The document proposes the concept for a new television channel called "Daawat" that combines food and entertainment programming. It discusses various show ideas that would air on the channel, such as cooking competitions, restaurant entrepreneur shows, food-related game shows and dramas, and travel/food guide programs. The goal is to tap into the rich mix of emotions that drive viewership of popular entertainment channels by incorporating elements of drama, comedy, and reality into food-focused television shows. Sample schedules and program descriptions are provided to illustrate how Daawat could engage audiences in the primetime hours against other leading channels.

1. How does India entertain herself?

2. Observation 1 We are the world’s 2 nd largest quirky population of people finding unique ways to make sure we don’t get bored…

3. Observation 2 We seek entertainment in our diversity

4. When we are not busy…

5. Watching cricket… Lining up for movies… Gorging on food… Our way out of boredom…

6. “ What’s playing on TV? D R A M A S U S P E N S E C O M E D Y H O R R O R R E A L I T Y D E V O T I O N A D V E N T U R E

7. A look at some of India’s mainstream channels… General Entertainment Sports Movies Music News

8. The Hindi GEC genre has roared to an eleven per cent growth over the previous year. According to Tam data for Hindi speaking market (HSM), the share of Hindi GEC, which stood at 34.59 per cent in 2008, has moved up to 38.39 per cent in 2009. Ad revenues up from Rs 19 billion in 2009. Source: TAM 2009 General Entertainment Channels (GECs) form the highest rated and the more popular cluster on the TV circuit. Why?

9. Let us understand why GEC channels are clear winners…A look at the top 2 GEC channels and what they beam in the prime time band… An over-dominant play in Drama has the viewers enthralled and hungry for more Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who wants to be a millionaire) was India’s first reality based show. It disrupted TV viewing experience and took Star Plus to the number one position. Khatron ke Khiladi (DareDevils) did the same for Colors. Prime Time Band

10. So what is it about Drama that is really working for the Star Pluses, Colours and Zee TVs of the world??? What they experience… What they see… Balika Vadhu Bairi Piya Sajan Ghar Jaana Hain Ye Pyar Na Hoga Kam Dance India Dance Big Boss Anger Sorrow Revenge Jealousy Happiness Aspiration Hope Drama + Reality Emotions

11. Truth is… Through Drama, people are actually tapping into the rich, heady mix of emotions on offer…TV viewers in India have clearly chosen programming that offers a rich blend of emotions…

12. In the early 90s, there were a few genres that attempted to create and sustain their own platforms but didn’t really make the cut… Let us see how they turned around…

13. Success Story 1: Music Television a.k.a. MTV > >

14. Success Story 2: The News Channel Genre >

15. Success Story 3: The Cricket Genre >

16. SAB TV as a single genre channel does not even feature in the top 8. TAM Media Research data for C&S 4+ in Hindi speaking markets However, SAB TV which launched by anchoring itself around a single genre; comedy, did not quite make the cut

17. Thus, for any new channel entrant in the Indian TV space to succeed, it is imperative to offer a programming mix that provides an eclectic and rich mix of emotions.

18. Let’s talk about food  How is food programming in India being currently churned out though the telly? Have a look…

19. All of the above makes for very interesting viewing. It naturally drives curiosity but not TRPs… Plus a mix of Indian programs like Kunal Vijaykar’s ‘The Foodie’ and ‘Highway on a Plate’…

20. Currently, the food programming genre in India is at best a fringe player… Convention suggests that food and entertainment are two different platforms and “never the twain shall meet!”. TIME TO BREAK THE RULE! Could we tweak food programming in a manner that would elicit the same emotional responses generated by successful General Entertainment Channels?

21. General Entertainment Channels What if food became central to all the emotions we experience everyday when we watch our dramas and reality shows? + Banter Anger Revenge Comedy Sweetness Happiness Sorrow Battles

22. Thus, any channel that needs to capture food and more in its programming needs to also tap into the rich mix of emotions that GECs have to offer. Needless to say, the name of such an entity has to capture the world of both food and entertainment in our case.

23. If there is one thread that binds both food and entertainment, it is the irresistible allure of the various flavors that any mouth-watering dish or a masala drama provides. It invites people to partake of the pleasures that it has to offer.

25. An invitation to indulge IN THE WORLD OF JUST FOOD… Daawat is a lavish spread, an alluring invitation for people to gorge on the most mouth-watering, eclectic delicacies that any food spread has to offer. It is the kind of spread that will make the invitee feel perpetually unsatiated and crave for more. IN THE WORLD OF FOOD + ENTERTAINMENT… In a world where emotions are like food items, Daawat is an unbelievable spread of entertainment programs that have food at their heart. Daawat promises to be an unprecedented, heady combination of drama, food and reality based programming

26. Reality Fiction Health & Wellness Cookery Adventure Celebrity The world of Daawat

27. What if? There was a program that gave you a chance to enter a celebrity’s house?

29. What if? You as a housewife got an opportunity to run your own business?

31. What if? You got a chance to prove your mettle and have the whole country backing you?

33. What if? You as a housewife got an opportunity to run your own business?

35. What if A daily soap opera revolved only around food?

37. What if You had food for free?

39. What if There was no limitation to how much you could eat?

41. What if Kids started judging adults?

43. What if You got to know the truth about food?

45. THE SHOW Prospective Contestants are asked to call in and answer a few basic cookery questions. A final list of 10 contestants is shortlisted and they are invited for the program. SRK gives these contestants, different challenges by asking them to cook his favourite dishes. Each contestant then presents the cooked items to SRK. SRK’s reactions range from wow to down-right indignation. After the launch episode, one contestant starts getting eliminated in every successive episode. Only one chef is left standing at the end of it all. And he declared to be the winner and SRK’s favourite chef. In addition he also receives a big cash prize. THE MECHANICS Contestants can participate by calling up a toll-free number that will essentially an IVR of simple questions, followed by a slogan on the celebrity judge. Selected contestants will be further picked up through a lucky draw. WHY IT WILL WORK A typical episode captures snapshots of the contestants trying to outdo each other in the food items they are preparing. A lot of tiffs ensue and back-biting, jealousy, anger are the order of the day. Those controversial moments along with SRK’s judgment form the key to the success of this programme. Kaun Banega SRK ka chef!

46. THE SHOW The big chef is a weekly reality show where 10 aspiring chefs are assembled in the kitchen of a well known, top class restaurant in the city of Mumbai to work for 3 months. THE BIG PRIZE WILL BE THAT THE WINNING CHEF WILL GET TO HOST HIS OWN COOKERY SHOW ON THE CHANNEL AND WILL ALSO RECEIVE A BIG CASH GIFT. THIS PROGRAMME WILL BE A LAUNCHING PAD FOR HIS CAREER. The caveat is: they are being led by a very well know chef who’s known as much for his adherence to time and quality as he is known for his fiery temper. Only one young chef will be left standing at the end of the three months. This candidate will be judged on his ability to deliver top-notch dishes to demanding customers PERFECTLY, ON TIME. THE MECHANICS Contestants will be selected from across six cities across India through a selection procedure that will involve a cooking test and an interview with the judges’ panel. The judges will include Sanjeev Kapoor and the ‘big chef’. A lot of excitement will be generated by the idiosyncratic nature of the ‘big chef’ and the fact that each of the 9 contestants will be fired in successive episodes on various grounds. Elimination will begin from episode 4 by which time the programme would have set in with the viewers. One contestant will be fired every week. All the contestants will be staying together and those footages of conversations will also be captured. The kitchen will have cameras. WHY IT WILL WORK This programme will generate a lot of viewer excitement by showing footages of the contestants struggling to cook on time and manage delivering a quality dish. There will be a lot of engagement when people see the chefs fighting, back-biting, sabotaging each other in the kitchen. The biggest draw, however, will be the big chef’s angry and ruthless outbursts and the effect it has on the contestants. Human Drama in the kitchen at its best! Program 1: The big chef

47. THE SHOW This biweekly programme tests the entrepreneurial skills of housewives in urban India who aspire to run their own restaurants. 24 contestants from across India will be selected and then converted into 8 groups of 3 each. The channel will then set up two restaurants each, in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore. These 8 groups will be provided with seed capital to run the restaurants for a period of 2.5 – 3 months. In this period, a panel of judges (including chefs, angel investors, well known corporate entities) will evaluate the performance of the eight restaurants on various parameters such as profits, operational efficiency, cleanliness, popularity. The audience will also get to visit the restaurants as regular restaurant visitors and will vote for their favorite restaurant. Halfway through the season, one restaurant in each city will be shut down. Thus, only four restaurants, one in each city will be left standing. These four restaurants will vie for the BIG PRIZE WHICH WILL BE GETTING A 50% OWNERSHIP OF THE RESTAURANT THEY ARE RUNNING ALONG WITH THE CHANNEL. THE MECHANICS The good looking women contestants (they have to be married) will be chosen from between the ages of 25 and 35. The programme will also have a call-in number where people can recommend a particular contestant. All these prospects will be called for a selection interview, which will test their shrewdness and business acumen. WHY IT WILL WORK The show has tremendous aspirational value amongst young urban housewives who feel that they have a lot of value to add and be far more than their husbands’ spouses. Thus, it (the show) will strongly resonate there. Secondly, the very edited format of the show, complete with controversy, stress, fights, competition makes it eminently watchable. Program 2: Entrepreneur Housewives

48. THE SHOW Nasty Gang is a weekly game show where a bunch of kids get to decide if the food/snack being prepared by women contestants is worthy of being eaten or not. In each episode, you see three women pitting their culinary skills against each other, all to impress a bunch of 3 kid judges. Each kid judge is a troublesome prospect for the contestants because he/she is extremely fussy about food (fussy about vegetables, the snack they eat). Contestants have to go through one judge at a time to move to the next level where they are judged by the next kid judge. Each kid judge is fussier than the other. The final round is with the most troublesome kid judge who throws away most of the food that comes his way. As there are fresh contestants in each episode, there is no elimination. Every level in each episode has a maximum score that needs to be attained by the contestant. The total of all three levels then decides who has won the game show for that episode. The winner gets a big cash prize and her winning dish gets special billing as a dish recommended for kids by the channel. THE MECHANICS The show will recruit women contestants through a combination of a call-in number and a form available through newspaper ads and inserts. The women will have to answer simple, elementary questions and complete a slogan. Post that, 3 women for every episode will be chosen through a lucky draw. Why it will work The sheer exasperation of mothers viewing little children trashing cooked food items will be seen. Secondly, the opportunity to participate and take up the challenge of feeding food to pesky kids will be seen a challenge by these women. Thirdly, the quick cooking and judgment format of the show will be engaging. Program 3: Nasty Gang

49. THE SHOW This is a charming simple weekly show where the host in each episode starts from a city (say Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad) and chooses to travel to a destination. The catch is that he has to travel and eat throughout his travel to his destination WITHOUT ANY MONEY. He can work, beg, borrow but not steal! He has to use his personal skills to request people and hotels he encounters along the way to feed him for free. Needless to say, that is a big challenge. THE MECHANICS Fairly simple. The same host will travel different sectors within India and abroad as he goes on his quest of surviving the entire journey without spending a penny. WHY IT WILL WORK Viewer excitement is generated by watching the host go through various difficulties to make sure he gets to eat. Skipping meals is not allowed. This is an entertaining, general interest program that makes people laugh. Program 4: Waiter, Bill mat Dikhao!

50. THE SHOW This program is like a typical soap which has drama, fights, masala, envy, comedy and all the emotions that go in contemporary soaps these days. The set-up is of a typical Indian joint family with family members of all different kinds of people of different age group, different mind-set and different needs. The story is narrated/ seen from the eyes of the Maharaj, the cook of the house. The plot revolves around the family members, the arguments, back biting and drama that happen between them and at times our Maharaj becomes a punching bag for others to vent out their frustration and thus is at the receiving end. WHY IT WILL WORK With its mix of drama, comedy, fights and arguments, the show will classically pit itself against the saas-bahu and the comedy soaps of the world. The twists and turns in the daily plots of the program will drive viewer interest. Program 6: Dal mein kuch kala hain!

51. THE SHOW The attempt here is to create our own version of the Limca Book of Records, with food at the core of programming. This program is about creating/ breaking records among people/ organizations related to food. A typical episode would consist of the host announcing outside a restaurant stating that the owner of the restaurant claims to sell the maximum amount of chai in a day in India, e.g.. Ten Thousand cups of tea. The host would have a click-o-meter with him & would start counting the tea being served in a day, on the other hand we have another host with a set of chefs who would be making the largest dosa in India. Third scenario would be of a man offering to eat 5 kg. ladoos at one go. We keep inter-cutting among the three scenarios at different points in time and end the show in the evening with the guy with his click-o-meter stating the no. of tea cups sold in the restaurant. THE MECHANICS Contestants will be invited to come and perform by calling up a toll-free number 1 month prior to the launch of the program. Shortlisted candidates will get an opportunity to showcase their special talents at a pre-show test at various venues across India. WHY IT WILL WORK We all have a fundamental fetish for anything that is larger than life. The extraordinary feats of the contestants will be the single biggest draw of the program. Secondly, the opportunity to prove a point by setting a new record or break an existing one will be hard to miss. Program 7: Daawat’s Book of Records

52. THE SHOW This program highlights various distinctive authentic cuisines from different parts of India, the host undertakes a pan India journey exploring various towns & mini-metros to discover the most popular cuisine of that region and rates it accordingly. The journey is similar to an adventure trip where various nuances of the region such as culture, traditions and food are highlighted. WHY IT WILL WORK The laid-back approach of the program that depicts food from far away lands against the back-drop of beautiful locales is alluring. Secondly, the program will also be informative in terms of what to expect from the local cuisine when people travel there. Program 8: The Daawat good food guide

53. A day in the life of Daawat …

54. Let us see what the prime time band looks like when we pit our exciting new programs against the two biggies of General Entertainment… The 8pm to 10 pm time band is when our target 25-44 age group married women are free of their daily chores and all set to watch. Note: The afternoon time band will be an eclectic mix of cookery shows. The early morning (12am – 6am) band will comprise of a mix of syndicated travel and international cuisine shows. The morning band (6am – 12 noon) will be a rerun of the previous days’ prime time shows. Daawat Daawat’s Book of Records (Reality) Kaun Khilayega SRK Ko (Reality) Dal mein kuch kala hain (Drama) Happy Meal (Reality)

55. What do we want consumers to say about our channel after it launches? This channel tells me how to stay healthy Now, I don’t have to worry about what to cook every morning. This channel makes me take part in exciting contests I have never felt so involved watching a channel This channel is for everybody. Even my kid watches it.

56. Let’s chat…