Shekhar Suman accused of manipulating the Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards 2010

Media News

Mumbai, September 15, 2010

In yet another twist to the controversy surrounding the entry of Jay Hind! for the Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards 2010, the makers of the show, blame actor Shekhar Suman, also a member of the Governing Council of ITA, for the disqualification.

After sending a letter inviting the World's First Full Format TV Show to air exclusively on the Internet, to participate under 13 categories in this year's Awards to be held in October, the Awards' organisers disqualified the entry at the last minute.

Citing reasons such as the show not being televised on any TV network and that the existing TV channels would raise an objection! But the makers of Jay Hind! believe that the man behind this whole incident is none other than Shekhar Suman.

Shekhar Suman & Abhigyan Jha - the man behind the famous Movers & Shakers and now Jay Hind! had a fallout with Sony in the year 2001 resulting in both walking out of the show due to creative differences. Widely acknowledged as the show that brought Shekhar back in to limelight, Movers & Shakers was Asia's most successful show at one point.

Later on Shekhar attempted two tweaked versions of the show without Jha but failed.

The duo then came back together for a show titled Tedhi Baat, where they had major differences with each other and parted ways. The said show seems to be the reason behind the present ITA Awards controversy.

Abhigyan Jha, Creator & Director of Jay Hind! and co-founder of Undercover Productions Ltd. says, "I had made 10 really funny episodes of Tedhi Baat with Kunal Kumar, Gaurav Gera and Sidharth Randeria. Shekhar was supposed to market the show as a Producer. Instead once he saw that the episodes were really funny, he wanted to do the characters himself.

At which point I walked out because it wasn't fair to the original actors who did such a terrific job in the first place. The show failed miserably, didn't even ratings of .5 and eventually came to an abrupt end.

All this happened even as the copyright of concept and Title of Tedhi Baat continue to be registered in my name. I could have sued SAB TV and also Shekhar but desisted only because of our old relationship.

I am surprised Shekhar is now trying to block Jay Hind!'s entry to ITA! Perhaps he is jealous that some one else is now decisively the best stand-up artist in the country."

On being disqualified from the ITA Awards 2010, Jha adds, "There's also a certain comedy channel which is wary of us sweeping all the awards as we are competition to them. They know we have a much better show and have higher chances of winning. Shekhar Suman and this channel together are the ones conspiring against my show."

Meanwhile the laugh riot Jay Hind! continues to grow on the internet, recently crossing a dual landmark of completing 100 episodes and 50 million hits in just 1 year of its existence! The bi-weekly Late Night Comedy Show has garnered rave reviews not only in India but also in countries as far apart as USA and Uganda.

A contemporary and edgier version of the iconic Movers & Shakers, the show will go down in history for leading the way in introducing full fledged TV like online entertainment content to the world.

Commenting on the rules & regulations for the Award entries, Jha added, "The reasons given to us for our disqualification were that the show is not televised on any TV networks and that the existing TV channels would raise an objection. But, we are not only an online show but a TV channel too; albeit on the internet.

Nowhere in the rules and regulations was it mentioned that the show needs to be televised over satellite. If that's the case then programmes on Doordarshan too cannot be eligible for participation because our national broadcaster is not a satellite channel.

Also, online content is the future of the entertainment industry as has been aptly demonstrated by the launch of Apple TV and the impending launch of the Google Box in October. As a member of the Governing Council of an esteemed industry body like the ITA, Shekhar Suman should ideally be proud to acknowledge the change that Jay Hind! is leading.

Moreover, the Awards organisers even couriered us the entry forms in the first place and they were well aware that ours is an Internet show", concludes Jha.

New episodes of Jay Hind! are updated at 10:10pm every Monday and Thursday on www.jayhind.tv

For further information, please contact:

Foresight Communications

Oliver D'souza

Mobile: 9892847782

Email: oliver@foresightindia.in