MUMBAI: With a long weekend stretching ahead, Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) don’t want to miss the opportunity to keep people inside their homes. Come 15 August, along with the whole of India, GECs will also celebrate the 68th Independence Day.
Commemorating the upcoming Independence Day, Colors has planned a special two-hour recorded event titled Jashn-E-Azaadi that will display India’s rich culture from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
A dose of humour will be given by popular comedian Kapil Sharma with gags and parody by the entire cast of Comedy Nights with Kapil (CNWK). Along with the CNWK cast, other artists who will be seen performing on the latkas and jhatkas are Eijaz Khan, Sophie Chowdhry, Karan Wahi, Dadi as dadi, Vishal Singh (representing Punjab), Rashmi Desai, Shakti Mohan (representing UP), Karishma Tanna (representing Gujarat) and Akshat (representing South). It will air twice on Independence day- 1pm to 3pm and from 5pm to 7pm.
Apart from the special event, the theme of I-Day will be reflected in Balika Vadhu also, where Shiv will save the CM who’s going to be assassinated through a ticker bomb at an Inauguration ceremony held on 15 August.
Talking about Sony Entertainment Television, it will celebrate Independence Day on 15 August and 16 August at 10pm. A special episode of its oldest and highest rated properties - CID will show a terrorist attack.
Talking about Star Plus’s sister channel Life OK, it will celebrate the flavor of Independence with Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor Khan on the very famous Life OK Now Awards. With Independence as the central theme, viewers will see some spectacular performances by some of the biggest names in Bollywood and television. The anchors for the evening Chintu aka Sunil Grover and Varun Sharma, will keep everyone in splits with their gags and comic timing.
The audience will get to witness some power packed performances that wont only kept them entertained, but also brought out the spirit of patriotism. Actors who will perform include Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Arya, Esha Gupta, Prateek and Sneha.
While media planners says that channels witness a 10-15 per cent hike in their revenues during special occasions like Holi, Women’s Day and Valentine’s Day, for Independence Day, channels which have a special line up plan earn some extra bucks, but regular programming does not see a huge shift or hike in the revenues.
