Savia Jane Pinto
Media

‘AmberDhara’ to brighten Sony’s weekday fare

Sony Entertainment Television will soon roll out a show about conjoined twins in the Monday-Thursday 9pm band, in order to revive its weekday primetime fiction programming

In a bid to revive its lost glory in the weekday primetime slot, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) will soon launch ‘AmberDhara’, a show on the lives of conjoined twins. The show will go on air on September 24, 2007, and will run Monday to Thursday at 9pm. Currently, ‘Ek Ladki Anjani Si’ is on air in this slot, but it is expected to go off air in a few days.

‘AmberDhara’ tells the story of conjoined twin girls, who make their own way in the world. They grow up in a small town (Panchgani) with their mother and grandfather. Amber and Dhara (the names of the twins, meaning ‘sky’ and ‘earth’) are starkly different personalities and have varied ambitions. Amber is vivacious and outgoing, wanting to be a singer, while Dhara is the sacrificing introvert. The show deals with the challenges that arise with each passing year of their lives.

‘AmberDhara’ to brighten Sony’s weekday fare
SET claims to have its stronghold in the weekend slot with shows such as ‘Boogie Woogie’, ‘Indian Idol’, ‘Comedy Circus’ and the long-running ‘CID’. ‘AmberDhara’ is SET’s shot at funnelling its weekend viewers into the weekdays.

Albert Almeida, executive vice-president and business head, SET, says, “Since ‘Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin’ wrapped up, we did lose out on our fiction viewers, particularly families. We need to bring back those viewers in order to gain on the weekday slots.”

With ‘AmberDhara’, Almeida expects to break through the clutter and entice the audience yet again. But the concept of conjoined twins might be a bit of a risk, considering that Sony’s last daring attempt – ‘Ek Ladki Anjaani Si’ (the story of a young girl getting artificially inseminated due to a hospital oversight) – didn’t really pay off too well for the channel. Almeida admits, “India wasn’t ready for the concept and couldn’t digest it.”

“However, conjoined twins are not an unknown fact, we hear about their problems in newspapers every so often,” he continues. “The story of ‘AmberDhara’ can strike a chord with every family because it reflects reality.”

The marketing activities for the show include outdoor promotions reflecting the power of ‘two’: images such as a shower with two outlets, a bicycle with two seats and a school bench which, instead of accommodating one student, can accommodate two, have been leveraged. SET is banking on a lot of word of mouth.

More than 2,000 promotions have been aired on the SET India Network, while another 2500 promotions have been aired on non-conflicting channels such as news networks and kids’ channels. SET has partnered with Big FM to promote the show, and it has also leveraged SMS and Internet promos and mobile vans and floaters across cities. Outdoor, radio and cable are part of the media mix. On-ground activities in eight major cities have also been leveraged in order to promote the show.

The serial has been produced by Swastik Pictures.

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