MUMBAI: Zee Marathi, the no 1 channel in Maharashtra has beefed up its late prime time slot with the launch of 2 new shows at the 9 PM and 9.30 PM slot. The new shows will launch on 18th August 2014 and are expected to further fuel the growth of Zee Marathi. The show at 9 PM called 'Ka Re Durava' is a story of a married couple who work in the same organization but are unable to disclose the fact that they are married due to the rules of the organization. The 9.30 PM show; a light hearted non-fiction comedy Chala Hava Yeu Dya is a story of a mad family comprising of amnesic father played by Bhau Kadam and his 2 sons Nilesh Sable and Kushal Badrike. The show will have guests from the movie and theatre fraternity visiting the show and will be interspersed with interesting comic characters. Ka Re Durava airs Monday to Saturday while Chala Hava Yeu Dya will continue in the regular non-fiction slot of Monday & Tuesday.
The channel has launched an extensive marketing campaign for both shows with heavy promotions across TV, print, radio and outdoor apart from focus on the digital medium. The campaign has an interesting hook to it which shows a happily married couple behaving like complete strangers once they step into their office space. An engagement initiative with the Mumbai Dabbawalas is planned in the city which sees the most incidences of married couple feeling the pain of distance and lack on time in their marriage.
For Chala Hava Yeu Dya, the channel promo team has penned and shot a rap song that has quickly caught on with the masses. The song has been sung by Nilesh Sable and presents the characters in a never seen before avatar.
Speaking on the launch of the 2 shows, Zee Marathi business head Deepak Rajadhyaksha said "Zee Marathi has always ensured that shows are not dragged beyond their life and have aimed at ending shows at a high always. The shows previously on these slots were coming to a natural end and we needed an apt replacement for the slots."
He added, "21:00 has always been a slot where we have got novel and very progressive concepts and the show Ka Re Durava is an attempt to highlight the status of today's generation where a married couple has to balance their professional and personal lives. The show captures the modern day couple who both work with little or no time for each other and to top it they work in the same organization which adds to the complexity”. While Ka Re Durava is a love story; speaking on the new non-fiction comedy show Chala Hava Yeu Dya, Deepak adds “The show gives us the platform to add further muscle to the strong comedy franchise we have built. With this show we will not only provide unmatched humour to the viewers but also bring celebrities from the Marathi cinema and theatre fraternity to be part of the show".
Zee Marathi is aiming that the 2 shows will enrich its offerings and believes that adding another emotion to the existing range will strike a chord with the audience. The channel currently boasts of numbers that has put daylight between them and the nearest competitor and recently completed one year at the helm with no other Marathi channel able to reach the heights the channel achieved through successful show launches, events and big ticket movie premieres. Adding to the aura of the channel was the launch of a special slot for theatre which has proven yet again that Zee Marathi leads not just in numbers but in innovative programming and marketing initiatives which have propelled the channel to greater heights.
