The evergreen hit that had an unprecedented run in cinema theatres when it was released 30 years ago, ranked 43rd among the top 100 shows in the week ended 27 September, in C&S households, 4+, with a TVR of 3.5. The channel also recorded its all time high channel share during the screening of the ageless classic.

The film, in its unabridged version, made a return to the small screen after five years, and according to Zee Cinema, has become the highest rated movie ever on a movie channel. Quoting TAM statistics, the channel says that with a 15 min+ TVR of 4.29 in Hindi-speaking markets and 3.73 in all India markets. During the screening, 11.3 million individuals tuned into watch Sholay, the channel claims.

Backed by an aggressive on air cross promotion across the Zee Network, Sholay was part of Zee Cinema's initiatives to rope in audiences with unique content. Says an exultant Yogesh Radhakrishnan, Business Head, Zee Cinema "With the kind of promotional efforts undertaken by the channel to create the excitement about the screening of the movie, we were always expecting this kind of response from our viewers."

During the time of screening of Sholay, Zee Cinema had an all time high channel share of 27.2 per cent. According to the channel, Star Plus lagged behind with a channel share of 16.59 per cent. Zee Cinema closed week 39 with 200.47 GRPs in C&S 4+ Hindi-speaking markets, vis-à-vis 128.74 of Max and 106.05 of Star Gold. Deewangee, which was a satellite premiere on Sony at the same time as Sholay aired, too could not entice in as many viewers as the Amitabh-Dharmendra starrer.

Just about a year ago, the recent blockbuster hit Lagaan had helped pull in Sony into the top 10 in the ratings stakes. SET executive V-P Sunil Lulla had said at the time that Lagaan's 10.24 TVR for the key north, west and east territories made it the highest rated film of the last 15 months on any C&S channel in both absolute and relative terms. Lagaan however had not been able to generate as high TVRs as the patriotism flavoured Border had done a year earlier. Zee's Gadar -EK Prem Katha too had made it to the top 20 with a TVR of 5.05.

Last year's magnum opus Devdas, aired on 27 April this year on Max, had managed a TVR of 3.7 and was ranked 42 in C&S homes, 4+. But the day belongs to Radhakrishnan who points out that the honour of being first among movie channels currently belongs to Zee Cinema.

TVR of Hindi films on Sep 27 (night slot) - C&S 4+ (Data supplied by Zee Cinema)

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