News Broadcasting
Its a great beat for a good cause on Antakshari
Instead of politicians dancing to popular tunes it was people who were dancing to politicians' tunes last Friday when leaders from different parties participated in a Special Antakshari show organised by Zee TV.
Zee marked the completion of 400 Antakshari episodes by organising 14 charity fund-raising programmes in aid of victims of the recent Gujarat earthquake. The exotic sets in Essel World's Water Kingdom situated near the western Mumbai suburb of Borivli was all glitter what with political heavyweights like Chhagan Bhujbal, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, making their presence felt. Bhujbal did quite a star turn on the drums and struck up a lively beat. He started with the patriotic Mere desh ki Dharti and later Sare jahaan se achcha Hindustan hamara where he was accompanied by Renuka Chaudhary of Congress for Parwane. The Diwane team comprised of Gulab Nabi Azad and his wife Shamim. Azad sang the original Kashmiri version of Bumbro Bumbro from Mission Kashmir. The Mastane team comprised of Kirit Somaiya of BJP and Girija Vyas of Congress. Antakshari's former hostesses Renuka Shahane and Durga Jasraj along with Rajeshwari provided singing support to the participants while Anu Kapoor anchored the show.
Team Deewane: Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad with wife Shameem Azhar; Team Parwane: Bhujbal and Renuka Chaudhary of the Congress; Team Mastane: Kirit Somaiya and Girija Vyas of the BJP. Standing is Antakshari host Anu Kapoor. From left: Durga Jasraj, Renuka Shahane (both former co-hosts) and Rajeshwari (present co-host) are also seen.
Bhujbal and Chaudhary on the Diwane won the contest and a cheque of Rs 100,000 which they promptly returned to the organisers. Kalraj Mishra, chief of the Utter Pradesh BJP unit, presented the cheque to Maya Dave, one of those left homeless by the Gujarat earthquake.
The politicians enjoyed their new role, while the audience also enjoyed every bit of it, especially the singing efforts of Kirit Somaiya. "I enjoyed it thoroughly," Renuka Chaudhary, who had flown down from Delhi specifically for the programme, said.
Ashok Goyal, who heads the Essel group, announced that RS 1 million from the earnings of Antakshari would go to the Zee TV earthquake relief fund. While elaborating on the relief work carried out by Zee TV, he said the estimated cost of relief work for the village adopted by Zee TV was in the region of RS 80-100 million.
Among the celebrities who graced the occasion was music maestro OP Nayyar.
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
