Zee says 'I Can Do That' with its new show

'I Can Do That' is an international reality show which has seen a huge success in the market of Israel, Bugaria, Russia and USA has now been brought into the  Indian market. It has been developed by Israel’s Armoza Formats and has seen a worldwide success. The show in India is being produced by Essel Vision Production Limited.

The show will be aired on Zee TV from 17th October at 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday.  It will introduce the Indian audiences to a unique, international non-fiction format which will embark the 12 celebrities into the most challenging journey of their life and into taking up the challenge of  ‘I Can Do That’. The show will be hosted by the dynamic, multi-faceted actor-director Farhan Akhtar who will play a pivotal role for the celebrities throughout the season.

Commenting on being on the television space as a host, Farhan Akhtar said “I have never seen a show like this where every week a new surprising challenge will come along. The other reality shows have been limited to celebrities with their specific talent but here it promises to bring in surprising, entertaining and a challenging role for them. Whereas Zee TV has been a forefront of Indian television entertainment since its inception and under Punit Goenka it has re-invented itself for the new generation viewer.”

The 12 celebrities who are part of the challenge are- Dino Morea. Gauhar Khan, Gurmeet Choudhary, Mandira Bedi, Rithvik Dhanjani, Shibani Dandekar, Meiyang Chang, Madhurima Tuli, VJs Bani, Andy, Chef Ranvir Brar and Bhaarti Singh. These celebrities have been known for their expertise on the arena of expertise from hosting, dancing, singing, acting, comedy to bringing out the best flavour of food. But this show promises to push the celebrities out of their comfort zone and to take up challenge like aerial trapeze, magic, illusion, daredevil stunts and many more as the show progresses.

‘I Can Do That’ will be the first of its kind show to be brought into the Indian market so unlike most non-fiction formats that play out over 13 week, this will be a short 5 week sparkler for the viewers on this festive season.

Pradeep Hejmadi, ZeeTV Business Head said, “As you know since its inception Zee TV has been pioneer to bringing in not only fresh ideas but also bringing in content that has been very close to our heart. We have always been the platform to showcase talent and to give ways to people talent. So, a show like ‘I can Do That’ is an ideal fit for our channel. It approaches celebrities with a ‘Can Do’ attitude and poses them with challenges that they’d probably never imagined they could pull off. It traces their journey from ‘Can I Do That?’ to ‘I Can Do That’. Audiences, the world over, love to watch celebrities on television - whether they perform or are put in a real life situation. This show gives them twelve remarkable achievers from different walks of life pushing themselves to accomplish seemingly insurmountable tasks. Farhan Akhtar with his wit will bring alive the edginess of the show so he fits perfectly as the host of the show.”

Zee TV have always struck to Indian home-grown format, so what made them deviate from this and venture into international format Pradeep says “We found this format very interesting, it’s very close to the core value of Zee TV. Our commitment to develop home-grown formats is very intact and there are things happening on that direction. We always look for ideas that are aspiring and which celebrates talent.”

On talking about the marketing strategy, Pradeep Hejmadi said, “We have initiated one of the biggest marketing campaigns for this show and will be huge on off air as well as digital. The show looks at connecting with audiences in the range of 7-70 year so we are going aggressive on all fronts for the promotion of this new show. The campaign has already broken on Zee and it will go across channels now.”

On talking about how will the show select the winner and will it undergo the audience vote, Pradeep says “There is no elimination initially, towards the end there is elimination but it will be voted by the studio audience only.”

Vaseline has come on board as the presenting sponsors for ‘I Can Do That’ Hejmadi said “Sponsors response has been very good so far. We are still looking at finalising some of the sponsors and to bringing them on board.”

Other than Vaseline Zee has also roped in sponsors such as OLX and Askmebazaar and is looking to generate a 40 crore plus of advertising revenue from the show. It has also roped in a separate set of sponsors for the SD and the HD version.

On talking about the asking premium for the show viz-a-viz to other top rated Hindi GEC shows Ashish Sehgal, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd chief sales officer, said "Its 100% premium over any international format which are running on the Hindi GEC space. As from the profitability point of view it is going to be profitable from Season 1 itself."

When asked about how much of the inventory has been sold, Ashish Sehgal said "More than 70-80% of the inventory has been sold, the rest 20-30% are for spot buying which is also more or less been sold at the similiar cost."

Essel Vision MD and CEO Nitin Keni said “We are very happy to bring in this new concept for the Indian market. We have done non-fiction before but once we got into this show we realized it’s not going to be an easy walk. But working on this show has been a unique journey and I am very happy to be associated with this team and into bringing a new content for the Indian market.”

The shooting is taking place at Naigaon, Mumbai and some of the episodes have already been shot.

Talking about bringing in this new content for the Indian market, Akash Chawla –Business Head, Essel Vision Production Ltd (EVPL) said, ‘We are excited to introduce Indian audiences to ‘I Can do That’ – not just a successful non-fiction format but an inspiring thought. Unique Talent teams from across the length and breadth of the country have been specially flown in to demonstrate the challenges that lie ahead for the celebrities and prepare them for the tasks through intensive workshops. We are pushing the envelope in terms of production values to ensure that is a glossy, glitzy show with a high-dose of entertainment.”