News Broadcasting
Paresh Rawal show to debut with Malini Iyer on Sahara
MUMBAI: This time round, Sahara Manoranjan is playing it safe.
The channel’s big ticket show of the year, the Sridevi starrer Humari Bahu Malini Iyer, that kicks off on 19 January, will be telecast twice a week, Mondays and Tuesdays at 9 pm. Unlike most other soaps on rival channels, the half hour show is being innovatively slotted, a programming strategy undertaken thus far only by Sab TV.
To debut the same week and in a similar style is Paresh Rawal’s Bhagwan Bachaye, a comedy constructed on similar lines as Rawal’s earlier production Shubh Mangal Savdhan, the reasonably popular comedy show that wound up mid 2003. Bhagwan Bachaye will air Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9 pm. Both Malini Iyer and Bhagwan Bachaye will precede Karishma – The Miracles of Destiny, the Karisma Kapoor starrer that was expected to set the ratings on fire, but has thus far not managed to stoke up much warmth. Karishma though has picked up slowly in the TRP stakes and the channel expects the two forthcoming soaps to lure in more viewers for Sahara’s primetime.
Promotions for the Sridevi show are set to rival those that marked the first launch of Karishma, though officials are loath to put a figure to the promotional activity. At least 150 hoardings have gone up across the country, most replacing the earlier Karishma ads. Between 150 to 200 cinema theatres in India currently airing the Sanjay Dutt starrer Munnabhai MBBS have the Malini Iyer promos running, as Sahara TV president Satish Menon believes that the movie watching public would be potential keen viewers of the Sridevi soap.
A fresh on air campaign is ready to kick off next Monday on Sahara Manoranjan, succeeding the teaser campaign that had Malini as a sihoutte on a green background, with the tagline ‘Malini Iyer aa rahee hai’, while 60 30-feet cutouts of Malini Iyer are shortly going up at vantage points in 10 cities, says Menon. This is in addition to a massive postering exercise launched to familiarise the viewer with Malini, and a mobile van exercise targeting Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and the rest of Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) that will have dishes downloading satellite signals to enable passersby to view the channel as well as promos of Malini Iyer.
An innovative tack are Malini Iyer tablemats with contests printed on them, distributed to nearly 850 to 900 restaurants throughout the country, as also hoardings that have been taken up down South for the first time as a Sridevi show is likely to generate interest in a territory otherwise averse to Hindi soaps.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to host Kolkata Town Hall on Hooghly River
‘Bhalobasa Bengal Inspiring Bharat’ event on April 20 brings cultural icons, trailblazing women and leaders aboard a cruise to celebrate Bengal’s enduring influence.
MUMBAI: Bengal is about to make fresh waves on the Hooghly and this time the current is pure conversation. CNN-News18 is taking its iconic Town Hall format to the waters of the iconic Hooghly River on 20 April 2026 with a special edition titled ‘Bhalobasa Bengal – Inspiring Bharat’. The floating event will celebrate the state’s rich cultural legacy and how its ideas, creativity and spirit continue to shape the rest of the country.
The unique riverside setting draws on Bengal’s history as a cradle of reform, art and intellectual thought. The speaker line-up mirrors that diversity: cultural heavyweights Mithun Chakraborty and Sreenanda Shankar will share the stage with trailblazing “Devis” such as Tanya Sanyal (India’s first woman firefighter in aviation), Ipsita Chakraborty (Kolkata’s first woman bartender) and Reshma Nilofer Visalakshi (Nari Shakti awardee and marine pilot). Music will flow through the celebrated pianist-vocalist duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, while public life and governance will be represented by Smriti Irani, Leander Paes, Saira Shah Halim, Keya Ghosh, Rekha Patra, Roopa Ganguly and Babul Supriyo.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director, Rahul Shivshankar, said the event honours voices that carry Bengal’s legacy forward. Smriti Mehra, CEO – English & Business News, Network18, added that Bengal’s stories resonate far beyond its borders, especially as the state heads into polls.
From the first woman to battle flames in the skies to legendary actors who shaped Indian cinema, the gathering promises a rich mix of inspiration, courage and candid dialogue. In a city where culture has always flowed as freely as the river itself, CNN-News18 is turning the Hooghly into a floating forum for ideas that matter.
Tune in on 20 April on CNN-News18, CTV and YouTube to catch Bengal’s heartbeat in full flow.
