The ZEE5 Originals series created by TVF – Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt. Ltd. was honoured with Best Web Series of 2022 Award at the esteemed event. Among one of the winning shows, Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt. Ltd., was widely praised by the jury for heart-warming storyline revolving around a woman who is struggling to set up her pickle business to earn a living. Featuring actors Yamini Das, Amruta Subhash, Manu Bisht and Anjana Sukhani in pivotal roles, the drama beautifully portrays the bittersweet relationship between the characters. The women-centric show also introduces a uniquely new-dimension to the how saas-bahu interactions have been traditionally portrayed on television.
The other award-winning shows include the Sonali Bendre-starrer newsroom drama ‘The Broken News’, which is an adaptation of the British series – ‘Press’. Having emerged as the most-viewed ZEE5 Originals show, The Broken News has bagged the Runners Up award in the Best Web Series category. The riveting show successfully depicted the nuances of media houses, while reflecting upon some current societal realities and ideological differences in India through a strong, contemporary and compelling narrative.
Sharing the third place under the Best Web Series Award category are crime dramas – Rangbaaz (Darr Ki Raajneeti) as well as Telugu show – Vilangu.A standout among ZEE5’s vibrant range of franchise shows, Rangbaaz, the crime drama in its 3rd season offered audiences a sensitive portrayal of crime and violence in the Hindi heartland. The stellar performances by Vineet Kumar Singh, Prashant Narayanan, Geetanjali Kulkarni amongst other members of the star cast kept the audiences engaged. Whereas, the crime-thriller series – Vilangu has become a cultural phenomenon across Tamil audiences. Among the key factors contributing to the murder mystery’s success was the ample space dedicated to showcase the cultural ethos of the region and the people’s beliefs, as part of the narrative.
To add to that, the Huma Qureshi-starrer psychological thriller ‘Mithya’ garnered widespread success among audiences as well as critical acclaim for its gripping storyline. Mithya, which attained the biggest opening for an Original series on ZEE5, was awarded with the Special Jury Mention – Web Series Award.
Mr. Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 India said, “This is a great start to 2023 with ZEE5 being recognized at the globally acclaimed Jaipur International Film Festival. It encourages our efforts to explore and expand our slate with meaningful stories that resonates with the audiences. As the largest homegrown OTT player, ZEE5 envisions to cater to every audience as per their preferences, invest in industry talent and partner with the best storytellers across regions and languages. We are thankful to the jury, our partners, and the audiences for their love and support in our endeavour to make ZEE5 a platform of choice for multilingual entertainment seekers.”
Talking about award wins and revamping content design strategy, Ms. Nimisha Pandey, Chief Content Officer – Hindi Originals, ZEE5 said, “We are delighted to begin 2023 on a high note, with multiple award wins at the prestigious Jaipur International Film Festival. This is a result of our consistent efforts towards bringing forth India’s cultural essence through extraordinary stories, working with the most prolific storytellers and actors, and constantly developing our content offering with variedness to keep up with changing trends. Staying true to ZEE5’s ideology, we have constantly supported our creator community’s vision, laying special impetus on authenticity, breaking through the conventional norms of storytelling. As we enter 2023, our strong line-up of shows and movies in Hindi as well as other regional languages is a testament to our commitment of continuing to entertain viewers from across the globe, taking ZEE5’s popularity beyond the barriers of language, culture and geography.”
As an industry pioneer, ZEE5 has been experimental in its content design approach throughout 2022, from introducing India’s first adaptation of Korean drama show – Flower of Evil, with the launch of Duranga, to following a multi-pronged approach in creator collaborations. Taking major strides in India’s OTT ecosystem, ZEE5 has not only on-boarded well-established content creators, but is also nurturing young talent by providing them a platform to showcase their stories.
In recent years, ZEE5 has been making consistent investments in expanding its ‘Originals’ content slate across languages. With an array of impactful stories that cater to multiple consumer cohorts, ZEE5 has been successful in offering its audiences a diverse and compelling slate featuring titles such as Sunflower, State of Siege: Temple Attack, Break Point, Bob Biswas, Broken News and Kaun Banegi Shikharwati, amongst many others. In a bid to consolidate its position as the most-preferred digital content platform, ZEE5 has built a strong line-up of Hindi originals across the spectrum for 2023, with shows like Mithya, Abhay 3, Rangbaaz 3 and many more. ZEE5 is one of the first national OTT players to announce an exclusive, specially curated slate for its Tamil, Telugu and Bangla audiences, in a major push towards strengthening its hyperlocal brand positioning for region-specific as well as global audiences across 190+ countries.
Known for its prestigious jury and rigorous selection process, Jaipur International Film Festival attracts entries from filmmakers and studios all over the globe. Some of the other marquee ZEE5 Originals web shows that secured nomination under the ‘Best Web Series of the Year’ award category were Mukhbir and Pitchers 2.
About ZEE5:
ZEE5 is India’s and Bharat’s largest homegrown video streaming platform and the multilingual storyteller for millions of entertainment seekers. ZEE5 stems from the stable of ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), a Global Content Powerhouse. An undisputed video streaming platform of choice for consumers; it offers an expansive and diverse library of content comprising over 3,500 films; 1,750 TV shows, 700 originals and 5 lakhs+ hours of on-demand content. The content offering spread across 12 languages (English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Punjabi) includes best of Originals, Indian and International Movies, TV Shows, Music, Kids shows, Edtech, Cineplays, News, Live TV, and Health & Lifestyle. A strong deep-tech stack, stemming from its partnerships with global tech disruptors, has enabled ZEE5 to offer a seamless and hyper-personalised content viewing experience in 12 navigational languages across multiple devices, ecosystems, and operating systems.
