After Karisma Kapoor’s much-hyped television debut on Sahara, it’s the turn of yesteryears star Sridevi to showcase her talent on the small screen.
A sitcom titled ‘Hamari Bahu Malini Iyer’ will shortly be a part of the prime-time line-up on Sahara.
The channel is seeking to transform the face of Indian television by bringing stars like Karisma, Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tandon and Sunny Deol into viewers’ homes.
This, says Sushanto Roy, CEO, Sahara Media & Entertainment, is the first step to translating his chairman’s “vision of transforming the small screen into the biggest possible entertainment platform, so that Indian television becomes globally competitive’’. Mr Roy cites the example of Hollywood stars such as Ingrid Bergman, Deborah Kerr, Christopher Plummer and Christopher Lee, who have all done work for television, and claims that this is what Sahara is trying to emulate.
Although it was another channel that first brought a superstar— Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’—to the small screen, Mr Roy says that Sahara’s USP is different. “Stars like Bachchan are so big because of their prowess in acting,’’ he says.
“Sahara does not want them to be what they are not, and thus showcases actors as actors.’’The CEO also claims that Sahara’s “quality production values and gigantic canvas have wiped out the stigma of doing television’’, and that the channel will emerge as the number one platform for Bollywood stars.