Amrita TV Accords Tumultuous Welcome To 2013
As the old tenant 2012 gets ready to vacate our lives, clearing out with its baggage of broken resolutions and the new resident 2013, moves in with a luggage full of fresh promises, Amrita TV throws a grand bash of programmes to greet the imminent year on New Year’s Day and its eve.
Conducting the fading year to its finish, while the trickling grains of sand measures out the passage of the last few hours of the year, is a 4 ½ hour long sensational indoor New Year eve Party brought Live from Sreemoolam Club from 8.00pm on the 31st , a spectacular show charged with music, dance and comedy performed by celebs from playback, cinema and the pop scene: Naresh Iyer at his hypnotic best, belting out the latest hits of the day; Manjari, the Melody Queen demonstrating her repertoire in Hindustani and Carnatic; drop dead gorgeous South Indian star Mayuri whose Salsa will have the viewers sashaying in tandem; Iti Acharya and Manjula, Bollywood glam dolls whose dance moves will send the audience into a tizzy; dynamic music band Nova with its with its live wire, non- stop medleys; backed up by the Q8 band and Chirikkudukka’s comedy skits giving side-splitting comical interludes.
From December 27-31, while Father Time is flipping over the last pages of the calendar, Amrita TV gives a rousing send-off to the departing year with a slew of annual round-ups, one time special newscasts that give a quick sampling of the year that was: World Round-Up on the 27th at 12 noon is a global overview of the most important stories that had been stamped on our consciousness and others that had slipped to the side lines of our memory; Health Round Up at 1.30pm on the 28th is a robust retrospective of the headlines related to medicine and our physical and mental wellness; a diligent re-assessment of the main dispatches from the education sector, Education News will be at 5.30pm; National Round-Up at 7.30am on the 29th, is a compilation of selected news features that had dominated the Nation in the political, social and cultural spheres; Entertainment Round-Up at 8.30am on December 30th re-winds over the main releases of the past 365 days, the duds, the also-rans, the sleeper hits; Sports Round Up at 8.30am on the 31st is a run- through of the heavyweights in the sporting arena from the Olympics to the Grand Slams; finally finishing off with an end of the year reckoning of State events in the State Round Up at 1.30am.
On the first day of 2013, carrying on the euphoria of the previous night and raising a melodious toast to the New Year morning is Super Hits 2012, at 7.00am, a hum along half- hour, featuring a sequence of the finger snapping universal favourites which had been on everyone’s lips during the preceding year. The jubilation goes on in full swing in Glorious Malayalam Films 2012, as spools of the top grossers of 2012, the year that the New generation movement swelled into a tidal wave, air themselves at 7.30am.The high spirits continue unabated with Cocktail starring Anoop Menon, Jayasurya and Samvratha Sunil providing a heady blend of extramarital thrill, passion and suspense at 9.00am. Kaniha who had floored Keralites with her lissome charm as Mammootty’s consort in Pazhassi Raja is excited at co-starring with him again in Bavootyude Namathil; is appreciative of the easy- going, informal nature of Mollywood; admits to the difficulties of juggling a multi-lingual career and a growing family in Kanihayodoppam at 12.30 pm.
The New Year evening winds down on a wistful note with Innale, a 3 hour musical event beginning from 2.00pm. Lining up the best playback stars, it highlights unforgettable songs made immortal by the likes of Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Talat Mohammed, Soundarajan, Yesudas, Jayachandran,P Susheela, P Leela etc, half forgotten tunes at the back of one’s mind and melodies that were part of our growing up years, adding tints of nostalgia to the exuberant hues of the day.
Smitha Sivaji, Amrita TV