MUMBAI: Life OK is all set to launch a new reality show that intends to find the hidden talent in children across India.

Titled ‘Hindustan ke Hunarbaaz‘, the show runs the tagline ? ‘Harr Bacha Hai Khaas‘.

Starting 22 October, it will air Monday to Friday at 7 pm and 9 pm.

Bollywood actor Sonali Bendre and choreographer Terence Lewis will feature as ‘Cool Gurus‘ on the show.

According to the channel, the show will be guided by a ‘No-Competition, No-Tears‘ principle. It will act as a ready platform for all the participating children to harness their "special" skills in a format that‘s devoid of any performance pressure.

Participating children will showcase their talent without any inhibitions of being judged, bringing out the best in them and making each and every one a winner in a unique way. Bendre and Lewis will encourage these kids and mentor them throughout.

Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur said, "Hindustan ke Hunarbaaz is a first-of-its kind show that doesn‘t promote the idea of competitiveness among children but instead hones their skills. This show is a natural extension of Life OK‘s mantra that promotes striving for more but without ignoring the pleasures of everyday life. We‘re confident that the audience will continue to appreciate our efforts in providing a wholesome entertainment experience."

MUMBAI: Life OK is attempting to do something bigger now. As the channel will complete its one year of launch in two months, it is gearing up to launch a new offering on the occasion of Dussehra-Diwali.

Life OK is coming up with a musical/dance drama on Lord Ram and his life titled ?Ram Leela?.

The special five episodic series will air every Sunday at 8 pm starting from 21 October to 18 November.

According to the channel, this will be the first time that there will be a television show that will have everyone related to Bollywood working on it, be it the star cast that includes Rajneesh Duggal (as Ram), Richa (as Sita) or the music composer Anu Malik or the lyricist Swanand Kirikire. The channel has roped in Ajay Devgn as the narrator of the show.

Life OK business head Ajit Thakur said, ?For us, it was a very natural thing to come up with something like this. Life OK has always talked about stories where there is relevance to today where one can learn something. In the period between Dussehra and Diwali, Ram?s story is something that every Hindu talks about. So we wanted to tell them Ram?s story and we have packaged it in a way which is very ?life ok?. There are 21 songs that we have created in five episodes. It will have lot more entertainment and it is on a different scale."

Thakur feels that the biggest marketing of the show is to get Devgn on board to present the show. The show is being promoted heavily including across 50 channels outside Star Network.

The print campaign will roll out on the day of launch across newspapers. Since it is a musical show, the channel also plans to tie up with radio channels to promote the show.

The channel has roped in Emami, Lux and Cycle Agarbattis as associate sponsors while it is still talking to brands for presenting sponsorship.

MUMBAI: In the cash-guzzling Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space, the first six-months of the year remained fiercely competitive. Imagine TV closed down operations, the second position in the GEC hierarchy was hotly contested, realistic fiction shows gained attention and Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan made his debut on television with a socially meaningful show.

On 12 April Turner International finally gave up its Hindi GEC business in India, shuttering Imagine TV after running massive losses. With Imagine TV, Turner?s ambition of having a presence in the GEC genre also ceased. Earlier it had made a futile attempt with Real, a channel launched with the Alva brothers as joint venture partners.

?We have already seen channels like Zee Next, 9X, Real and now Imagine TV exiting the space. GEC is a high investment genre. The players will have to constantly deliver innovative programming in fiction as well as non-fiction to be successful,? says a media observer.

Star India also closed its second GEC, Star One, and started afresh under the brand Life OK. Launched in December last year, Life OK climbed fast and crossed the 100 GRP mark. Sony also progressed strongly as its fiction properties started delivering.

?Life OK established very fast. Achieving and maintaining over 100 GRPs in less than six months shows a good plan there. Moreover, what it essentially means is that now from a five-player game, we have moved to a six-channel market,? observes Ormax Media co-founder and CEO Shailesh Kapoor.

In the programming segment, there was a new focus towards fiction properties with a realistic perspective. Though the trend started sometime last year with shows like Bade Acche Lagte Hain (Sony Entertainment Television) and Diya Aur Baati Hum (Star Plus), shows like Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha (Colors), Parvarish (Set) and Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke (Zee TV) have capitalised on this need gap.

?There has been a definite movement towards light-hearted treatment of content. Stories may still be based around families and social change, but the treatment is less heavy and emotional than what it was before,? avers Kapoor.

Weekend entertainment programming had a mixed menu. While there were singing and dancing based reality shows (Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and DID L?il Master), a few channels also showcased Fear Files, CID and Crime Patrol (extended to 3 days a week).

?There is a significantly big universe opening up for crime / thrill based content, especially with the youth and the lower SECs,? a senior media executive observes.

Reality shows entered a tricky phase, with no fresh ideas coming up.?There is clearly a fatigue as far as reality shows are concerned. What we are seeing are seasonal properties while there are no good new formats. Even Survivor India on Star Plus couldn?t captivate audiences. We seem to have saturated the formats available to us,? the executive adds.

Hindi general entertainment channels also started exploring some of the unexploited time bands. Star Plus, for instance, launched the Aamir Khan show, Satyamev Jayate, on Sunday afternoons. Zee TV is also readying to air Ramayana on the same time slot.

Hindi GECs continued with the practice, started late last year, of reducing the movie airings. ?GECs have comparatively reduced the movie premieres for achieving spikes. But being a GEC, the need to showcase good movies definitely remain,? a media observer points out.

In recent times, both Star India and Zee have shifted their big ticket premieres on to their movie offerings (Star Gold, Movies OK and Zee Cinema).

Has the ad slowdown affected the Hindi GECs? ?FMCG will continue to spend big on GECs. So even if television as a whole may see 8-10 per cent ad growth, GECs will do better. Also, the automobile industry has a lot of launches lined up and they will increase their spends,? avers Zee Entertainment Enterprises chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal.

Agrees Star India president-ad sales Kevin Vaz, ?There will be categories and genres which will be impacted but Hindi GEC and movie genres will not be affected. The reason being that the core category ? FMCG ? is growing aggressively. All the players ? ITC, P&G, HUL, Marico, Dabur - are spending money. Moreover, automobile is also shifting focus from print to TV. In April-June quarter, all four telecom players have also upped their spends.?