In a bid to introduce fresh zest to the Marathi GEC category with a differentiated and disruptive content strategy, Q Marathi, a family-oriented Marathi GEC announced its first integrated multi-platform show ‘Q Marathi YouthFull Mahakarandak’.

The maiden non-fiction offering will showcase more than 25 handpicked One Act Plays popularly known as ‘Ekankika’.

Theatre is a popular storytelling format in Maharashtra, and this post-pandemic initiative is curated to encourage and provide a platform for budding talent to present entertaining, relevant, and thought-provoking plays. In an endeavor to bring the best of the plays, Q Marathi conducted city-wise judging and screening of the semi-final rounds across key cities of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, and Aurangabad and received a tremendous response of over 70+ entries across young theatre groups of multiple colleges and independent theatre groups.

Allowing the youth of Maharashtra to present their stories, the handpicked plays will be further judged by eminent Marathi veteran actor Dr. Girish Oak, Director, Writer, and Actor Chandrakant Kulkarni, and renowned Marathi actress Aditi Sarangdhar.

As per the company’s press release, Q Marathi will present awards under categories such as Best Ekankika, Best Actor Female and Male, Best Writer, Director, Light, Set Design, and Music. Moreover, to drive viewer engagement, the channel has also initiated ‘Watch & Vote’ to reward one of the finalist’s plays as the ‘Viewers’ Choice Winner.’

The show will premiere on October 7, 7:30 PM.

‘Q Marathi YouthFull Mahakarandak’ is presented by Veet and co-presented by Lizol and Garnier along with leading short-format app Chingari as Digital Partner.

Speaking on the launch of ‘Q Marathi YouthFull Mahakarandak’, Simran Hoon, CEO, QYOU Media India, said, “At Q Marathi, we have always innovated to launch new and meaningful ways of entertaining and engaging our viewers. Theatre takes one back to their culture and the Marathi theatre industry is rich in culture and storytelling.”

“Through our first non-fiction show, ‘Q Marathi YouthFull Mahakarandak’, we aim to empower the real storytellers and the youth creators of Maharashtra by creating a platform that sets benchmarks and captures the ethos and love for dramatics at its best. We are very happy to have already earned Veet as the presenting partner on this initiative along with Lizol and Garnier as co-presenting partners. True to our unique approach to engaging brands, this show will offer an integrated solution for advertisers to target youth on multiple platforms, be it Television, Digital, Radio, on-ground, and curated branded content to leverage the power of upcoming digital creators in the Marathi space,” Simran added.

Commenting on the launch, Neeta Thakare, Business Head, Q Marathi, said, “At Q Marathi, we are constantly looking for innovative ways to connect with our audiences across interesting and engaging initiatives. The launch of Q Marathi’s first non-fiction show, ‘Q Marathi YouthFull Mahakarandak’, provides an opportunity and platform to the young creator economy, making it a notable value-driven property.”

“Staying true to our core DNA, we are delighted to rope in Chingari as our Digital Partner for this show, as we look forward to leveraging the might of digital creators to further amplify and promote this initiative to take it to a wider base of youth audiences. With this launch, we are hopeful to create new benchmarks in entertaining and engaging our existing viewers as well as captivating new audiences,” Neeta added.