The Prasar Bharati Board has given the green signal to Doordarshan Bengali channel’s project to make serials from 100 short stories of some doyens of Bengali literature. According to a senior DD official, the serials would be based on the works of authors such as Rabindranath Tagore, Saratchandra Chattopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Manik Bandyopadhyay, Bimal Mitra and Ashapurna Devi."Around five to 10 short stories by each author will be selected. Producers will be welcomed to make these serials, and on an average, the stories should be told in eight half-hour episode," the DD official said. DD will pay producers Rs 2 lakh per episode plus an extra Rs 50,000 for a Hindi version. DD will spend three times what it invests normally in commissioning the serials. It will also venture into contemporary classics in different regional languages. The DD official said the Prasar Bharati Board has okayed DD’s project for making serials from Sanskrit classics, while the other serials will be made in Hindi with music and Sanskrit chants. For this projects, 25 works are being chosen, ranging from those by Kalidasa, Jaidev, Bhavbhuti and Bharvi to Harsh, Banbhatta, Kalahan and Bilhan. DD7 has not increased the rates of telecast fees and advertisements. Like earlier, the rate of sponsored programme is Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for 30 minutes of non-prime time and prime time respectively, while the spot buy rate of 10 seconds is Rs 1,500 and Rs 4,500 for non-prime and prime time, respectively. DD7 has the largest viewership among the DD family from August 2000, when it became cable-free.
