Out to disrupt!
ANUJ KUMAR
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As Colors splashes on television screens later this month, CEO Rajesh Kamat shares what’s in store.
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Photo:Sandeep Saxena
A new promise Colours CEO Rajesh Kamat in New Delhi.
Nowadays ‘disruptive’ is emerging as a key word in the strategy of the media players. New channels are coming up with plans to disrupt the existing format of programming. NDTV Imagine did it with Ramayan and now Colors
plans to do something similar with the Akshay Kumar-led “Khatron Ke Khiladi”. “The idea is to introduce a programme that attracts the viewer with its novelty inducing him to try the channel and then hoping that he stays to watch more,” says Rajesh Kamat, CEO, Colors.
But of late celebrity presence is not making a significant impact on viewership. Shah Rukh and Salman have failed to turn the tide in favour of Star and Sony. “The debate – is the celebrity bigger than the brand? – started when I was with Coke. We went with the celebrity and the trend started. Slowly it moved to television. Now there is no way out, particularly for a channel which is looking for a foothold. We expect viewers to switch to Colors for Akshay and 13 celebrity participants and then stay on to try rest of our programming,” explains Rajesh, who was with Star and headed the Indian subsidiary of Endemol before moving to Colors.
Veritable mix
In fact, “Khatron Ke Khiladi” is the Indianised version of Endemol’s “Fear Factor”. “Till date audiences have seen the likes of Meghna Naidu and Yana Gupta in silken robes, now they will see them jumping from high rise buildings. We have kept the format linear. Every week a celebrity participant will be eliminated.” The rest of the programming is a veritable mix of genres going with the tagline jazbaton ke rang (colours of emotions). With “Balika Vadhu” based on child marriage and “Jeevan Saathi” veering around love across religions, Rajesh points at channel’s social responsibility. Similarly “Jai Shri Krishna” seems to fill the mythology bracket and “Mohe Rang De” seeks to bring the freedom movement back in focus. “You can call ‘Jai Shri Krishna’ a mythology for want of a better word but for me it is the story of the naughtiest child around. It is like ‘Lagaan’ was a fight for freedom with cricket as the background,” says Rajesh. Keen to win instant ratings, the channel will also showcase blockbusters like “Om Shanti Om” and “Welcome”. It has already bought the satellite rights of “Singh is Kinng”.
Colors is the flagship brand of Viacom18, a joint venture operation of India between Viacom Inc. and Network 18 group. For the uninitiated the group is behind brands like MTV, Nick and VH1 in the country but unlike these niche channels Rajesh insists Colors is for the masses. “We want to play on colour TV thing. I feel it’s only the media watchers who know that we are behind niche channels. For the common man every programme is a separate entity.”
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