Take yourself a couple of years back and imagine yourself longing to watch your favourite Punjabi movie soon after the end of its theatre run. It is an uncomfortable imagination. For the longest time in the history of Punjabi entertainment, this desire to watch films non-stop at one platform remained unfulfilled till Pitaara TV brought home a myriad of regional movies in 2017.
Almost two decades after the launch of the first Punjabi TV channel, DD Punjabi, the industry witnessed a paradigm shift with the launch of Pitaara TV, the first private satellite channel dedicated to promoting Punjabi cinema and the state’s entertainment industry. It was started by managing director Sandeep Bansal.
In a space where TV channels like PTC Punjabi and MH1 catered majorly to the music industry, Pitaara TV became the trailblazer in the Punjabi film industry. Watching films, from the oldest to the most recent ones and spanning across all genres, is no longer a distant dream, all thanks to Pitaara TV.
The channel provides mega entertainment through not just films but also music and interesting talk shows with celebrities. The entertainment business has got a boost as producers now have a major platform to sell the satellite rights for Punjabi movies — an incentive to invest more into the business.
There has been a remarkable change in the behaviour of the Punjabi audience with an increased movie consumption over the years. It is because of the audience’s trust in the channel and the content that the market has grown phenomenally.
Always keeping up with the trends and technological advancements, Pitaara TV introduced the world’s first multi-regional over-the-top (OTT) platform, Chaupal, in Punjabi, Haryanvi and Bhojpuri languages in 2021. This stellar move, which also boosted the overall business of the industry, has made Pitaara TV and Chaupal ambassadors of transformation in the regional entertainment ecosystem.
On these developments, which are also industry milestones, Pitaara TV and Chaupal’s managing director, Bansal, said, “Pitaara TV was born out of the need to have a dedicated Punjabi TV channel for films similar to the ones we had for Bollywood movies, while Chaupal was launched keeping in mind the changing needs of the present audience. Our focus is to make quality content readily available to all kinds of viewers through cable and video-streaming services.”
Bansal, who believes in the motto “hold the vision and trust the process”, said he was humbled to have made the difference and promised to deliver the best to the people in the times ahead.
