‘Fun on the Run’ for Tata Indicom and Zee

Zee is coming up with a new reality show to fill the gap in its weekend evening slot

Zee TV, in association with Tata Indicom, has launched a celebrity reality show, – ‘Tata Indicom Fun on the Run’. The show will feature eight celebrity couples, who will battle it out for a grand prize of Rs 25 lakh. This is an AFP (advertiser funded programme) sponsored by Tata Indicom.

An attempt to strengthen Zee TV’s position in the weekend evening slot, the show will premiere on September 1 at 7.30pm with a curtain raiser. The actual reality series will start on September 8 at 7.30pm.

The show, which is positioned as a family entertainer, is a treasure hunt of sorts, where the contestants run from one city to another in search of clues, which will finally take them to a grand prize of Rs 25 lakh. The hunt will take the participants through nine cities, among them Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Delhi, Udaipur and Mumbai. Each clue will take the participants to a new destination and the couple that is the last to reach the destination will be eliminated each week.

The only weapon that the participants will have with them through the treasure hunt is a Tata Indicom phone. They can use the various Tata Indicom products and services such as SMS, MMS, Remo Mail, welcome tunes, data card and voice stations to help them win through.

Abdul Khan, vice-president, marketing, Tata Teleservices, says, “We wanted to come up with a show that would highlight all the myriad services that Tata Indicom provides, while entertaining the viewer.”

The concept of the show was devised by Lodestar Universal. This is Lodestar’s second venture in the television content space. The first one was with Nerolac Paints, called ‘Nerolac Impressions Jama De’. Contiloe Films is the production house responsible for making the show.

The outline of ‘Tata Indicom Fun on the Run’ is very similar to AXN’s ‘Amazing Race’ which has been on television for quite a few years now. ‘Amazing Race’ is a treasure hunt in which teams of two participate and go to different places searching for clues. The clues eventually lead them to the treasure. Every team that makes it last to the clue is eliminated.

Tarun Mehra, head, marketing, Zee TV, denies any connection between the two treasure hunts. He says the content of the two shows is starkly different, explaining, “It’s the Indian drama and masala which will make the show stand out.”

Celebrities who will take part in the treasure hunt are Tanaaz Irani, Delnaaz Paul, Ayub Khan and Baba Sehgal. The show will be hosted by Gaurav Kapoor.