Life OK eyes sponsorship deals of Rs 6.5 crore for Ram Leela

The musical version of the epic, Ram Leela will have actor Ajay Devgan as the narrator, along with Rahul Vaidya as singer, Anu Malik as music director, Swanand Kirkire as lyricist and Remo as choreographer.

On its first Diwali after being rechristened as Life OK, the second general entertainment channel from the STAR stable is all set to launch one of its costliest shows to tap the festive season. The channel has high expectations from its new format, Ram Leela, which will run for five episodes between Dussehra and Diwali.

The musical version of the epic, Ram Leela will have actor Ajay Devgan as the narrator, along with Rahul Vaidya as singer, Anu Malik as music director, Swanand Kirkire as lyricist and Remo as choreographer. The show is a comeback on the small screen for Bollywood star Devgan. He was last seen as a judge on the Zee TV show, Rock and Roll Family, along with his wife Kajol and mother-in-law, Tanuja.

As per the market sources, the presenting sponsor of Ram Leela will bring in an estimated amount of Rs 2 crore. The deal will also provide 120 seconds of FCT (free commercial time) to the brand.

The 'Powered by' title for the show is expected to bring in a sum close to Rs 1.5 crore, with an offer of 90 seconds of FCT per episode. The channel is reportedly in talks with an automobile major and a telecom major for the powered by sponsorship deal.

Apart from these, the sources also inform that six associate sponsors will bring in about Rs 50 lakh each, with an FCT of 60 seconds (six minutes in all) per episode. Already, brands such as Emami, Lux, Cycle Agarbattis and Panasonic have come on board as associate sponsors.

Also, the channel is reportedly charging about Rs 70,000-85,000 for each 10-second spot. With a total of about 12 minutes available in the one-hour show, nine minutes will be offered to the sponsors for the show. The remaining three minutes will bring in an amount of about Rs 12 to 15 lakh per episode, adding up to Rs 60-75 lakh for the five-episode series.

The total earning of the channel from the show is estimated at about Rs 7 crore plus. However, there are considerable production and marketing costs involved with Ram Leela.

As per the market sources, the production cost per episode for the show is close to Rs 1.25 crore. Sources also confirm that the marketing spends for Ram Leela will be almost equivalent to the marketing spends for Devon Ke Dev Mahadev. The channel has planned a red carpet event to launch the show, informs Ajit Thakur, general manager, Life OK.

Thakur adds, "We wanted to do something topical for the festive season and dramatisation of the Ramayan seemed to be an obvious option. Hence, we decided to choose a new format with no familiar faces on television. We chose Ajay Devgan as the narrator as we wanted someone who could be relatable to Lord Rama's image."

Ram Leela will be launched on October 21 at 8 pm and will be telecast during Sundays.

The show will compete with Zee TV's newly launched Ramayan, Star Plus's new crime series Arjun, Sony's Adaalat and SAB TV's Lapataganj. Viacom18's Colors telecasts a Hindi movie on the same slot.