Indian television's first live wedding on Zee TV

Indian television's first live wedding on Zee TV today

Monday - Jul 27, 2009

Ankit Jain - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai

Archana, the protagonist of Zee TV's Pavitra Rishta show, got married on July 25 in a live setting and the channel invited its viewers to come and attend the wedding. The channel shot the wedding sequence in front of a 700 plus live audience at RK Studios in Mumbai.

The episode will be aired today July 27 as a one-hour special at 9 pm, with shots of the live audience blessing the on-screen couple. The show revolves around the simple lifestyle and cultural values of a middle-class Marathi family living in Mumbai.

Zee TV sent out wedding invitations to the viewers both through mass media and on-ground initiatives. The channel used its bouquet of channels to ask people to come and bless the couple on-ground. It claims that it has received about 50,000 SMSs from people wanting to be a part of the experience.

Akash Chawla, marketing head, Zee TV and Zee Cinema, says, "Pavitra Rishta is going through its peak write-up of story, with the leading protagonist getting married. Instead of shooting a lavish pre-recorded episode, we took its as an opportunity to engage with our viewers in a live environment."

The most interesting part of the promotions was the on-ground initiatives taken to invite the viewers. Savita Prabhune, the actor who plays the role of Sulochana, the protagonist's mother, commuted in Mumbai's local trains, distributing the wedding cards to fellow travelers, asking them to come and bless her daughter.

Ekta Kapoor, the producer of the show, also made a trip to Dagdu Seth Ganesh temple in Pune to seek blessings for her show Pavitra Rishta. She also invited several devotees of the temple for the wedding.

As for the regular promotions, the channel advertised in BEST buses and distributed leaflets asking viewers to watch the special episode on Monday. Heavy promotions were conducted on radio (Big FM) for the special episode, while it was also advertised on print.