News Broadcasting
Ramoji Rao ventures into joint Marathi-Gujarati production
After Marathi television serials, South Indian media mogul Ramoji Rao is venturing into less trodden territory.
Beginning 10 April, the producer will flag off the shooting of a film that will be made simultaneously in Marathi and Gujarati. The film, to be made at a budget of Rs 8 million, will have distinct dialogues, cast and music, adapted suitably for both languages. This is the first time a film with the same script and music is being created in two languages simultaneously, say industry observers.
The film, a comedy written by Ashok Upadhyay, is titled Bin Paishacha Tamasha in Marathi and Wala Aave to Saachu bolin Gujarati. To be shot in a tight schedule of 45 days at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, the film is slated for a Diwali release, says Chetan Dubey, who will edit both films.
To be directed by Vinay Laad, who has five Marathi films to his credit so far, the films will be shot in cinemascope, a rarity for regional films. Some of the cast, which includes Marathi actors Avinash Kharshikar, Vijay Chavan and Pallavi Subhash, will be repeated in both versions.
The music, scored by Nishikant Sadafule, sets another trend in that the songs are all western style numbers, two of which are common for both versions. The entire central cast of both films totalling nearly 20 is already assembled at RFC, ready to begin shooting for the film which will be done shot-wise, say sources.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
