Fiction
Zee TV joins weekend ratings battle with ‘Amma’ at 10.30pm time slot
MUMBAI: Zee has joined the bandwagon in the race for ratings among shows and slots. The Subhash Chandra led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited premier Hindi GEC has pulled out its first 10.30 slot for an original fiction show. Zee is set to air its new finite series Amma at that slot from 25 June every Saturday and Sunday.
With this, Zee has joined Star Plus and Colors in the weekend ratings chase. Star Plus initiated the trend of airing fiction on weekends that was later followed by Colors which aired super hit shows such as 24 Season 1 in 2015 at the 10 pm slot on Friday and Saturday. Colors added the just concluded Naagin at the 8 pm slot which has now been replaced by Kawach. The entrance of Zee in the 10.30 pm time slot will surely to heat up the competition. There are other GEC’s too which are exploring weekend opportunities according to sources.
Produced by Farhan P Zamma, Amma is based on life of Jenabai Daaruwala, who is a well – known name in the Mumbai underworld mafia. The finite series will explore the journey of the rise of this female don. A source revealed that the per episode production cost is approximately Rs 8 to Rs10lakhs.
In the past also Zee also experimented with fiction series on the weekend slot. In 2014, the channel launched Neeli Chatri Waale, a mix of comedy and drama at the 8 pm time band on Saturday and Sunday. Apart from this, the channel also took its Sunday programming a notch higher with the new adventurous show Janbaaz Sinbad at the 7 pm time slot which was launched on 27 December 2015.
Amma has been pitched against Star Plus’ new show Jaana Na Dil Se Door. &TV has no original content airing on Saturday at 10.30pm but on Sunday it has a new show Life Ka Recharge at that slot. Life OK airs the repeat telecast of Savdhaan India at 10pm. Sony Entertainment Television has a CID telecast on at the same time band. Sab TV telecasts the repeat of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma and Colors has its comedy shows at 10pm Comedy Nights Bachao on Saturday and Comedy Nights Live on Sunday.
Could this just be a beginning of a new era in television?
MUMBAI: On Christmas morning, whilst most of Mumbai slept off festive cheer, Satyam Tripathi’s heart gave out. 25 December proved cruelly ironic for a man who’d spent his career crafting drama—this time, there would be no second take. He was only 57.
Tripathi was a scriptwriter’s scriptwriter. Within India’s chaotic television industry, where writers are treated rather like spare parts, he’d carved out something rare: respect. For years, he sat on the executive committee of the Screen Writers Association, helping transform along with other leaders, what was once a talking shop into an organisation with teeth. When writers’ rights were little more than punchlines, Tripathi helped pen a different ending.
His credits read like a greatest hits of Indian telly: Hitler Didi, 12/24 Karol Bagh, Ek Mutthi Aasman, Parvarrish Kuchh Khattee Kuchh Meethi. Millions laughed, cried and switched channels to his work. He also championed the association’s Screen Writing Awards, ensuring that good writing didn’t go unnoticed in an industry obsessed with ratings and revenue.
Those who knew him speak of an affable soul, generous with time and advice. In a cut-throat business, Tripathi was that rarest of creatures: genuinely helpful.
His remains were cremated the same evening in the presence of industry associates and friends. The credits rolled quickly. But his final script—a better deal for India’s writers—continues to play out. That’s the sort of ending he’d have appreciated.
(Scriptwriters, producers and friends will be getting together to honour Satyam Kumud Tripathi’s memory and to hold a prayer meeting on 29 December. The location: Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara, 4 Bungalows, Andheri West, Mumbai. The time: between 3:30 PM and 5:00 PM.)
