Which one is your favourite Indian Soap in prime time slot?

Our today’s blog is short and simple guide for you if you are a fan/addict of Indian soaps that air on prime time. I got this idea from regular fights with my mom over what to watch between 9 and 10 pm daily (weekdays) as that is my favourite time too like many others to hook to television along with dinner. Here is a quick synopsis of 4 top prime time channels that airs some of the best soap series in the same slot.

Let’s take a look at all these shows and what they have to offer its viewers:

Star Plus

Starting from my personal favourite, Star Plus has “Diya aur Baati Hum” that airs at 9pm Monday to Friday. This is one of the new shows that the channel has added to its brigade of some really good shows. It is about ‘Sandhya’ and her husband ‘Sooraj’. Sandhya belongs to a well educated family and she always dreamt of becoming an IPS officer but under strained circumstances after her marriage she lands up in a family where education is banned, especially for the “bahus” of the family. ‘Sooraj’ on the other hand is 10^th standard pass out and owns a sweet shop. This story is about Sandhya’s struggle to fulfill her dream and a journey where she finds help from the most unlikely quarter – her husband who can make it possible.

The second show that airs at 9:30pm from Monday to Friday on Star Plus is “Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai”. The concept is very simple yet excites you to watch a heartwarming story of a young couple who discovers love after marriage. The show is about ‘Akshara’ and ‘Naitik’ and their effort as individuals to fit into the marriage and accept each other’s families as their own. This one is something that you can relate easily to your own life.

Colors

“Phulwa”, a new show on Colors airs at 9pm from Monday to Friday. The show has started recently but has gained good viewership as it entails a story of a young and sweet girl who loses her innocence at the tender age of 11 in order to fight the injustice created by Thakurs of her village. It is a saga of lost innocence, of shattered dreams and unfulfilled promises all seen through the eyes of spirited eleven year old, who was forced to grow up much faster than her age due to the societal pressure levied on her.

Colors’ 9:30 pm slot has taken over the viewership of all the major channels with “Parichay” that was introduced few months ago. We also featured this show in one of our previous blogs as it has gained a lot of popularity not just among the regular soap fans but with the males and females of age group 25 and above. This show is a massive hit with masses mainly because of the role portrayed by male lead Samir Soni as “Kunal Chopra”, who has lost his interest in life due to his failures and continues to lead an indifferent life.

Sony TV

Sony TV has added two brand new shows in its prime time slot. However instead of usual 9 to 9:30 the first show starts at 8:45pm. The show “Dekha Ek Khwab” is about the lead character Muniya (Priyal Gor), a simple down to earth girl who wishes for her own princess story. Muniya’s dream of turning into a princess has come true, thanks to Rajmata Mrinalini Devi and Maharaj Brijraj Singh. But will her luck stick around for long?

“Parvarrish” which airs at 9:30pm from Monday to Friday is a family drama about two sisters – Sweety Ahluwalia and Pinky Ahuja. They compete as rivals to become better parents. Both families have different sets of beliefs and approach to raise their kids. Pinky believes in becoming friend with her children while Sweety believes in becoming a disciplinary mother. The concept of Parvarrish is simple yet attention-grabbing. The positive point is that this show caters to a lager section of audience in respect to age.

Zee TV

Zee TV has not added any new show to this particular prime slot. “Pavitra Rishta” at 9pm is one of the oldest and popular soap series of Zee. This show is about ‘Archana’ and ‘Manav’ and their continuous and what seems to be endless battle to be accepted by their families. The show doesn’t give a kick to a point when all we can see is that almost every character is trying to put Archana and Manav down with constant conspiracies against them including Manav’s own mother.

The 9:30 pm slot has another oldie “Ram Milaye Jodi” which is about ‘Mona’ and ‘Anukalp’ who fell in love and got married in spite of the inevitable and huge cultural differences between their families. It is an interesting bittersweet tale of coming together of two culturally divergent families – both fiercely protective and assertive about their cultural identities. On a larger canvas, the story represents the dire need for tolerance and co-existence in our society as well.

So pick your favourite and tune in every night!!

iDubba gets covered by Business Standard [News re-posted by Rediff/Sify/Forbes]

Guys, gives us immense pleasure to announce that iDubba was covered by Business Standard in Technology section on 25th Nov 2011.

News was titled:

iDubba: Watch TV, then share socially

Here is originally cutting from News paper-

We would like to thank our users for immense support they have shown till now 🙂

iDubba Android app [Now available on Marketplace]

iDubba Android app is now available for download on the app store and we are now nearing 100 downloads.

We made the app keeping few things in mind-

• Users should be able to get the information of what’s running on TV (of interest) with minimum resistance.
• Recommendations are shown for registered iDubba users.
• Users should be able to search for any program via filters/channels and search.

Here are salient features of the app:

1. Shows Now: Gives you currently running shows during any given time and also shows going to start in next 15 mins. If you are logged in you can see program sorted on the basis of recommendations.
2. Movies Now: Gives you currently running movies during any given time and also movies going to start in next 15 mins. If you are logged in you can see movies sorted on the basis of recommendations.
3. Shows 24 Hrs: (Only available for logged in users) Gives you shows going to air during next 24 hours, sorted on the basis of recommendations.
4. Movies 24 Hrs: (Only available for logged in users) Gives you movies going to air during next 24 hours, sorted on the basis of recommendations.
5. Filter through Genres: (Use menu button to pop up this option) You can filter shows through genres such as Documentary, Sports, Reality etc and movies through Romance, Musical, Drama etc.
6. Browse Channels: (Use menu button to pop up this option) You can look for shows’ channels while browsing shows or Movies’ channels while browsing movies.
7. Search (almost) anything: (Use menu button to pop up this option) Use any keyword like program name, contestant name, host name, channel name or any relevant keyword to search for your favorite programs.
8. Program details: For shows you can check name, channel name, next airing time, user ratings and sub categories. For movies you can find name, channel name, next airing time, IMDB rating and sub categories.
9. Reminder, Tune in and Feedback: (Only available for logged in users) You can set reminders for programs or can tune in to running programs to share with your friends. You can also give feedback for any program.

P.S. Right now you need to use your email id and password to login to the app. Please note that Facebook login doesn’t work and hence you can’t use Facebook password to login. iDubba sends you a password if you are registered via Facebook, please use that password to login.

Note: We know registration and login is a bit complicated in this build, but we are going to simplify it in the next version coming soon.

Can Sony retain the viewership after KBC? [two new shows on air]

After the huge success of Kaun Banega Crorepati (Season 5), Sony introduced 2 new shows on the same prime time slot last week. The new shows, “Parvarrish” and “Dekha Ek Khwab” both belong to Drama genre that premiered on Monday. Where KBC Season 5 has put Sony on the top of the list of channels with highest TRPs, it will be a challenge for the channel to maintain the same position.

Let’s give you a short synopsis of the shows:

Parvarrish – Kuchh Khatti Kuchh Meethi is a family drama about two sisters – Sweety Ahluwalia and Pinky Ahuja. They compete as rivals to become better parents. Both families have different sets of beliefs and approach to raise their kids. Pinky believes in becoming friend with her children while Sweety believes in becoming a disciplinary mother. It is a story based on depiction of parent-child relationship. The show is about nurturing, supporting and guiding children in different walks of life. One can experience their own thoughts and beliefs of parenting through Parvarrish. There are different sets of parents everywhere and their varied approach about upbringing their kids and that makes it easier for viewers to connect with the roles portrayed.

Dekha Ek Khwab is about the lead character Muniya (Priyal Gor), a simple down to earth girl who wishes for her own princess story. Somewhere in us all of us have for us a large dream. A dream we visit now and then secretly. A dream which we ourselves believe is out of our reach. But when dreams come true overnight they bring with them a set of challenges, complications and difficult decisions. Muniya’s dream of turning into a princess has come true, thanks to Rajmata Mrinalini Devi and Maharaj Brijraj Singh. But will her luck stick around for long?

The concept of Parvarrish is simple yet attention-grabbing, however the way show is being treated with few overboard performances it is difficult to say anything about the success of the show. The positive point is that this show caters to a lager section of audience in respect to age.

Dekha ek Khwab on the other hand disappoints as it seems to be coming out straight as a poor inspiration of the show “Princess Diaries”. The show doesn’t have anything exceptional or original contrary to what makers have been talking about it. The show started on a low note and with some poor performances, it fails to impress at all.

However, the other prime time fiction shows on Sony like Bade Ache Lagte Hai,Saas Bina Sasural and the recently launched Kuch Toh Log Kahenge have gained massive popularity with the viewers. The bosses of Sony Entertainment Television will be sorely disappointed because it might get difficult to retain its leadership position on the top.

Pooja Missra ousted from Bigg Boss House

No controversy is less for Bigg Boss house this season. You might have seen the most shocking and unbelievable things happening in this season and that never happened on earlier seasons. However this one stands apart – Pooja Missra was thrown out of the Bigg Boss house at 2 am last night when she physically attacked another house inmate Siddharth apparently after picking up another fight with him.

Today is the eviction day at Bigg Boss house (Apka Farmaan) but it is clear that nobody out of those four nominated for eviction will be sent home tonight.

There are mixed reactions all over for Pooja though as few still favour her saying that she was provoked a lot from the other house mates. While the rest as expected are happy that she is gone. However we do have a doubt that without “drama queen” Pooja Missra will Bigg Boss be interesting enough to watch now?

What do you think? 😉

New Channel “History”: Are you tuned in?

If you are bored of regular shows on all other Infotainment channels, tune into “History TV18” for some real whacky and amazing shows. History TV18 is a new channel launched in October owned by a joint-venture between A&E Television Networks, owner of American History and Network 18, Indian media group. The channel is currently available in six languages in full HD across all major markets in India and plans to reach out to more than 50 million households.

Salman Khan has been roped as brand ambassador of the US based factual entertainment channel. It hopes to change the perception of history in India and by choosing Salman as the face of the new channel; they have already taken an imperative step in reaching out to all age groups and gender.

With the new avatar, the channel wants to transform people’s opinion about History. The channel today lays emphasis on people making history every day and trying to make this genre as popular in India as it is around the world.

All the shows on the channel have a different and intrusive trend about them.

– They have a modern feel because of the major theme “How Stuff Works”. This can be    seen in shows like “Food tech“- how technology behind farming/processing works, “Extreme Trains“- how some amazing trains work and run, “Sliced“- how everything works?

– It blends well with historic themes like America- Story of US (again America is very modern society so it’s historic but modern), strange rituals (scientific explanation behind theories like hypnotism, sub conscious mind etc)

– Shows like Ice road truckers, Child Warriors, I’m alive, MonsterQuest etc gives channel a very adventurous theme.

– Hindi dubbing is decent too.

India’s audience has evolved in terms of TV and its daily dose of entertainment. The History channel realized this fact and shows with apt motto-

“Kuchh Naya Dekho, History Bante Dekho” are on air.

So what are you waiting for? Get over the boring soaps, serials, reality TV shows and head for this one!!

“Love2HateU” fails to impress!

The show “Love2HateU” premiered on Sunday brought to you by Star World. The show has a different concept than other reality shows currently being aired on various channels. Each episode of Love 2 Hate U will feature a film celebrity and a person who hates them. The celebrity then gets the opportunity to convert the hater into a fan. It is a reality check for both of them – a chance to understand each other as humans. The haters have been picked from various networking sites.

The show’s debut episode kick started with director Madhur Bhandarkar as the guest. The first part of the show had Arjun Rampal (who is also the host) as the “hated” celebrity.  Arjun confronted his hater Farhan by first intimidating him, which was indeed scary. Arjun annoyed him by taking potshots at his sense of humour. But after a long discussion and finally by buying him a drink, Rampal played along well and ended up converting the hater into almost a gushing fan.

Bhandarkar, on the other hand, tried to persuade his hater but didn’t get anywhere. The girl who hated him had very critical views about Bhandarkar’s formula of filmmaking. Initially when he confronted her she agreed that a few of his earlier films were good. However she insisted, since he discovered his formula of ‘realistic’ film making it has been a fixed and only formula of his films. Bhandarkar tried to convince her otherwise by giving her some insight into the struggle he has goes through for every film, but the hater couldn’t care less.

The show’s main problem is that by first look it seems that it’s staged and scripted. The show wasn’t too dramatic but less realistic as you cannot go about ranting on someone’s face (even if the person is a celebrity) that how much you hate them. The whole concept of the show falls flat simply because first they bully the critic and then allow the celebrity to hijack the discussion.

Also the most predictable part was that the show ended like a fairy tale – A Happy ending with everyone smiling, from hater to the one who was being hated a few moments ago. I could hardly give attention to the show after initial 15 minutes and afterwards it was just an assignment that I had to complete for this review. Fatally it is evident that the show is trying to prove a point that we should stop making fun of sincere and hard working celebrities.

The show is extremely boring with Arjun Rampal trying to play “Mr. Cool” part all the way but more or less successful to make a mark as a decent host.

Simple review of the show in my terms: I “LOVE 2 HATE” THIS SHOW!! 😉

Porn Star Sunny Leone all set to enter Bigg Boss House on Saturday

Be prepared for all the embarrassment when next time you will watch Bigg Boss show and your parents will ask you “Who is Sunny Leone?”

Yes that’s right because Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone will be seen in Bigg Boss Season 5 house on Saturday. This 30 year old adult film star happily tweeted the news and “Sunny Leone” has been trending on twitter since then. I am still zapped and astonished that what else the directors and producers of the show will do next to gain TRPs as they are ready to grab all eyeballs with this one.

Sunny Leone whose real name is Karen Malhotra has been roped in to be the international celebrity on Season 5. She is an Indo-Canadian pornographic actress, businesswoman and model. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003 and was a contract star for Vivid Entertainment. Named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010, she has also played roles in independent mainstream films and television shows.

Bigg Boss 5 can’t get more controversial than this with the entry of adult film star. Her entry in the house is going to create too much drama and excitement for viewers and house mates as well specially the three male house mates.

Watch out if your boyfriend/husband has started watching Bigg Boss suddenly! 😉

why ‘coke studio’, ‘unplugged’, ‘dewarists’ and other similar shows are instant hit with masses?

Last Sunday when I was frantically searching for my TV remote at 8’o clock, shortly came a remark from my dad, “Tune in fast as I want to see too what is there in this show called ‘The Dewarists’ that you go mad every time it is about to start”. I replied him with a big smile as he would know in exactly one hour my reason for getting crazy about this show. And this gave me a good enough reason to share my thoughts with iDubba readers.

All the above mentioned shows have one thing in common that they depict some amazing fusion of music. The show Dewarists has the tagline that proudly says “Because some things are just worth doing”. MTV Unplugged as the name suggests is, quite literally, unplugged. Eliminating all electronically engineered aspects of the music leaves you with a raw, soulful sound, and focus on vocals leaves you mesmerized. Coke Studio explores and celebrates the depth of musical diversity in India. All these shows are bringing some great artists and music together for the audience like us and they have definitely an edge over other normal music shows that go disregarded as well at times.

One of the biggest rationales that I see for the popularity of these shows is that it has a blend of different music genres. Some admired genres are electronic, modern folk, jazz, R&B, and rock that are being consistently followed in these shows. For example, if I am asked that I like Indian Classical music, my answer would be “I am sorry but it doesn’t interest me much” and I bet it would be identical for many of the same age group. So the simple fact that works is may be Indian classical alone doesn’t appeal to the audience but its fusion with some other popular genre does a great job.

Also these days the originality and creativity of Bollywood music is dying rapidly. There is no comparison of today’s bollywood music with the old music that we had by some greatest veteran artists like Kishore Kumar, R.D. Burman etc. I agree we do have some great musicians presently as well but most of the music is restricted to the so called typical “bollywood masala”.

There is another major reason of these shows becoming a hit with masses is because what they show is for real. Other shows of different genres that are on air are either staged with some rubbish jobless actors or filled with extreme melodrama and hysterical saas-bahu trash.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t forget to tune in next time theses shows are on air.

THE DEWARISTS

The last episodes that I saw on “The Dewarists”, amazing new series of Star World, titled “Kya Khayaal hai” and “Maaya” got me goose bumps full of soulful emotions.

The beautiful show says “It is a journey that takes us into the lives of musicians from different walks of life and brings them together to create music. These musicians are Dewarists. They have immense passion for what they do. They inspire others to follow their dreams and this is why their stories deserve to be heard.”

Every episode has a theme and features a different place every time with inspiring musicians who are led by passion, they come together to create a song. The theme is the title of the song that is created and performed by the end of episode. The show is shot as a documentary showing some amazing locales of the place.

It starts with host Monika Dogra, a contemporary artist, who talks about the musicians/bands who will collaborate in the episode to create the soulful music. These great musicians start by telling their stories how they started and finally achieved what they wanted by following their passion and how they made their dreams come true.

On the first day they get together and work on the idea. Sometimes the collaboration is between those who might have heard of each other but never met before or sometimes with friends who never thought of getting together. The next day onwards they start working on the idea and song in the studio. The whole preparation of the final song is done in a period of 3-4 days. They connect, discuss, give ideas, write lyrics, complete the song and most importantly make MUSIC.

You feel after watching this show that sometimes all you need is that one perfect note on which a song goes from great to classic. They show experience, tradition, talent and a shared love for the magnus of music. It is incredible to discover who the musicians are behind the music and it feels so nice when they happen to be incredible people as well. These magicians inspire you that if you are passionate about something then you don’t take it as a risk. I personally think the two artists/bands/musicians that collaborate on the show, they don’t just collaborate, they create this fusion of ultimate music called “Life”.

Whether its bollywood, contemporary, or Indian classic, they have covered it all. So far some great musicians/bands like Vishal-Shekhar, Imogean Heap, Indian Ocean, Mohit Chauhan, Zeb and Haniya, Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire have featured on the show.

The Dewarists takes you to another world. Experience yourself when you tune in to the show next time!