Miditech productions shines bright at the Hero Honda ITA Awards 2005

Media Release, November 16

Mumbai

Miditech does it again this year! It wins awards and accolades at the Hero Honda ITA Awards 2005. Miditech production Indian Idol has won in the Best Music and Film Based Show category, while Fame Gurukul was adjudged the Best Reality Programme. Riddles of the Dead: Skeleton Lake produced by Miditech for National Geographic Channel won the Best TV Documentary Award.

Packed with drama and excitement Indian Idol is seen as a musical journey not only for the thousands who took their chance to become India's Pop Idol, but also for millions of viewers who kept up with all the laughter and tears, triumph and rejection in the lives of hundreds of young singers all over the country. As thousands of hopefuls queued up to become India's Pop Idol, the programme topped charts with millions of viewers gluing to their television sets trying to choose the 'Best of Bests'. Indian Idol received a phenomenal response with as many as 1.5 million people voting for their Idol. This is the greatest response any Indian reality television show ever got. Indian Idol is based on the wildly popular "Pop Idol", the mega show came to India after its success in twenty five countries across the globe. Indian Idol was co-produced by Miditech with Optimystix for Sony Channel.

Fame Gurukul, another raring success is an adaptation of the popular Spanish reality series ‘Operacion Triunfo’, is familiar in the English speaking world as Fame Academy, BBC’s top music entertainment programme. Fame Gurukul is the quest for two singing sensations who will rock into fame with a recording contract from an acclaimed music label and a contract worth rupees 10 million from Sony TV. The show brings onto one platform the best in the music industry to coach raw talent into stardom. It is here that talent blooms, emotions run high and a star is eventually born. Cameras roll 24x7 as the most competitive show on Indian television kicks off. Each week live performances are held with students vying for their one chance to fame before a studio audience. But it’s the viewers who decide their fate. And the drama continues. Fame Academy is a cross genre programme and creates new standards for Drama Reality Dailies.

Riddles of the Dead : Skeleton Lake has been produced by Miditech for National Geographic Channel, directed by Chandramouli Basu and written by Niret & Nikhil Alva. It is part of the channel’s series called Forensic Investigation Report. Forensic Investigation Report is a long running series that uses a mix of science and investigative techniques to solve some of the most astounding, unanswered riddles of our times. Tucked into a remote corner of the Himalayas is a frozen lake, Roopkund, at 16000 ft. The lake contains a deadly secret. Hundreds of skeletons lie strewn on the slopes in an orgy of death. The mystery of Roopkund has intrigued sociologists, historians and anthropologists as well as local people for years. It has become the stuff of myth and legend. Fact and fiction have blended into religious folklore and been carried down the ages. Now for the first time `Skeleton Lake’ follows an international team of scientists led by cultural anthropologist William Sax, as they trek to this high altitude Lake and seek to unravel the mystery of Roopkund. The team’s aim is to retrieve samples and carry out exhaustive testing, which is a part of an interdisciplinary effort to answer the questions at the heart of the mystery.

Miditech received seven nominations in the Hero Honda ITA Awards 2005. Indian Idol received three nominations in the Best Anchor in Music and Film Based Show category, for Art Direction

and for Best Musical and Film Based Show. Fame Gurukul was also nominated for Best Music and Film Based Show. Riddles of the Dead:Skeleton Lake received two nomination for Best TV Documentary and for Best Editing. Vultures:Death Watch was also nominated for Best TV Documentary.

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