Smriti Irani to grace the 17th Indian Television Academy Awards

Indian Television’s Premier Awards Show, The 17^th Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards will be held on 5^th November 2017 at Versova Model Town Ground, Andheri (West). The current Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, Smt. Smriti Irani will be the Chief Guest for the show. Incidentally, she has also been a five-time ITA Award winner in the Best Actress Category.

The awards will be telecast on COLORS on 26^th November (Sunday), Double Dhamaka at 2 pm & 5 pm. 54 awards, in total, will be presented across various categories - Jury, Technical, Popular & Special Awards. The nominees were selected after a marathon jury session with 8 eminent personalities from the film, television & media industry. Veteran actor & current FTII Chairman Anupam Kher was the Chairman of the Jury.

On the awards, Anu Ranjan, Founder & President, Indian Television Academy said, “We received over 1000 entries from approximately 80 production houses and 30 channels across the country. There is a separate web series category to cater to the growing online market of shows. For the popular categories we received a staggering public voting of 1 Crore 8 Lakhs, 99 Thousand, Four Hundred & Nineteen; a record for any Television or awards show in the country. The votes were registered through our website & also through SMS. 68% of the votes received were from India and 32% from rest of the world.”

Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18 said, “Entertainment is in the DNA of COLORS. Over the years, we have given our viewers a million reasons to laugh, cry, reminisce, and so much more – a rainbow of emotions. These awards are a celebration of all that. The official voting website for the awards garnered over 1 Crore votes, which gives us a clear idea of the passion that Indian viewers have for Television. It shows us how these TV shows, the actors and their characters have become a part of their daily lives – They are inseparable. Let the festivities begin.”

Shashi Ranjan, Convenor of The ITA added, “We embraced digital age with a vengeance and reached out to our audience through a massive campaign across social media platforms -  Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram & Twitter. The response has been overwhelming and it has only spurred us on to continue with our efforts to engage with an even larger audience in the future. “

The mega event of Indian Television Awards will be hosted by the sharp-witted Maniesh Paul and the favorite ‘Dadi’ of Indian television Ali Asgar. There will be stellar performances by stars such as Ravi Dubey, Shantanu Maheshwari, Arjun Bijalani, Dheeraj Dhoopar, Shradha Arya, Adaa Khan, Rashmi Desai, Shubhangi Atre, Sriti Jha, Mouni Roy & Aalisha Panwar. This will be interspersed with awe inducing dance performances by popular dance groups from the TV show Dance Plus - X1X Group, Question Mark Group and the all-girls Hip Hop group Ele Angels Group. The acts will be put together by ace choreographer Sanjay Shetty. The biggest event on Indian Television, these awards will bring together the who’s who of Indian TV - Stars, Technicians, Producers & Directors – all under one roof.