Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
Making a difference
SHILPA NAIR
|
Yet another channel has hit the screen. The director of programmes, Shyamaprasad, says that its USP would be content.
|
Stress on quality: Leading from the front is Shayamaprasad.
Amrita TV, the latest addition to the growing number of Malayalam
television channels, began its telecast on April 14. The channel promises "value oriented and socially conscious programming."
Quality entertainment
"What passes off as entertainment these days is mindless entertainment that is divorced from culture. Our goal is quality entertainment, which however does not mean there will be sermonising," says Sudhakar Jayaram, chief general manager of Amrita TV.
Keeping the tastes and preferences of the viewers in mind, the attempt would be to make a qualitative difference.
So how is Amrita TV going to be different from the other channels? Explains filmmaker Shyamaprasad, who is the channel's head of programming, "Every new channel comes in with claims of being `different' and eventually turn out to be not so different after all. Therefore, we will not make any such claim except that we want to push the bar a bit higher in terms of the quality and content of the programmes. Television is a medium of different styles and ideas and it has a lot of potential. We want to use it as a medium to its full potential in a manner that reflects positive thinking and quality as well."
Shyama Prasad emphasises, "Just because I am incharge of the content does not mean that the programmes are going to reflect my individual tastes. It will cater to all segments of viewers." The stress will be on `nanma' (goodness) and `menma,' (quality).
"The key is to work within the existing framework of the popular genre and introduce sensible and sensitive content. You address the issues but, do it subtly and make it interesting. An episode of `Santwanam,' which was aired on the channel, had a celebrity visiting an orphanage," says Shyama Prasad.
Banal telephone chat shows are a strict no-no. "Do not expect to see those on this channel."
The stress will be on certain aspects of our lives that are ignored, or not addressed.
"Every individual is on a spiritual quest, doing some kind of soul searching at one time or the other. `The White' addresses this search. We have well-known personalities such as politicians, writers, actors and people from different fields talking about what faith or spirituality means to them," he says.
Besides these, there will be a series based on M.T. Vasudevan Nair's stories, telefilms by filmmakers such as Fazil, Siddique and Sibi Malayil, films, interviews, documentaries, features like `Kaliarangu', music concerts and dance recitals.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
