Go for the jugular. That?s a tactic used in the animal kingdom when a hunter is close to a prey it has been stalking for some time. That?s a tactic used in the corporate jungle when one rival finds itself with its back to the wall.
Two days back, Zee Telefilms pounced on rival Star India through an advertising campaign, which is running in the pink press - in an extremely aggressive play. The ad campaign targeted at advertisers and media planners is making a pitch for Zee TV?s shows Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai (JIKNH) and Khelo Number Khelo. It builds a case for the two shows as big ticket items which the media fraternity should should ride, forgetting about the KBCs and the "Saas Bahu" sagas.

And this despite the fact that Khelo and Jeena have continued to have swinging ratings (both have flitted in and out of the top 100 rated shows in the last five weeks). Zee TV says in the ads that saas bahu soaps cannot sustain viewer interest for long now. Quoting in house statistics, it claims that approximately 7.6 million C & S households that own a Playwin Super Lotto ticket are a captive audience for Khelo, its game show produced by Miditech, that announces the online results midway through the show. With jackpots of over Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) and Rs 8.61 (Rs 86.1 million) crore being won in the last one month, the channel claims interest in the lottery as well as in the show has shot up.

Jeena?too, the ads claim, commands a 45 per cent viewership (the episode featuring Laloo Prasad Yadav), with rival channels commanding corresponding figures of 27, 21 and eight per cent. Friday night viewing, claims the network is not for digesting celluloid domestic squabbles but for celeb talk that tugs at heartstrings.

It is still unclear whether advertisers will bite the bait, though. Media planners, while admitting that Playwin has caught the fancy of the populace, are reluctant to say whether the success will translate into better ratings for the show.

Initiative Media vice president Partha Ghosh says that viewers need not necessarily log on to a show, as the results would be available offline later. "You cannot necessarily convert the success of a product in the marketplace into a successful show", he opines. Whereas if you miss an episode of a soap like Kyunkii, you miss a vital link in the series, you do not miss much if you skip an episode of Khelo or Jeena, he adds. The ads, a product of Zee‘s creative agency Rediffusion DY & R, hit out straight at "saas bahu" serials that have cornered a vital share of viewers‘ imagination. Hinting that the ratings do not reflect the true picture, the ads say ?advertisers are still led to believe that people would much rather watch a creaky sob story than find out if they have won the kind of money that will have them laughing all the way to the bank.?

StarCom‘s Pradipto Nandy disagrees. "The campaign (to wean away advertisers from soaps to game shows) will not work as a long term strategy," he says. Besides, he points out, viewers need not stick to the channel for the entire duration of the show if they are merely interested in following the results of the online lottery, he points out.

It‘s not only Sony Entertainment that is bidding to push sporting spectacle on its entertainment channels. If Sony will be pushing ICC cricket on its SET and MAX channels, the Star Network is doing its own little number on Star World and Star movies. Star has announced boxing specials next week on two of its general entertainment channels - Star Movies and Star World.

Reigning three-time world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis defends his title against Mike Tyson on Star Movies on 9 June live at 6:30 am with a repeat at 9:30 pm. Meanwhile, Star World is all set to pay tribute to boxing legend Muhammad Ali on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The Muhammad Ali 60th Birthday Celebration airs on the channel on 4 June at 9 pm.

Hosted by Will Smith, who played the boxing legend on screen in Ali, the one-hour special was taped at the new Kodak Theater in Hollywood, the venue of the Academy Awards in March this year.

Joining Smith to present film clips of Ali‘s legendary career are film stars Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding, Jr, Samuel L Jackson, Sidney Poitier, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Voight, John Travolta.

CNN chat show host Larry King and Layla Ali, the boxer‘s daughter will also be present on the occasion. The show includes musical performances by India.Arie (Strength, Courage & Wisdom), Mariah Carey (Happy Birthday), Natalie Cole (This Will Be) as well as a special message from boy band NSYNC.

After a long hiatus, Mudra Videotec, the television software production and marketing arm of advertising major Mudra Communications is all set to renew the golden relationship it shared with Doordarshan in its halcyon days.
After soap Shayad Tum, it has now announced the launch of a new daily soap to be launched from 3 June on DD National.

Mera Humsafar, concieved and written by experienced film and TV professional Vinod Pande, is a moving tale of a single mother and her mentally challenged daughter. "The serial potrays the adversities faced by the family in life and how they cope with these with dignity and determination to finally emerge victorious", says Pande, who has earlier written and directed several hit DD shows including Air Hostess, Reporter, Ek Kahaani and Detective Pradhaan.

An inspiring saga, it hopes to educate people about dealing with a common and socially stigmatized problem of having a special child. Mudra Videotech creative consultant Abhigyan Jha says viewers, bored of "saas bahu" dramas, need a change. "If you study the top 10 shows on DD, you can see that they belong to different genres."

An upbeat Mudra Videotec CEO Kaushik Roy too seems pretty confident of the success of Mera Humsafar. "Within a short span, we have made a meaningful comeback with relevant and popular programmes on air. We are proud of our association with Vinod Pande and Mera Humsafar has all the potential of being a new trendsetter on TV," he says.

Mudra has in the past produced some of the most succesful shows on Indian television such as Buniyaad, Udaan, Rajani and Chunauti among others. It has developed 11 projects in the last six months, prominent among them the sucessfull, Shayad Tum starring Shekar Suman and Mandira Bedi.

Roy says Mudra has taken on the challenge of a different theme consciously and is willing to face the risk. Roy‘s stand seems to be in place since Godrej, Johnson & Johnson, Dabur, Colgate, Nirma and Kunwar Ajay sarees have already come on board. Mera Humsafar stars Abhimanyu Singh potraying Jeeten and Barkha Madaan as Poonam, the female protaganist.