HINDI TV SERIAL NEWS TV
Indian soaps compete among others with the market leader, Turkey, which made about 270 crore from overseas sales of its TV serials in 2011. Though a script sale usually fetches an average of $350 (about 19,000) per episode, about half the amount earned through syndication, Gandhi will retain the right to the script and get to share the right to the adapted story. After adaptation, it will be run in Swahili as a daily in a prime time slot this year across the sub-Saharan regions," says Gaurav Gandhi, COO of IndiaCast, a multi-platform content asset monetisation entity, jointly owned by TV18 and Viacom18. "We have made a deal for 200 episodes of the over 1,000 episodes of Uttaran shown in India. Demand is an evidence of it," says social commentator Santosh Desai.Ī leading Kenyan general entertainment channel from the Radio Africa Group has acquired Uttaran's story for adaptation while Balika Vadhu is already running in 16 languages across 18 countries. Now, it is the turn of our cultural products, which have always had value, to find relevance outside. "A long while ago, we adapted a popular serial, Hum Log, inspired by a South American story. Television represents more Indian culture and more Indian than our films." We don't ape or rip off from English serials whereas our films do. "The market has grown beyond our Asian diaspora," says producer Rajan Shahi of Director's Kut Productions, which has made three of Star's top-rated shows, and reasons, "Our serials are rooted in human emotions and are very identifiable. The industry estimates this popularity will result in a rise in the overseas business for Zee, Colors, Sony and Star TV, the four big domestic channels, to an annual revenue of 200 crore in five years, up from 60-70 crore in 2012. The actors playing the parts of Anandi and the duo of Tapasya and Ichcha in these television serials are fast becoming household names beyond the country's shores, following in the footsteps of trailblazers from the silver screen such as Raj Kapoor, Rajinikanth and Shah Rukh Khan. MUMBAI: Indian soaps are working up more lather than ever in foreign countries, with television viewers from Serbia to Kenya lapping up typically domestic fare such as Balika Vadhu and Uttaran, opening up newer markets for the producers.