Special Report
2014: The roller-coaster year for West Bengal media
A trip down memory lane in 2014 has seldom been a tempest in a teapot; but, a year fraught with a bumpy roller-coaster ride, at least for the media in West Bengal… almost as unpredictable and enigmatic as its leader. West Bengal, centre staged and witnessed many ups and downs on the news channels. Many bled during the year, with a slowdown in the second half, but only one channel triumphed and reigned supreme. It was none other than ABP Ananda, which was rated highest week after week.
City-based ABP Ananda emerged as a great opinion maker, backed by concrete facts and figures, and powerful, impact reporting. “In fact, its viewership increased after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s diktat not to watch the channel,” quoted a media analyst.
The channel has built a strong presence in the Bengal and Maharashtra markets and has firmed up plans in Punjab as well. ABP Group, in the year 2014, said that it aims to launch 3 – 4 regional news channels in the next 2 – 3 years in the western region, followed by northern India.
Worthy of note, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), which has a major stake in the news share in the north and western India, gained control in the east through its 24×7 Bengali news channel – 24 Ghanta. The channel inducted veteran journalist and Hindustan Times deputy resident editor Anirban Choudhury as the new face on its board and saw a turn for the better in the programme content and style.
TV18 Broadcast too launched a 24-hour Bengali news channel called ETV News Bangla in March 2014, in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The channel aims to redefine regional channels in Bengal. ETV News Bangla has caught the attention of various localities in Kolkata.
Star India too hinted that it plans to start a Bengali sports channel. The Indian unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp empire, Star India aims to expand beyond cricket coverage into sports such as hockey, football and even, kabaddi.
There was excitement in the air! News of non-operational Mahua Bangla, a Bengali general entertainment channel and Mahua Khabor, a 24-hour Bengali news channel, spread like wild fire that they were to go live again in the year 2014! This sparked renewed vigour among job seekers as the parent company, Mahuaa Media Private Limited (MMPL), which closed down the two channels in 2013 in Kolkata, was “exploring all possibilities” to arrange funds in the range of Rs 150 – Rs 200 crore to breathe life into the sick channels.
The most interesting development was that production company Channel Eight, which was earlier compelled to disassociate itself from the Bengali GEC Aakash Aath, after it didn’t get the 51 per cent stake in the channel as promised, within a month joined the channel again after it got its stake. The GEC said that though the focus of the channel has changed, it intends to keep news in the mixed bag. It also launched a couple of new shows such as comedy serial – Ghhente Gha directed by Manish Ghosh and scripted by Padmanabha Dasgupta.
Focus Bangla, a 24×7 Bengali news channel, is bullish about its growth in the regional market. It had introduced many new slots for programmes featuring one-to-one interviews with experts from various fields.
Narsingha Broadcasting also aimed to foray into television media business. The company was to launch a Bengali satellite news channel in 2014 but its plans were deferred to the early part of next year!
On the whole, West Bengal, has a small market size with a few 24-hour satellite channels owned by big corporates, which makes it difficult for others to survive in the market place. In the past one and half years, the advertising pie in Bengal has also gone down. On top of that, the money market companies made their exit, further putting a severe fund crunch in the media market. The Saradha chit fund scam was a golden egg for most news channels.
Bengali GECs, news, and other television channels which generated around 35 – 40 per cent of the advertisement revenue from Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFCs) till last fiscal year were all bleeding as the NBFC players understood that even after spending a huge amount, they were not being able to make an impression on the minds of people to invest in deceptive schemes, thanks to the Saradha Group’s chit fund business, which went bust in the beginning of the financial year 2013-14.
Many other companies, which are engaged in money marketing have reduced their ad spend, firstly to stay away from the authorities’ watchful eye and secondly, they seem to think that even after spending a huge amount on ads, investors are not gullible enough to put in their hard-earned money into the chit fund schemes.
In 2014, Bengal saw careful media coverage of Lok Sabha elections by the regional television channels. These included 24×7 Bengali news channels like ABP Ananda, 24 Ghanta, ETV News Bangla, Focus TV, Kolkata TV, Tara Newz, and infotainment channels like Aakash Bangla, which had three news slots for all the election coverage.
The 2014 elections were notable for the vast array of outlets that an interested consumer could avail to create his own media experience on multiple screens. However, a continuous simmering political situation called for more political debates, phone-in shows in 2014.
On the other hand, the entertainment channels saw phenomenal growth as the regional market is growing. The advertising market is also growing day by day. The viewer bouquet is fast growing too. Changes in programme structure have been incorporated in 2014. Serials, reality shows, films are given extra weightage.
Each channel has grown in terms of viewership. The viewers just want consistent performances and channels, which can give them quality content and programmes; and hence, no one gets to lose their market share.
Bengali viewers are natural lovers of football. Many of them have been losing interest; but, with the advent of Indian Super League (ISL), with daily exciting coverage, celebrity owners and great sponsors, it ensured more new viewers from all demographics. Not to mention that Sourav Ganguly’s Atlético de Kolkata, finally won the coveted Cup.
The GECs continue to dominate the Kolkata advertisement market, with high production values and a robust content bank based on local programming.
Overall, the Bengali media is surging ahead in leaps and bounds with more channels in the foray, new programmes on view and a bunch of creative minds behind them!
With this change in tide, which is nothing but technology-driven, the media groups had taken the route of social networking sites and web as tools for promoting their programmes and started getting live viewership ratings and responses.
The face of media is fast changing, where the media once uni-directional in its approach is now becoming bi-directional in communication and the future looks bright!
MUMBAI: Some friendships are made in heaven; others are coded in Mumbai. Hamara Vinayak, the first-ever digital original from Siddharth Kumar Tewary’s Swastik Stories, turns the divine into the delightful, serving up a story that’s equal parts start-up hustle and spiritual hustle.
Some tech start-ups chase unicorns. This one already has a god on board. Hamara Vinayak takes the leap from temple bells to notification pings and it does so with heart, humour and a healthy dose of the divine.
At its core, the show asks a simple but audacious question: what if God wasn’t up there, but right beside you, maybe even debugging your life over a cup of chai?
The show’s tagline, “God isn’t distant… He’s your closest friend” perfectly captures its quirky soul. Across its first two episodes, screened exclusively for media in Mumbai, the series proves that enlightenment can come with a good punchline.
The series follows a group of ambitious young entrepreneurs running a Mumbai-based tech start-up that lets people around the world book exclusive virtual poojas at India’s most revered shrines. But as their app grows, so do their ethical grey zones. Into this chaos walks Vinayak, played with soulful serenity and sly wit by the charming Namit Das, a young man whose calm smile hides something celestial.
He’s got the peaceful look of a saint but the wit of someone who could out-think your favourite stand-up comic. Around him spins a crew of dream-driven youngsters – Luv Vispute, Arnav Bhasin, Vaidehi Nair and Saloni Daini who run a Mumbai-based tech start-up offering devotees across the world the chance to book “exclusive” poojas at India’s most sacred shrines. It’s a business plan that blends belief and broadband – and, as the story unfolds, also tests the moral compass of its ambitious founders.
“The first time I read the script, I found the character very pretty,” Namit joked at the post-screening interaction. “It’s a beautiful thought that God isn’t distant, he’s your closest friend. And playing Vinayak, you feel that calm but also his cleverness. He’s the friend who makes you think.”
The reactions to the series ranged from smiles to sighs of wonder. Viewers were charmed by the show’s sincerity and sparkle, a quality that stems from its creator’s belief that faith can be funny without being frivolous.
Among the cast, Luv Vispute shines brightest, his comic timing adding sparkle to the show’s more reflective beats. But what keeps Hamara Vinayak engaging is the easy rhythm of its writing – one moment touching, the next teasing, always gently reminding us that spirituality doesn’t have to be solemn.
Luv spoke fondly of his long association with Swastik. “Since my first show was with Swastik, this feels like home,” he said. “Every project with them is positive, feel-good, and this one just had such a different vibe. I truly feel blessed.”
Saloni Daini, who brings infectious warmth to her role, added that she signed up the moment she heard the show was about “Bappa.”
“We shot during the Ganpati festival,” she recalled. “The energy on set was incredible festive, faithful, and full of laughter. It’s such a relatable story for our generation: chaos, friendship, love, kindness, and faith all mixed together.”
Vaidehi Nair and Arnav Bhasin complete the ensemble, each representing different shades of ambition and morality in the start-up’s journey. Their camaraderie is easy and believable, a testament to how much the cast connected off-screen as well.
This clever fusion of mythology and modernity plays to India’s two enduring loves, entertainment and faith. Mythology has long been the comfort zone of Indian storytellers, from the televised epics of the 1980s to the glossy remakes that still command prime-time TRPs. For decades, gods have been our most bankable heroes. But Hamara Vinayak tweaks the formula not by preaching, but by laughing with its characters, and sometimes, at their confusion about where divinity ends and data begins.
Creator Siddharth Kumar Tewary, long hailed as Indian television’s myth-maker for shows like Mahabharat, Radha Krishn and Porus, explained the show’s intent with characteristic clarity, “This is our first story where we are talking directly to the audience, not through a platform,” he said. “We wanted to connect young people with our culture to say that God isn’t someone you only worship; He’s your friend, walking beside you, even when you take the wrong path. The story may be simple, but the thought is big.”
That blend of philosophy and playfulness runs through the show. “We had to keep asking ourselves why we’re doing this,” Tewary added. “It’s tricky to make something positive and spiritual for the OTT audience, they’ve changed, they want nuance, not sermons. But when the purpose is clear, everything else aligns.”
For the creator of some of Indian TV’s most lavish spectacles, Hamara Vinayak marks a refreshing tonal shift. Here, Tewary trades celestial kingdoms for co-working spaces and cosmic battles for office banter. Yet his signature remains: an eye for allegory, a love for faith-infused storytelling, and an understanding that belief is most powerful when it feels personal.
Hamara Vinayak, after all, feels less like a sermon and more like a conversation over chai about what success means, what faith costs, and why even the gods might be rooting for a start-up’s Series A round.
As Namit Das reflected during the Q&A, “Life gives us many magical, divine moments we just forget to notice them. Sometimes even through a phone screen, you see something that redirects you. That’s a Vinayak moment.”
The series also mirrors a larger cultural pivot. As audiences migrate from television to OTT, myth-inspired tales are finding new form and flexibility online. The digital screen lets creators like Tewary reinvent the genre, giving ancient ideas a modern interface, without losing the emotional charge that’s made mythology India’s storytelling backbone for decades.
In a country where faith trends faster than any hashtag, Hamara Vinayak feels both familiar and refreshingly new, a comedy that’s blessed with heart, humour and just enough philosophy to keep the binge holy.
For a country where mythology remains the oldest streaming service, Tewary’s move from TV to OTT feels both natural and necessary. Indian storytellers have always turned to gods for drama, guidance and TRPs from Ramayan and Mahabharat on Doordarshan to glossy mytho-dramas on prime time. But digital platforms allow creators to remix reverence with realism, and in Hamara Vinayak, faith gets an interface upgrade.
The result is a show that feels like a warm chat with destiny, part comedy, part contemplation. And in an age of cynicism, that’s no small miracle.
As Tewary put it, smiling at his cast, “The message had to be positive. We just wanted to remind people that even in chaos, God hasn’t unfriended you.”
With 5 episodes planned, Hamara Vinayak promises to keep walking that fine line between laughter and light. It’s mythology with memes, devotion with dialogue, and a digital-age reminder that even the cloud has a silver lining or perhaps, a divine one.
If the first two episodes are any sign, the show doesn’t just bridge heaven and earth, it gives both a Wi-Fi connection.
