Top officials of India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, which launched its streaming services WAVES on Wednesday, have promised that the platform will not only help Indians connect to their culture, but will strive to offer clean and family entertainment.

Addressing the media yesterday on the sidelines of the 55^th India International Film Festival (IFFI) in Goa, Prasar Bharati Chairman Navneet Sehgal said, “As national broadcaster it is our duty to make clean family entertainment and reach all sections of society.”

Pointing out that a need was felt for having an OTT platform of Prasar Bharati, which led to the launch of WAVES, Sehgal added: “Besides news, games, current affairs programmes must also be catered to the citizens.”

He added that the streaming platform will showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and history. Though WAVES has free viewing content, Sehgal clarified few premier content may not be so.

Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, while explaining the need for the pubcaster’s OTT platform, said it was felt Prasar Bharati ought to be present on all platforms as “we have to make information and content available for the audiences across our large country”.

This medium, which is for all Indians, will be of immense use for the people who have moved away from their roots, but want to stay connected with their own culture, he observed, adding, “More than 10,000 films and 40,000 to 50,000 hours of content will be made available as of now through WAVES OTT.”

‘Fauji 2.0’, which is a modern adaptation of the iconic 1980s show ‘Fauji’ that featured Shah Rukh Khan when he was a struggling actor in New Delhi, will also be available on WAVES.

Producer Sandeep Singh, lead actors Gauhar Khan, Vicky Jain and the cast and crew also participated in the press conference. Speaking about this new project, Gauhar Khan said, “‘Fauji 2’ shows the lives of people who represent and protect India”. Speaking about Doordarshan, actor Vicky Jain opined that all shows of DD are brands in themselves.

“Many of us have seen ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’ with family during pandemic”, he added. He stated, DD covers those audiences who don’t have access to cable TV.

Singh, who is well-known for producing movies like Mary Kom, Aligarh and Sarabjit, opined that it is an honour to have one’s programme showcased on DD’s platform.

‘Kakbhushundi Ramayana’, a new original show started on DD National, will also be available on WAVES OTT. Renowned film director and producer Ramanand Sagar’s grandson Shiv Sagar, who was present at tess conference, shared his insights on how the epic series will captivate young viewers.

He narrated how more than 350 versions of Ramayana from all over the world were researched to make ‘Kakbhushandi Ramayana’.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday formally launched WAVES over-the-top platform at the opening ceremony of 55th  IFFI.

An official statement stated WAVES is making its entry as a large OTT aggregator with inclusive India stories embracing Indian culture with an international outlook. It will have programmes available in 12+ languages, including Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi and Assamese.

The platform will be spread across 10+ genres of infotainment and will provide video on demand, free-to-play gaming, radio streaming, 65 live channels, several integrated apps for video and gaming content and online shopping through Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)- supported e-commerce platform.