The International Emmys in India!

It was an excellent opportunity to view some of the best programming from the worldover, at the semi final round of judging for the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' 35th International Emmy Awards. The event was hosted by Indiantelevision.com in Mumbai today and saw a 1o-member jury scan entries in four categories -drama series, TV Mini series, Performance by an actor and performance by an actress. The jury comprised of a mix of people from the industry - R D Tailang, Asit Modi, Rajeev Laxman, Shrishti Arya, Yunus Bukhari, Pawan Shankar, Sanjay Upadhyay, Kumud Chaudhary and Urvashi Dholakia Speaking on the occasion, International Academy of television Arts and Sciences director Sandy Clark said, "This is the third time around that we are conducting the judging process in India. This year we've included entries from Asia, Africa and the Middle East and if you notice the entries are also from different countries. The idea is always to mix and match the categories from different countries so as to get a different perspective from creative professionals." Commenting on some of the programmes, Creative Director Sony Sanjay Upadhyay said, "it has been a great opportunity to view shows from countries with a different cultural landscape. What comes across is that these programmes are very honest and deliverable whereas our programming being dished out is very market driven. We are catering to the aspirations of the people in India. I think, we need to reinvent ourselves and get more realistic." Some of the jurors felt that that Indian programming is definitely on par with what they saw during the judging process. "Though I found the programming very different from what ours, but I think we are still the best," added Yunus Bukhari, Having been on the jury last year too, scriptwriter Tailang commented, " It's a great learning experience for us to watch these shows but we need to create more awareness about Emmys in India." Well, lets hope the Indian producers and channels are listening!