Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar to star in Zee5’s The Broken News

Zee5 has partnered with BBC Studios to produce a slate of Hindi shows across genres. The first such series is The Broken News, an adaptation of BBC’s British television drama Press.

The Broken News marks the Hindi actress Sonali Bendre's web-series debut. Directed by Vinay Waikul, the show also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar along with Indraneil Sengupta, Taaruk Raina, Aakash Khurana and Kiran Kumar. 

The announcement video of The Broken News sheds light on its storyline. Deepankar Sanayal (Ahlawat) runs the news channel Josh 24/7. He believes in hijacking the viewers’ minds by showcasing sensational content, irrespective of whether it's true. Amina Qureshi (Bendre) runs a rival channel called Awaaz Bharti, which only believes in presenting the truth. Radha Bhargava (Pilgaonkar), an Awaaz Bharti employee, wonders which approach to choose out of the two. 

Nimisha Pandey, chief content officer, Hindi originals at Zee5, said about the show in a statement, “The Broken News is an extremely relevant story for the times we live in. We are glad to partner with BBC Studios India and director Vinay Waikul to bring this story to life. It is a riveting drama depicting the nuances of the media houses and the daily hustle-bustle of a newsroom. The story revolves around the ideological differences of the protagonists, beautifully played by Shriya Pilgaonkar and Jaideep Ahlawat. The story has a strong, contemporary and compelling narrative making it a perfect addition to our content bouquet.” 

Sameer Gogate, general manager, BBC Studios, India, said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Zee5 as part of this partnership to produce this riveting BBC Studios format, set in the fascinating world of TV news journalism. The strength of our formats lies in their ability to transcend cultural boundaries and languages. We are honoured that Jaideep Alhawat, Sonali Bendre and Shriya Pilgaonkar will be a part of this journey directed by Vinay Waikul and we hope Zee5’s Hindi audience will enjoy the gripping personal and professional dramas facing the characters under the pressure of a 24-hour news cycle.” 

The original British show revolved around print journalism and was written and created by Mike Bartlett. It starred Ben Chaplin, Priyanga Burford and Charlotte Riley. It was streamed on BBC One in the UK and PBS Masterpiece in the US. 

Commenting on the partnership, Manish Kalra, chief business officer, Zee5 India, said, “This year we have a fantastic line-up with many big titles announced in the first quarter of the year. The focus for 2022 is to bring premium quality content across genres and languages. Zee5, in addition to bolstering its portfolio of Hindi originals, is simultaneously working on curating a list of unique stories across formats and languages to build a platform of varied choices for its viewers.” 

He added, “With The Broken News we are marking the beginning of another partnership with a reputed content studio to bring interesting and unique story narratives to our audiences. This partnership is in line with Zee5’s strategy to build a portfolio of unique and compelling content for an enhanced value from the services. We are sure our audiences will enjoy and love it as much as they have loved our content so far. Zee5 has been working with the best talent in the creative ecosystem to create a riveting slate of originals, in line with our content strategy of keeping the viewers at the centre of the business.”