sahydri navratna awards 2003

The Sahyadri awards which began last year, are given to nine eminent Maharashtrians in recognition of their excellence in their particular field of interest.

The nine Ratna awardees this year are Prabha Atre (Music), Sumitra Bhave (Films), Dr Ashok Kolaskar (Education), Jayadev/Rohini Hattangadi (Drama), Dhanraj Pillay (Sports), Meena Seshu (Social Work), Sada Dumbre (Journalism), Ahilya Rangnekar (Women achiever) and Gajanan Pendharkar (Industry).

The nine-member jury who decided on the final list of Ratna awardees included editor of Marathi dailyLoksatta Kumar Ketkar, cricketer Sandeep Patil and state director general information & publicity Bhushan Gagarani to name a few.

Bollywood actor Hema Malini will inaugurate the awards, which will be telecast on the Sahyadri channel on 1 May (from 4 pm to 7 pm).

Some of the popular shows on Sahyadri channel which went 24 hours this month airs includeMahacharcha ,a live phone- in talk show which discusses current topics, Ghatnachakra ,Sahyadrichya Paulkhuna and Chitrapat Khajina which showcases Marathi feature films.

Sahyadri Kendra has also undertaken the production of short stories of Marathi, Hindi and Urdu literature.

Mukesh Sharma, Director, DD-Mumbai

ON May 1, when all Government establishments were closed, the Doordarshan Kendra in Mumbai — Sahyadri — was abuzz with activity. The day was also Maharashtra Day, and the Kendra was hosting the Sahyadri Navratan Awards to felicitate Marathi achievers in fields such as cinema, theatre, music and art. The two-and-a-half hour function, which was attended by a host of eminent personalities, was held on the premises, telecast on DD-10 (Sahyadri), and earned the Kendra a cool profit of Rs 12 lakh. "We lit up the tower, put up a set and invited a lot of important people," says Mukesh Sharma, Director — DD, Mumbai, of the effort. Sounds simple all right, but Sharma left no detail to chance: the persons who received the awards were chosen with care, as were the person who presented the awards. Every detail was debated, every move rehearsed — with a meticulousness seldom associated with a Government body, let alone DD. Yet, it is just one example of the many things Sahyadri has got right in the last couple of years

From the Archives... FAMOUS GROUSE CELEBRITY RUGBY

News Paper Coverage on the Celebrity Rugby Match in Mumbai

 The Celebrity Rugby, Conceptulised and successfully organised by Procam International to increase media awareness about the sport, is one of the first  'Celebrity matches' organised in India . Growing by leaps and bounds over the years, Celebrity Rugby has had celebrities participating in a match they have started to enjoy, appreciate and understand 

Next to Jaaved Jaffery some one is trying to peep for the camera...that's your Blogger Muukesh Sharma

  Since its inception ,the celebrity  Rugby match  now has celebrities confirming their participation months before the schduled date: and the icing onthe cake is the celebrity Rugby  match party that has become a permanent feature on the sporting and social scene in Mumbai.Title sponsors of this event in my times were   The Famous Grouse .  I participated in the celebrity rugby for four years in a row  from 2001 to 2004 .  At that time we had the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Karuvilla,Dilip Tahil, Gautam Singhania Parvez Damania, Anil Deshmukh (Minister in Maharashtra govt)  Anil Singh  to name some

Famous Grouse Celebrity Rugby  in the early 2000

The Celebrity Fire power doused in Rain Water...

Procam International, in association with the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU), has supported and promoted Rugby for a sustained period and has seen the sport mushroom from a two-city sport (Kolkatta and Mumbai) to a national sport. What is encouraging is the involvement of not only the individual states, but also the armed services that have adopted rugby, thereby increasing the quality player pool for the future.

Over the years the Indian team has played several internationals with countries and clubs from Singapore, Malaysia, England, Bahrain, Pakistan, and more. The rapid development of the sport in India has caught the attention of the International Rugby Board, which has included India in its list of playing countries, and has even started to take an active interest in the development of the sport on the grass roots level in the country.

The Celebrity Rugby, conceptualised and successfully organised by Procam International to increase media awareness about the sport, is one of the first 'celebrity matches' organized in the country. Growing by leaps and bounds over the years, Celebrity Rugby has had celebrities participating in a match they have started to enjoy, appreciate and understand.

Since its inception, the Celebrity Rugby match now has celebrities confirming their participation months before the scheduled date; and the icing on the cake is the Celebrity Rugby Match party that has become a permanent fixture on the sporting and social scene in Mumbai, India. Title sponsors of this event in the past include The Famous Grouse, Castle Lager, Kingfisher Good Times.

Vilas Rao Deshmukh birthday may 26

The Police Commissioners of Mumbai...

Late Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor

Last week a suave, mild, soften spoken,a gentleman and a police officer died of heart attack . He was only 62. His name was Hasan Gafoor.During the course of my duty, I had a chance to interact with him on many occasions  while I was serving the Public Broadcaster and he  the Public in Mumbai. May his soul rest in peace. 

Logo of Mumbai Police

                                    Talking about my interaction with Mumbai Police and its Commissioners I remember it was the Year 1993 when the ill fated Bomb blast took place.  The coordinated attacks where the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian History. The credibility of Mumbai Police was at its nadir.

 Comm. PoliceR D Tyagi 

  R D Tyagi was the Police commissioner. He approached DDK Mumbai, if some image building was possible for the demoralized force. At that time I used to be the Deputy Director of the TV Station. I took the onus & responsibility to do the Image building exercise and a 14 part series was born on Mumbai Police Force.

News Paper Coverage on the Mumbai Police 

R S Sharma(left) with Comm.Police Mehrotra & Dep.Dir.DD Mukesh Sharma 

 That was the beginning of Doordarshan's cordial relationship with Mumbai Police and its Commissioners.The Series which started with Mr RD Tyagi culminated when Mr Subhash Malhotra became the CP of Mumbai   

 R S Sharma series facing the DD Camera for the TV series  when he was Jt. CP  

Inspector Madhukar Zende 

Right from police history, law & order, crime and punishment, fingerprinting, nakabandi to narcotics & drugs we tried to cover all the aspects of Mumbai police.There was an episode on how Inspector Madhukar Zende captured the notorious killer Charles Shobhraj who is now languishing in jail in Nepal. Retired inspector Zende came to DD studios to narrate the story. 

Late Hemant Karkare

                        

The icing on the cake was the episode which was anchored and presented by another gifted officer of Mumbai police late Hemant Karkare whom we lost during 26/11. He was  the Deputy Commissioner in the department of Narcotics & Drugs. This was the best episode of the series, since Mr Hemant Karkare went beyond the call of duty and put his heart and soul in it.

Another Police Commissioner whom I still share a wonderful rapport is Mr MN Singh. In fact his tenure as the Mumbai Police commissioner and mine as the Director DDK Mumbai coincided. He was a proactive policeman and very positive in his approach. Couple of times he came to the studios to air his views.  

M N Singh with Mukesh Sharma at DDK Mumbai

    A N Roy was another Police Commissioner whom I interacted with more when he was heading the traffic police of Mumbai. During his tenure as the Police Commissioner he came to DD to inaugurate  a TV play which had the star cast comprising of  Policeman in service. That was the first time, such an experiment was done by the Mumbai Police with the pub caster         

A N Roy at DD studios with Mukesh Sharma and  the star cast

  The last time I had managed to bring together a battery of retired Police Commissioners was in the year 2001 when  I started a new program on DD Sahyadri called Saap Seedi or Snakes & Ladder . Four  Veterans from the Mumbai police participated. Needless to mention the show  took  the fortunes of  DD Sahydri Channel to greater heights.

All about Innovation at DDK Mumbai

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0900 RESPONDING TO THE SATELLITE CHALLENGE Mukesh Sharma, Director Doordarshan Mumbai: reviving DD’s fortunes Gokul Singh Khatre, Nepal TV: asserting a Nepalese identity Mukesh Sharma Director Doordarshan Mumbai gave a presentation on the setting up of the Doordashan Marathi language satellite channel Sahyadri. The channel had come into existence as DD-10 in August 1994 with 10 hours of telecasting. In April 2000 the channel was renamed Sahyadri and launched as a 24 hour channel. Between 1430 and 2000, the transmissions had terrestrial support from 104 transmitters in Maharashtra and Goa, giving the channel access to more than 50 million viewers. By the year 2000, four more Marathi channels had come into existence - Alpha Marathi in the Zee Network, Eenadu Marathi , Prabhat from an NRI Group, and Tara formerly in the Star Group. Alpha Marathi had established the lead with 35-40% of channel reach, whereas Sahyadri at that time was at around 3%. The connectivity of the channel in cable and satellite homes was very poor; the signals were distorted by the cable operators; the programming was unimaginative; the transmission quality bad; and the staff had low morale and lacked motivation. Mukesh Sharma took over as Director in May 2000 with the aim of making Sahyadri the leading Marathi channel. Nearly 20 hours of live programming was started, with more phone-in programmes, more colourful and vibrant sets and a new presentation style. Through the intervention of the minister ( Arun Jaitley), the channel was given a place on the prime band and better cable connectivity was achieved. Better rapport with DD engineers brought an improvement in video quality. Careful scheduling pitched a successful afternoon phone-in programme called ‘Hello Officer’ against feature films on other channels. The police commissioner, who featured in one programme, told DD: ‘ I had better move my office here as things move faster!’ Capacity to cover live events was increased. Live coverage of the International Fleet Review was a technical feat for the station. More than 50% of airtime was given to public service programmes. Over a period of a year, new young talent was introduced. New five minute slots were created which brought additional advertising revenues. All slots were sold to the highest bidder, with no favouritism whatsoever. A number of innovative gameshows were developed in house. After a gap of several years, film stars, VIPs and celebrities began to participate in programmes. Two additional news bulletins were introduced ( bringing new revenues) ; daily programme meetings with staff helped to raise standards and overcome technical and production problems; the station also demanded a level playing field from the press and improved its media profile. In due course, it was asked to produce a national phone-in featuring great artists like Bismillah Khan. Mukesh Sharma said his philosophy as Director was ‘to remain a subject to my people and not act as Director’. He would call up the station at 0200 or 0400 to talk to programme and engineering staff. ‘Only when you’re crazy, do you get things working’ he said. Within twelve months, there had been spectacular growth in the channel’s audience - from 3% to 43%. In April 2000, it had 29.3 million urban viewers and 19.5 million rural viewers - with over 50 million viewer in total. It had succeeded in becoming the leading Marathi language channel. Mukesh Sharma set out the vision for Sahyadri in 2001-2002: a) to ensure that it maintained its number one position among Marathi channels b) to increase viewership by another 25% c) to increase the revenue target by another 50% and d) to ensure that the public service broadcasting mandate of the channel remained intact.

Aamir Khan in the midst of Mahacharcha at DDK Mumbai..Birthday rememberence..

  By 2006 DDK Mumbai had become a force to reckon with.It had withstood the storm of the regional satellite channels Film personalities and celebrities alike paid a visit to  Doordarshan as and when invited.   

 Aamir Khan offers a hand shake to Mukesh Sharma (Director) during his visit to DDK Mumbai

I remember it was 14th April 2006, just after a month of his 41st birthday, when Aamir khan visited the Anti-Narmada dam agitators, sitting on Dharna and hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar Road in New Delhi, demanding that the height of the dam not be raised. This was a shot in the arm for the agitators. Just after a week on a Friday when DDK Mumbai use to produce a  topical, very popular  LIVE program Mahacharcha, in Marathi, that I invited Aamir khan to participate. He readily obliged, since I had chosen Anti Narmada Dam Agitation as the subject.

A googly from the audience in the studios at DDK Mumbai

Though the live show was in Marathi, but  once on Air, Aamir Khan slipped into the skin of the topic with ease and was at his best during the Q&A session. 

 "I do not know about the technicalities involved in raising the height of the dam. What I do know is that farmers have been displaced from their land and they have lost their livelihood. Till the people who have already been displaced by the dam are not rehabilitated, the height of the dam should not be raised.""Last week when I was in Delhi, I passed by Jantar Mantar and  I decided to come back and learn more about their problems," he told the viewers.

Aamir Khan with the audience 

Seems to be impressed ..

 2012 happens to be the 100th year of Indian cinema. And on 14th March  2012 Aamir Khan adds one more glorious year to his life & works May he continue to captivate audience  & inspire them through his  extraordinary brand of cinema