01
indiantelevision.com Team
MUMBAI: Star Plus is taking the third season of Masterchef Australia?s Indian adaptation, Masterchef India, to weekday prime time slot.
In the earlier two seasons, Masterchef India was part of Star Plus? weekend prime time programming. In the first season, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar hosted the show. Titled ?Masterchef Kitchen Ke Superstar? this time, the show, like in the second season, will be run by judges.
"The foremost difference is that this time ?Masterchef Kitchen Ke Superstar? will air as daily strip in prime time and not a weekend property. So viewers will get a chance to engage with the show every day and witness all the fun, excitement and tension every day," said Star Plus senior director- marketing and communications Nikhil Madhok.
The show will air in March. The date of telecast, however, is yet to be announced.
To be presented by Amul again, ?Masterchef Kitchen Ke Superstar? will be powered by Fortune.
Talking about why the time band has been changed this time, Madhok said, ?It is a conscious decision from Star to be innovative and clutter breaking. We want to break the convention of reality shows airing on weekends.?
The platform aims to acknowledge and encourage the culinary skills of passionate cooks and groom them to become the ultimate professionals of the art.
On the marketing activities around the show, Madhok said: ?We believe that food and cooking are extremely integral to every household in India. There is a masterchef in every house in our country, working hard in the kitchen. But their talent is not given the recognition it deserves. MasterChef is a national platform which gives them an opportunity to make a name for themselves and fulfill their dreams. It?s this thought that will form the basis of all our marketing for the show.?
?There will be a 360 degree campaign with a strong hold on the ground element - there will be mini master chef events all over the country where we will recognise and showcase the talent of many such people at a locality and city level as well. The other marketing activities are scheduled to start closer to the launch,? Madhok added.
Masterchef India went to 20 cities across India for auditions this year. In each city the participants had to bring with them a simple dish for auditions. They then went through various levels of selection. From all the selected participants, few have been on the basis of their food knowledge, food taste and presentation.
