News Broadcasting
SET targets the serious viewer with ‘ACHANAK’ and ‘PAR IS DIL KO KAISE SAMJAYE’
Sony has set its sights on leading prime time ratings every Friday with innovative fare. To this effect it has announced the launch of two shows aimed at having a dramatic effect on the audience.
The first one is a weekly supernatural show with a difference. Achanak the brainchild of writer Shridhar Raghavan will air every Friday at 10:30 pm starting from 22 March. It has the tagline 37 saal baad.
Speaking on this Director On Air Programming SET Anupama Mandloi said, ” The name grabs your imagination. This is a psychological thriller. It is like reading a novel on television. The show is built on a solid foundation a great script. It is representative of the faith the channel and the producers have in taking this genre a step further. Most importantly it is created by a team which understands this genre and where its appeal lies for the viewer”.
The producers of the show are Pradeep Uppoor and Neo Films. They together with Sridhar have worked on Aahat and CID for the channel. Like Achanak both of them had a lot of suspense. A serial from Pradeep Uppoor and Neo Films Srikant was shown on Doordarshan and Channel 4.
Speaking about the project Shridhar Raghavan said, ” Achanak started off a few years ago as a slightly wild outrageous notion, a set of unlinked fragments of ideas. What if you went home and your parents did not know who you were? What if you were happily married and someone from your past told you that it was nothing more than a hallucination?
Achanak is a battle royal between good and evil. But its a long fight, a tough fight mostly a losing fight for good. Good eventually wins over evil but it gets one hell of a bloody nose before it does. Or does it?”
Shridhar also envisioned the setting which is the town of Gahota as a twisted version autHor R.K. Narayan’s Malgudi. He sees the project as something unlike anything seen on Indian television. It is weird, bizarre and outrageous with a complex undercurrent running through it.
In the deceptively calm town of Gahota over the past couple of months something evil has been occuring. Murders, suicides and acts of madness have been taking place. An alchoholic journalist Dipankar travels to Gahota believing that he has the explanation for why crimes are committed in the town once every thirty seven years for a period of three months. Once the turbulent period has passed people cannot recollect what happened.
The producers built a real town in Panvel not just a TV serial set. a town square, clock tower, residential areas etc were created.
Regarding casting decisions Shridhar said that some important members do not appear until half the episodes are completed. Also some characters have a touch of eccentricity to them like a professor whose stance shifts with each encounter. There is a hint of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde waging a war within the characters. He also revealed that one of the central protagonists will appear only in the final act. Cast members include Raj Zutshi, Faraaz Khan and Shishir Sharma.
He pointed out the differences between Achanak and Aahat. Aahat was episodic involving a single continous story. Aahat dealt with big issues concentrating more on pace as opposed to plot. Achanak on the other hand is about small things. It is about how decption can hide underneath a sea of normality. It also deals with the thin line that separates sanity and insanity, light and dark, good and evil.
The second new weekly show on SET is called Par Is Dil Ko Kaise Samjaye. It premiers on 29 March at 8:30pm. It deals with how the relationship between two sisters gets affected by a series of accidents brought about through sheer fate.
A woman loses her sister and husband. For companionship and to support her sisters offspring she marries her brother in law. However later on it turns out that her sister survived the accident. Now both of them are married ot the same man. The show is directed by Imtiyaz Punjabi and stars Raj S Verma, Shweta Salve and Pooja Ghai.
News Broadcasting
Kamlesh Singh receives Haldi Ghati Award from MMCF
India Today Group editor honoured for three decades of journalism at Udaipur ceremony.
MUMBAI- Kamlesh Singh just turned a lifetime of sharp words into a shiny shield because when journalism wakes up a society, even the Maharana of Mewar wants to pin a medal on it.
The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) conferred its prestigious Haldi Ghati Award on Kamlesh Singh, a senior editor at the India Today Group, during a ceremony in Udaipur on 15 March 2026. The national award, instituted in 1981-82, recognises “work of permanent value that initiates an awakening in society through the medium of journalism.”
Singh, who leads several editorial initiatives including Aaj Tak Radio, the Teen Taal community and The Lallantop, was presented the honour by Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Managing Trustee of MMCF. The citation highlighted his three decades of contributions to Indian media, innovations in digital journalism, mentoring young reporters, and his popular podcast persona “Tau” on Teen Taal, which fosters thoughtful public discourse.
The Haldi Ghati Award, named after the historic Battle of Haldighati symbolising valour and resilience, is one of four national awards given annually by MMCF. Past recipients include Tavleen Singh, Piyush Pandey and Raj Chengappa.
Other honourees this year included Padma Vibhushan Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Vedamurti Devvrat Rekhe, Treeman of India Marimuthu Yoganathan, Vir Chakra Capt Rizwan Malik, and US-based researcher Molly Emma Aitken, who received the Colonel James Tod Award for contributions to understanding Mewar’s spirit and values.
In an era where headlines often shout louder than substance, the MMCF quietly reminded everyone that real journalism isn’t about noise, it’s about the quiet, persistent work that stirs society awake, one thoughtful story at a time.
