Sumantha Rathore
Media

SAB to launch first-of-its-kind silent comedy fiction show

The show will be a weekly, and will be launched in the third week of January

SAB, the family comedy channel by Multi Screen Media (MSM), will launch a first-of-its- kind silent comedy show in the third week of January.

The show, tentatively titled Sab Chup Raho, will be a weekly to be aired on Fridays. The timing of the show is being worked out. Anooj Kapoor, business head, SAB TV informs that the new half-hour show will be aired between 9 pm and 11pm. During this time band, the channel airs the rerun of Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma.

SAB to launch first-of-its-kind silent comedy fiction show
Talking about the unique format of the show, Kapoor says, "Ever since we re-launched in September 2008, we made it a point to make innovative and differentiated comedy shows. Be it a horror comedy (Bhootwala Serial), a gangster comedy show (Gunwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge), a courtroom comedy (Yeh Chanda Kanoon Hai), and now a silent comedy show; we are happy to be doing innovation in comedy. We have grown 200 per cent in the last one year."

Kapoor says that the show has been kept as a weekly offering, as "silent comedy takes long to shoot." He adds that the channel is not afraid of taking the risk of launching a silent show. "Even if it doesn't perform well, it won't make much of a difference in the GRPs, since it is a half-hour weekly show." The show is being produced by Firework Production, which also makes CID and Aahat for Sony.

Sab Chup Raho is a fiction, based on the day-to-day happenings in a joint family. Every Friday, the show will look at a new story within the family, where the members, rather than talking, will communicate through gestures.

The channel plans to launch more original shows for its Friday primetime band by next fiscal, post IPL.

Within a span of two years, SAB has managed to climb from being the No. 8 player in the television space to becoming the No. 6 player, leaving STAR One and Sahara One far behind. As per media experts, the channel's performance in recent times is reflected in the fact that SAB is the first choice of media planners and advertisers, when it comes to choosing a platform amongst the secondary set of channels.

Kapoor adds that in the last one year, the revenue share of the channel has gone up by 60 per cent; and it now has more than 50 advertisers on-board, as opposed to less than 30 it used to have a year ago.

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