Category: World Service
Date: 01.09.2006
Printable version
Jasoos Vijay, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Trust's long-running TV detective serial raising HIV/AIDS awareness, has made it into the top ten of India's audience ratings.
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The latest episode of the series had a weekly audience reach of almost 16 million viewers, according to the industry-wide TAM audience figures.
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"I'm ecstatic," commented the Creative Director of the series, Devika Bahl.
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"This is a fantastic tribute to the cast and the production team. It shows that a drama series with social messaging can deliver both huge audiences and have a big impact on health awareness."
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Andrew Whitehead, the Trust's Director in India, says: "Jasoos Vijay is probably the most successful and widely-watched TV drama series anywhere with health messaging as its purpose.
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"We put a lot of research effort into getting the messaging right, and a lot of production effort into making the series a gripping watch. And that combination has really delivered."
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More than 150 episodes of Jasoos Vijay (it translates as Detective Vijay) have been broadcast since it went on air in 2002.
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The series is filmed entirely on location. It is made in Hindi and dubbed into seven other languages and broadcast at peak viewing time on Sunday evening on India's most-watched TV channel, Doordarshan National.
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The Indian Government's National AIDS Control Organisation is also a partner in the project, which is financed by the British Government's Department for International Development.
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The current year-long series of Jasoos Vijay ends in September.
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Although the series has from the start achieved large audiences, and has helped transform attitudes towards HIV and encouraged behaviour change, this is the first time it has won a slot in the India-wide TV top ten.
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Audiences for the latest cliff-hanging detective mystery have been boosted by: concern that the hero, Vijay (who is portrayed as HIV-positive) is critically ill; a romance between two other key characters, Jeet and Parvati, which is at an important stage; and a specially-commissioned dance sequence filmed in the grounds of Delhi's Old Fort.
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Note to Editors
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Trust is an independent international charity of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. It works with people in developing and transitional countries to improve the quality of their lives through the innovative use of media.
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Trust
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