After lots of on-air promos, Bollywood channel StarLife went live on DStv (channel 167) on Monday, 27 August.
The channel launched with four series namely; “Forever Yours”, “Not without My Family”, “Game of Love” and “Waiting for Love”. A first glimpse of the channel suggests that you can expect to see;
- Double bill episodes – Two 30-minute episodes of each series to air back-to-back. daily.
- Stories that will likely run for years – According to the programme information, season of one of “Not without My Family” has 2072 episodes. With two episodes running daily, six days a week, you have about 177 weeks. This means the series could run for up to two years. It would be interesting to see the story lines are captivating enough to keep the audience glued.
- Singing – For those who grew up watching Bollywood movies in the eighties and early nineties, singing and dancing in the garden was a big aspect of Bollywood movies. This hasn’t featured in Zee World series but expect to see singing and dancing in Forever Yours and other series on StarLife.
- Modern settings – From the storylines, costumes and props, especially in “Not without My Family” and “Game of Love”, one might suggest that the series are more modern than those on Zee World.
- Talk shows – “Koffee with Karan” starts on Sunday, 2 September. From the promos, expect to see Bollywood personalities such as Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor-Khan and Priyanka Chopra.
- Reality TV shows – Also coming up on the channel is a reality TV show, Let’s Dance season 8. Zee World had also aired a dance show when it started.
- Movies – Expect a movie daily in between the series. Zee World also aired movies when it started back in 2013 before refocusing Zee World into a series-only channel and introducing Zee Bollymovies. The movies on StarLife however seem more exciting.
At first look, it doesn’t seem like ‘StarLife’ will trump Zee World in terms of ratings but we’ll keep our eyes peeled.
