OMG! Yeh Mera India host Krushna Abhishek, History TV18’s Avinash Kaul on the show’s growing success – Entertainment News , Firstpost

Krushna Abhishek returns to host OMG! Yeh Mera India

OMG! Yeh Mera India one of India’s longest-running factual entertainment series that presents exceptional talent, inspiring stories about individuals and their creations returns to television screens with a new season starting 29 March.

In its seventh season, the series has traversed the length and breadth of India and exposed viewers to what makes the country unique and incredible . This time, the makers claim to upping the ante with even more untold and unseen stories.

This time, the show will feature the story of a unique energy-saving ‘solar boat’ and also find out how a ‘nano jeep’ could prove life-changing for specially-abled individuals. Then there are stories of farmers from across the country and their innovations. With over 18 crore audience on television and more than 84 crore digital viewers, OMG! Yeh Mera India has garnered tremendous response with every season.

“This shows that even if in our surroundings 50000 negative things are happening we keep searching for that something inspirational that we can relate to,” said an ecstatic Avinash Kaul, managing director of TV18 and CEO-Broadcast for Network18, who expects the show to grow with everyseason. “When we launched OMG! Yeh Mera India’, we were sure it would be an instant hit. People have told me that just watching the show makes them feel proud of being an Indian. Season after season, the show has performed beyond our expectations,” added Kaul.

Krushna Abhishek returns as host, who Kaul says has brought even more eyeballs to the show because of his mass entertainer appeal.  “We could have produced the show in a very intellectual, serious and documented way but we chose a face that is massy because if you lecture people they are not able to digest it. A mass entertainer like Krushna fitted the bill perfectly. He is able to convey the message in a humorous way and that works for the youthful country. A story gets registered when it is narrated and presented in a simple way. The content should be such that it gets viral socially. And if Krushna’s identity is formed because of OMG and not his comedy shows and movies, it wouldn’t have happened if 84 crore people were not watching it on digital platforms, or 18 crore people had not seen it on television. This content is shared for all 365 days, on television it may run for 10 weeks every year but on digital it runs for the whole year which makes for a movement. History gets created every day, it will never end, it will go on perpetually. We have seen several singing and dance shows but tell me about one show that can compete with this one?” said Kaul.

Nodding in agreement, Krushna says that today he is known more for OMG ! Yeh Mera India and not for his numerous comedy shows. “I came to know about the show’s popularity and reach slowly and gradually. I do several live shows with thousands and sometimes even lakhs of audience in attendance and wherever I go for my shoots, be it shows or movies, I hear a lot of people including children shouting, ‘Arre OMG Mera India ki shooting chal rahi hai’. Sometimes the channel I am shooting for wonders why people are not screaming out the names of their show. Today when I go to schools and colleges as a guest my introduction is not through my comedy shows but they say I represent OMG! Yeh Mera India and that makes me so happy and proud.”

“I found the concept interesting and it was something very different for me because I do slapstick comedy and this one required a very different style of hosting. There is humour but not the kind of humour what I do on my shows. I have to go with light humour; we have drawn a line so that we don’t go overboard. I knew for the fact that I was going to host a nice show but it will become so big I didn’t realise. It’s also about feeling proud talking about people’s innovations, it is like a feather in my cap. At that time I thought we would have two to three seasons but it has grown from strength to strength. The OMG team has a lot of positivity, they are emotionally associated with it and that positive energy can also be attributed to the show’s success,” he adds.

Interaction with the Tomar sisters, a monkey man cum rock climber, ‘Red and White’ family are some of Abhishek’s favourites and most memorable and inspirational stories.  “At times it is so shocking. For instance, when we were shooting with this Red and White family in Kochi…I found it quite strange when I saw everything that they owned, from clothes, to bags, to stuff at home were in red and white colour. That person came in red and white clothes in a red and white car to meet me. It was such a OMG moment for me (laughs). He told me that for the last 35 years everything is red and white in their house. Even his kids’ books are red and white. We have shot quite a few inspirational stories in Mumbai though I used to wonder what can be found here. I wasn’t aware of such awe-inspiring stories here. The team has taken me to such interesting places, I have met some incredible people,” says Krushna.

And many times, he says, he’s so flabbergasted that he gets extremely curious to see the video after reading the anchor link. “When I was reading the tree climbing scooter link I wasn’t aware what exactly was the story. The link said that when you were a kid you must have told your dad that you want to sit on a scooter and go for an ice-cream, or to a beach, or to a movie..but have you ever told your dad that you want to sit on a scooter and climb a tree. I was shocked and excited and told them to show me how the story was shot,” said the host, who has his own challenges shooting for the show of this magnitude. “It’s a task because at times the story may have got shot but it may not look as interesting later on. Also, we can’t use teleprompter as we are constantly on a move and this time we have shot in many locations in Rajasthan..I have to remember all the information, pay attention to my expressions, then we need permissions for historical locations, proper lights for a decent shoot… The director is looking at you for a proper take, so it is quite a tough job shooting anchor links for a show of this kind.”

Which story should make it to the show and which shouldn’t require a lot of evaluation and research, reveals Kaul.  “We usually have a bank of stories and the team sits and evaluates and also finds the authenticity of each story. After many filters are processed, we eventually find the story and content’s television worthiness, the kind impact it will have from entertainment quotient, from viral quotient and from informative quotient. After figuring out all the filters and whether the story would bring that OMG expression on the viewers’ face that is considered to be the last determinant,” says Kaul.

This season can be called the most difficult of all but the production continued through the turmoil of the pandemic. “Few months back I had my doubts if this season would be launched at all but we continued shooting during the pandemic with a lot of precautions and care. Travelling to locations was a challenge especially when people would crowd up,” says Abhishek. “There was a breakdown in regular production processes because people were not going out nor were they allowing people in their homes. Production crew was not able to travel and one can probably have another story on how we have shot this show during the pandemic. That is itself a case study. Stories of inspiration have held the country together in this one year,” adds Kaul.

Explaining the reason behind the property becoming a big brand, Kaul concludes , “History is something that you make every day and it is only after many years it is given the name of history but otherwise it is a simple concept that history gets created every day.  In the last one year also we created history but it will be called history probably 10 years later when you will tell your juniors what you did. So who will chronicle the present day history and capture the activities that the Indians are doing every day? Very few of these will go in books and since we are called History TV, our work is to chronicle every day’s history. If you look at news, today’s news becomes old tomorrow, we don’t look behind to see what happened, so what you look back and see and chronicle that, that is what is called History TV 18. You can see the amount of diversity of people in it.”

OMG! Yeh Mera India Season 7 premieres on 29 March, at 8 PM, on HistoryTV18. Watch the trailer here —