The Week - TELEVISION

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TELEVISION

As you like it
Low-brow and high-brow, the fare on Asianet gives audiences what they want

The smile that launched a thousand fan letters: Namitha Suresh hosting Your Choice

Move over, Renuka Shahane. A TV personality sporting a more effervescent smile is here. At least in Kerala, lakhs of viewers are swearing by Namitha Suresh, the teenybopper model who presents a filmsong show on Asianet. Just as Namitha has ended the smile monopoly of Renuka, Asianet, the first private Malayalam channel, seems to have emerged a strong threat to Doordarshan’s reign on the small screen in Kerala.
Asianet reaches over 350,000 subscribers in southeast Asia and a few countries in the Gulf regions, besides the whole of India through its direct cable system and 40-odd franchisees. The lookout was not so bright in its early days. Immediately after its launch in August 1994, it was plagued by troubles such as difficulties in importing costly cables, power cut and irritants in the

deals with companies from which it had leased satellites. Besides, there was the lack of experience in managing the show, though the managing director Sasikumar has been a big-wig in PTI TV. Sasikumar is also one of the three promoters of the company, the other two being his uncle Dr Raji Menon and the Raheja Group.
Sasikumar readily admits that he was no businessman when launched Asianet. "I had only a journalistic outlook," he says. "My lack of business perception led to needless expenses, but now I have learnt from the mistakes."
One of the lessons made Asianet establish its own cabling system, which, Sasikumar claims, has yeilded superior picture quality with its imported cables. The future holds more promise. "With our cable network being so extensive, we will be the ones who decide which channels the viewers covered by us will watch," he says. "And rival channels wanting to reach the same audience will have to negotiate with us."

Catch us if you can: Nadirsha and Shabnam
starting a round of Antakshari in Sa, ri, ga, ma

The cabling system being expensive, it will take at least seven years for the company to make any profit. But Asianet’s channel division has managed to break even this year. All credit goes to its programmes which attract an increasing number of viewers and advertisers.
Film-based ones form the core of the software. The channel shows at least one film a day and one of the more popular programmes is Cinemala. Presented by mimicry artist Ramesh, it shows sequences from different films based on a theme, with him acting out comic interludes.

The most popular filmsong-based programme, Your Choice, has viewers phoning in for their favourite songs. Hostess Namitha Suresh speaks decidedly faulty Malayalam, but she wins fans with her never-fading toothy smile and an endearing way of making conversation with her callers. The next viewer-favourite is Super Ten which has comedian ‘Maniyan Pillai’ Raju relating funny anecdotes while presenting the latest filmsongs.
Sa, ri, ga, ma, a Malayalam Antakshari show is another filmsong based programme which has an avid fan following. It is hosted by Nadirsha, a comedian, and Shabnam, a promising female singer. And Voice of the Week has playback singers M. G. Sreekumar and Radhika Thilak running a competition to find out the best singers among the participants in each episode.

The white hairs tell it all: Asianet MD Sasikumar

Among the non-film programmes at the low-brow level, Nammal Thammil, a talk-show, is high on the list of viewer priority. Host Sreekantan Nair deals with a variety of topics ranging from the media treatment of the ISRO spy scandal to eve-teasing. It too has a liberal dash of humour.
Kannadi, a weekly newsmagazine anchored by journalist T.N. Gopakumar, scores over DD news programmes with its punchy political coverage. However, the programme is prejudiced against the United Democratic Front in general and A.K. Antony in particular. Litterateur Paul Zacharia’s tongue-in-cheek comments in Pathravishesham, a weekly review of the print media have always been a delight.

Among the high-brow programmes, the travelogue, Ente Keralam, has Chinta Ravi, a travelogue writer, and a lady co-traveller introducing viewers to the interesting people and places in Kerala. Mazhavillu is a poetry recital show in which newcomers and veterans alike participate; the sets themselves are poetry-inducing.Vayanashala is another high-brow programme in which well-known authors and critics introduce the latest books to viewers.
Chirakukal which won the Onida-Pinnacle award for the best children’s programme at the national level has music composed by the famous A.R. Rehman. A few of Asianet’s documentaries such as Chenkallil Oru Sangeerthanam have won state awards.
It is the low-brow programmes that attract viewers to the channel, admits Zachariah who is also programme consultant at Asianet. But he claims that Asianet’s mix of high-brow and low-brow fare is healthier than what other channels have. "There are a number of programmes which show that our emphasis is on shows which maintain a high cultural standard," he says. However, there are others who consider that the channel has to go a long way before it reaches its declared goal of becoming the mirror of distinctive Kerala identity.
The people at Asianet claim that the tremendous response from advertisers is proof of its popularity. But then, its ad rates, at Rs 8,000 per ten seconds, is way below DD’s. Even the strong ad support does not help offset the losses incurred by the channel’s daily news bulletin which is telecast from Singapore. "Even when news is supported by ads, it cannot be profitable," says Sasikumar. "But since the bulletins add to the viewership they help bring in more ads for the channel as a whole."
Expansion plans of Asianet include a full-time development channel in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Information Technology and the Kerala government, and channels in other languages. "These will not be in south Indian languages as there are enough and more of them already," says Sasikumar.
The pioneering satellite TV channel, then, is well on its way to the future. Not even the imminent launch of another private Malayalam channel, Dreammakers, can shake Sasikumar’s faith in Asianet. It is the first and it will remain the best, he pledges.
--VINU ABRAHAM

Saved by her song
Her tryst with cinema was brief. Except for Nikaah, Salma Agha, the Pakistani actress with the alabaster skin and green eyes, did not make much of a splash. But even in those days, people had sat up at her voice which was evocative of Noorjehan. Now she has the chance to try her luck on television.

No, she won’t be donning the grease-paint. An enterprising producer, Lalit Modi has signed her up to compose music for his serial, Maryada. Needless to say, all the songs, including the title one, will be rendered by her.

A friend in need
Everybody avoided Ananth Mahadevan like the plague when his serials flopped one after another. He really hit rock-bottom when Doordarshan cancelled the telecast of his much-touted serial, Chimpoo Shikari, bowing to pressure from the animal welfare lobby. Just when he was getting ready for a dreary unemployed future, actress-turned-director Hema Malini asked him to direct a serial, Hulchul, for her home banner. Mahadevan is pleased as punch and one hears that he is now trying to get the dream girl to play the main role.

TAPE IN
Namokar Mantra; (Osho Vani; Rs 45)
Osho Vani, a new audio company, has brought out a set of eight cassettes of Osho’s discourses. Four of the discourses are in Hindi: Namokar Mantra, Prem Ka Arth, Ahamkar Ek Abhishap and Jeevan Ka Mahabharat. The English discourses are Real Religion, Freedom From The Mind, Sex, Love and Prayer and Truth is Like a Woman. Listen to them and let your mind soar free from the shackles of worldly experiences.

Ali More Ang-anA; (Magnasound; Rs 40)
The latest prodigy from the Magnasound stable is Shubha Mudgal. Her earthy voice combines classical, folk and Indi pop tunes in a unique selection of songs. These seven songs are calls of the sublime kind of love. The vibrant opening track, Ali More Angana, draws on the quawwali for inspiration. Dhaaran Sarikha is a song penned by the legendary Meerabai, rarely heard but rendered effortlessly by Shubha. Other notable mentions are Ek Toona Achraj and Humnava, Humnava.

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