News Broadcasting
Zee Telefilms set to release three films including ‘Bhagmati’
MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms’ long-in-the-offing 2D animation film Bhagmati is finally ready for release. An early September opening of the film, that wrapped up in December 2003, is being planned.
The other two films coming up from the Zee stable in September are Khosla Ka Ghosla and One Dollar Curry.
Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Zee Telefilms Ltd Films Division CEO Nitin Keni said they would watch the first print of Bhagmati by next week and then will start the release process. Holding on to his theory that Indian market is not ready for theatrical animation films, Keni said that they would decide the release and distribution strategy of Bhagmati by analysing the response its promos would generate.
“We are planning 60 to 90 days of promotion for Bhagmati. Since Bhagmati is an adult love story, the general public is our target group. Though it is partially an animation film, it is a proper love story of two and half hours duration and here I can’t adopt a strategy that would work for children’s films,” said Keni. He didn’t revealBhagmati’s promotional strategy saying it is yet to be finalised.
Zee has co-produced One Dollar Curry with France TV and Silhouette Films. Zee is now marketing the film through overseas territories. Keni said the film was not targeted at India though they would release it here in some multiplexes. Directed by Vijay Singh, the movie stars Smriti Mishra of Sardari Begum fame.
Khosla ka Ghosla, targeted at the artistic circuit, is co-produced by Padmalaya Telefilms and Delhi-based Tandav Films. Zee will distribute the Dibakar Banerjee-directed movie starring Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Praveen Dabbas, Tara Sharma and Naveen Nischol.
Keni said that Zee was looking at different genres of films these days. “We have identified the business potential these short and low/mid-budget films have. We are in all areas of films now, taking up different genres.”
According to Keni, Zee Telefilms has commissioned one Telugu film with Jayapradha in it, apart from the Hindi remake of the Tamil movie Dhool starring Sunny Deol. When queried about the chances of launching another Gadar, he said it would take some time, though he has short listed two scripts.
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.
