a bustling city with an underrated food scene, and then to Lucknow, the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy and the City of Nawabs, where the cuisine needs little introduction but Singh intends to show exactly what makes it tick.
And then comes the twist. Having reached Lucknow, the season does not end there. Singh unexpectedly turns north to Chandigarh, independent India’s first planned city, where he will explore how a leading university is shaping the next generation of hospitality professionals alongside the city’s iconic eateries. The journey concludes in Delhi, at its world-class airport, which the show frames as a reflection of the scale and ambition of modern India.
What began as a digital-first experiment has evolved, over 16 seasons, into one of HistoryTV18’s most commercially and creatively significant content franchises. The numbers are not modest. Road Trippin With Rocky has accumulated over 2 billion impressions and more than 570 million video views, built on a format that is spontaneous, mobile-first and designed for on-the-go viewing. Its tone has remained consistent enough to build a genuinely loyal following across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Sixteen seasons in, most travel food shows are running out of road. Singh appears to be finding new ones.
