Everest (Indian TV series)

A group of students enrol in the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, in Uttarkashi, for undergoing training to climb Mount Everest. Anjali Singh Rawat (Shamata Anchan), who feels neglected by her father, wishes to win his love by fulfilling his dream of climbing Everest. Aakash Joshi (Rohan Gandotra) is a videographer, who is to make a documentary on Arjun Sabharwal's (Sahil Salathia) expedition to Everest. As the plot proceeds a relationship between Anjali and Aakash fruitions. Eight mountaineers — Colonel Arun Abhyankar (Milind Gunaji), Arjun, Aakash, Chaand (Diganta Hazarika) and four sherpas — make their way to Mount Everest after climbing the base camp, while Anjali climbs the base camp alone. In the journey, one sherpa falls in a valley while the mountaineers encounter loose snow near Camp 2. The team is saved from death by Arun, though they encounter constant hurdles owing to lost ropes and oxygen tanks, and snow. The team tries to contact Nasir (Aditya Raj Kapoor) and others, trapped at Camp 4, but they find him near death when they reach the camp. With favourable weather, Arun decides to resume climb while Aakash remains at Camp 4 for there is insufficient oxygen. The climbers are hit with a dangerous storm, and Arjun leaves for the south summit alone without informing anyone; he had wanted to climb Everest without oxygen. Arjun soon passes out and is buried in snow, though he is found later. He informs of his wish to not continue to mission sponsor, Ramesh Roongta (Rajat Kapoor), who fears damage to his reputation and is furious. At the base camp, Ramesh tells Major Sameer (Mohan Kapoor) of his promise to his shareholders of flying their corporation's flag at the Everest summit. As Arjun does not wish to continue, Arun tells Tashi and Chaand to prepare to descend, as Ramesh had funded the expedition for Arjun; hence the team cannot continue without Ramesh's permission. Tara loses her life in the ensuing journey and Arun sustains internal injuries at Camp 3. Chaand is asked to lead Aakash and Anjali to the summit. At the Hillary Step, following strong winds, Chaand dies. Soon later, Anjali and Aakash successfully reach the summit. Anjali waves the Indian flag on the top of the summit, which is live streamed by Aakash. After her success in climbing Mount Everest Anjali received the love and support she wanted from her father ==Cast==

• Shamata Anchan as Anjali Singh Rawat • Aditya Raj Kapoor as Nasir Siddiqui • Armaan Khera as Vidhaan Bharadwaj • Kishori Shahane as Sarita Rawat • Manish Choudhary as Brigadier Jagat Singh Rawat • Mohan Kapoor as Major Sameer Khanna (Sam) • Rajat Kapoor as Ramesh Roongta • Suhasini Mulay as Shikha Joshi, Aakash's mother • Teeshay Shah as Biju == Production ==

In 2014, Afaqs described Everest as "high on investment", while Gaurav Banerjee, the general manager of STAR Plus, stated Everest to be "a television show at a scale bigger than any other show". It was also reported that Everest led to a delay in Gowariker's film Mohenjo Daro, as he had come up with both concepts at the same time. Produced by Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Private Limited, Everest is Gowariker's television debut as a producer. It was slated to telecast 100 episodes. The show has been directed by Glenn Baretto and Ankush Mohla, and edited by Dilip Deo. Other crew members included Amar Shetty as action director; Aparna Raina as art director; Alphonse Roy, Mahesh Aney and Piyush Shah as cinematographers; Preeti Sharma as costume designer; Vikram Gaikwad as make-up artist; and, Lochan Kanvinde as sound-designer. Rahman reportedly used tracks created by students from his music college for Everest. Making and shooting Gowariker conceptualised Everest around two years before it was created, combining the themes of women empowerment and of a sport-not-talked-much-about, such as mountaineering. Prior to shooting, the makers researched by referring to books such as To Everest and Beyond by Edmund Hillary, and accounts of various other mountaineers. They also met a few of them personally to collate facts and information. Accustomed to writing scripts for his movies, Gowariker reportedly found it difficult to write the script for Everest, as in a televisions series the story proceeds after analysing factors such as television viewer ratings and audience feedback; Everest had to be written in one go. In September 2014, Gowariker stated that through Everest he also intended to address the "girl-child issue". Shooting began in December 2013, and by September 2014 ninety per-cent of the storyline was shot. The crew had to shoot in extreme temperatures and they required additional oxygen to cope with the increasing altitude, making it difficult to shoot. The crew was able to shoot for a maximum of four to five hours a day, increasing the number of shooting days. The shooting also involved a trek in Uttarakhand for ten days. Shooting locations in India included Pokhran, Jaipur, and Jodhpur in Rajsthan, and Uttarkashi and the Dokriani Glacier in Uttarakhand, the latter of which is located at above sea level. Producers had initially planned to shoot Everest in New Zealand. The cast and the crew arrived in Dehradun on 6 February 2014, from where they headed to Uttarkashi for the shooting. == Marketing ==

The promotional for Everest was released on 18 October 2014. Indo-Asian News Service stated Everest being endorsed as "the most ambitious project on Indian television". The trailers of the telenovela resonated with this idea, which were released in the theatres along with the release of the Bollywood film, Happy New Year. The show was also sponsored by Godrej Ezee and Vinod Cookware. Times of India promoted the show by asking celebrities about their "Everest". STAR Plus also collaborated with selective outlets of Costa Coffee in India to create a special zone called the "Everest zone" in their cafés, where the temperature was to be approximately , with waiters serving customers who will be given jackets for protection. ==Reception==

The television viewer ratings (TVTs) for Everest's first week stood at 2,845 TVTs. Following its premiere, Everest received negative criticism from Firstpost. Everest ended its run on 1 March 2015, after telecasting 102 episodes. The same year, Outlook Business had noted that shows such as Everest "have not exactly been runaway hits on the small screen". Sameer Nair, then CEO of Balaji Telefilms, told Outlook Business that "movie makers have never been successful at making TV shows". ==See also==