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| Diana Hayden: Anchor act |
It?s a strange affliction, I would think/ I wake up, wash up in the sink? Inspiration, I don?t know where to find/ Emptiness prying on my mind.
The song, now on air on many a channel, has picked up the silver at the recent Promax awards in the sales and marketing category. Surprised? It is actually a brand-building exercise for the Biography series of the History Channel.
?It is a novel effort. Though channels have brought out albums of songs played in their programmes, a single playing on other channels as a stand-alone entity has not been tried out here before,? says Rajesh Sheshadri, vice-president, marketing, History Channel.
The link between the song and the channel?s high-profile Biography show, which is not even referred to in the song, is inspiration. ?Biography deals with people who inspire others through their life stories. Since we are trying to demystify the heaviness associated with history, we thought a song would be a good idea,? Seshadri explains.
Thus the song goes ? Dalai Lama, Eric Clapton, the gurus of fashion/ Bill Clinton, Mandela, Lady Di, the queen of compassion/ I believe what they tell me/ It?s not just a fascination...
?The bilingual song and the music video based on it are so peppy that they help us connect to today?s youth,? says producer Rajesh Barua.
Biography has already roped in Diana Hayden as hostess. Now the song is sure to touch a chord in kindred figures of those yawning and stretching out on the sofa well after morning. ?There are no plans to sell it as a single but we want to send the song to DJs to play in the discs,? says Seshadri. The Biography Song disc contains the number in three avatars ? groovy mix, club mix and DJ?s cut. Party-goers can sure use the ?inspiration?.
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Taking telephony thrills to the next level, Tata Teleservices has launched the interactive ?audiosodes?, Inspector Baaz, which gives you a weekly dose of mystery cases right on your phone. To access the service, the customer would have to dial 12900 from a Tata Indicom Walky or mobile phone and say ?Inspector Baaz?.
The service currently offers one mystery episode per week, and subscribers can guess who the culprit is after hearing the case. The voice on the other side is of popular radio jockey and TV presenter Roshan Abbas who will narrate the cases. ?I have had a great experience radio jockeying behind the mike, compering at live shows and presenting on television,? says Roshan. ?Inspector Baaz, however, is one of the most thrilling and novel experiences I have ever had.?
It is one of the greatest events in history on which novels have been written and movies made. Now, a documentary is set to bring alive moments from the French Revolution.
Since most people are familiar with the story of Marie Antoinette, producer Doug Shultz thought it might be more interesting to frame the story around Robespierre. ?His transformation from young idealist to power-crazed tyrant is a fascinating reflection of the events of the revolution, and I think it is applicable to many political events of our current age,? says Shultz.
From initial conception to delivery, the film took about 10 months. Academics in the field of revolutionary French history were consulted and books and first-hand accounts referred to. Then, a crew of around 60 shot at various locations. ?We shot the bulk of the production in Bucharest, Romania, where we found a studio backlot with a period Parisan set and many palaces and buildings with rich, ornate interiors appropriate for the period,? offers Shultz.
?We shot in Paris at Vaux le Vicomte chateau and Chateau de Vincenne (which stood in for the Bastille).? Shooting for the film was also done in other places like England, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Shultz?s earlier documentary, Russia, Land of the Tsars had won him an Emmy Award. ?I?m most interested in issues that are of interest on a global scale and that find connections between otherwise disparate cultures and places,? Shultz says.
Currently he is working on two more historical films, one set in post-revolutionary France and one set in late medieval England. Catch The French Revolution on Monday on History Channel at 8 pm.
