Posted:
| Emmys' judging gets outsourced to India |
| Leading telly stars like Smriti Z Iraani and Mona Singh to judge semi-final round on Friday |
| Sulakshana Gupta |
| Mumbai, July 26: ON JULY 28, a team of actors, producers and directors from the Indian film industry will congregate behind closed doors at a city hotel, to partake in a global exercise—the judging of the 34th International Emmy Awards. Hosted by Anil Wanvari, founder of the Indian Telly Awards, the 20-member jury features Smriti Z Iraani, Mona Singh, Archana Puran Singh, Anuradha Prasad, Deeya Singh and Mandira Bedi, among others. ''They will sit down and watch about 20 minutes of each show and rate them on content and execution, and award them marks out of 20,'' says Wanvari. The list that's come whittled down from New York also includes some Indian shows, though the names can't be disclosed. The jury will screen through the non-scripted, comedy, drama and the children and young people categories. Jury member Archana Puran Singh, who also played examiner last year, says that the outsourcing of the Emmys is a recognition of India's position as a global television player. ''It's only when the West sees a new market that they acknowledge its presence,'' says Singh, referring to the volume of formats that are sold and adapted in India every year. It's actor Smriti Z Iraani's first time and she's a little nervous. ''The difficult part will be remaining objective and distancing myself from my favourite shows,'' says Iraani, who was also a jury member at the Monte Carlo Television festival last year. For India, the process of inclusion began with Simone Singh presenting an award at the 31st International Emmys and the country is now part of a bank of nations—Germany, Australia, Qatar, Greece and New Zealand—that host semi-finals every year. For Sandy Clark, director of judging, International Emmy Awards, the most gratifying part of being in India was the high level of enthusiasm. ''Although I don't really understand all local content, I was very impressed with the jurors last year. They're really keen to learn about what's happening in other parts of the world and improve their own programming,'' says Clark, adding that about 10 Indian entries were received in the initial stages this year. The International Emmys is the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' flagship event and will be held on November 20 in New York.One of this year's prime highlights is the presentation of the Founders Award to producer-director Steven Spielberg |
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