A television film (also known as a ''TV film'', ''television movie'', ''TV movie'', ''telefilm'', ''telemovie'', ''made-for-television film'', ''movie of the week'' (''MOTW'' or ''MOW''), ''feature-length drama'', ''single drama'', and ''original movie'') is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to many films explicitly made for showing in movie theaters.

Origins and history

Though not exactly labelled as such, there were early precedents for "television movies", such as the 1957 ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'', based on the poem by Robert Browning, and starring Van Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television. It was made in Technicolor, a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks. (Most "family musicals" of the time, such as ''Peter Pan'', were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved on kinescope, a process which is not precisely the same as film or even videotape.)

Television films had rough start when the idea was first presented in the 1950s to major networks. The production for the films was an unstable business with certain challenges facing early participants. Many television networks were hostile towards film programming, fearing that it would loosen the network's arrangements with sponsors and affiliates by encouraging television station managers to make independent deals with advertisers and film producers.

Television networks were in control of the most valuable prime-time slots available for programming, so syndicators of independent television films had to settle for fewer television markets and less desirable time periods. This meant much smaller advertising revenues and license fees compared with network-supplied programming.

The term "made-for-TV movie" was coined in the United States in the early 1960s as an incentive for movie audiences to stay home and watch what was promoted as the equivalent of a first-run theatrical motion picture. Beginning in 1961 with ''NBC Saturday Night at the Movies'', a prime time network showing of a television premiere of major studio film, the other networks soon copied the format with each of the networks having several ''[Day of the Week] Night At The Movies'' that led to a shortage of movie studio product. The first of these made-for-TV movies is generally acknowledged to be ''See How They Run'', which debuted on NBC on 7 October 1964. A previous film, ''The Killers'', starring Lee Marvin and Ronald Reagan, was filmed as a TV-movie, although NBC decided it was too violent for television and it was released theatrically instead.

Considered the second television movie, Don Siegel's ''The Hanged Man'' was broadcast by the National Broadcasting Co. on November 18, 1964.

These features originally filled a 90-minute broadcast programming time slot (including television commercials), later expanded to two hours, and were usually broadcast as a weekly anthology television series (for example, the ''ABC Movie of the Week''). Many early TV movies featured major stars, and some were accorded higher budgets than standard series television programs of the same length, including the major dramatic anthology programs which they came to replace.

Notable examples

Possibly the most-watched TV movie of all time was ABC's ''The Day After'', which aired on November 20, 1983, to an estimated audience of 100 million people. The film depicted America after a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and was the subject of much controversy and discussion at the time of its release due to its graphic nature and subject matter.

Another popular and critically acclaimed TV movie was 1971's ''Duel'', written by Richard Matheson, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Dennis Weaver. Such was the quality and popularity of ''Duel'' that it was released to cinemas in Europe and Australia, and had a limited cinema release to some venues in the United States. The 1971 made-for-TV ''Brian's Song'' was also briefly released to theatres after its success on television, and was even remade in 2001. In some instances TV movies of the period had more explicit content included in the versions prepared to be exhibited theatrically in Europe. Examples of this include ''The Legend of Lizzie Borden'', ''Helter Skelter'', ''Prince of Bel Air'' and ''Spectre''.

Many 1970s TV movies were a source of controversy, such as Linda Blair's ''Born Innocent'' (1974) and ''Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic'' (1975), as well as ''Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway'' (1976) and its sequel, ''Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn'' (1977), which were vehicles for former ''Brady Bunch'' actress Eve Plumb. Another renowned film was Elizabeth Montgomery's portrayal of a rape victim in the drama ''A Case of Rape'' (1974).

''My Sweet Charlie'' (1970) with Patty Duke and Al Freeman, Jr. dealt with racial prejudice, and ''That Certain Summer'' (1972), starring Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen, although controversial, was considered the first TV movie to approach the subject of homosexuality in a non-threatening manner. ''If These Walls Could Talk'', a film which deals with abortion in three different decades (1950s, 1970s, and 1990s) became a huge success, and HBO's highest rated film ever.

Often a successful series may spawn a TV movie sequel after ending its run, and TV movies may also be used as the first episode of a series, otherwise known as a pilot. For example, ''Babylon 5: The Gathering'' launched the science fiction series ''Babylon 5'' and is considered to be distinct from the show's regular run of one-hour episodes. ''Babylon 5'' also has several sequel TV movies set within the same fictional continuity. The 2003 remake of ''Battlestar Galactica'' begin as a two-part miniseries that later continued as a television show. Another example is the TV movie ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'', which launched the TV show of the same name, and used the same actress Melissa Joan Hart for the lead role in both. The term "TV movie" is also frequently used as vehicles for "reunions" of long-departed series, as in ''Return to Mayberry'' and ''A Very Brady Christmas''.

Occasionally TV movies are used as sequels to successful theatrical films. For example, only the first film in The Parent Trap series was released theatrically. ''The Parent Trap II'', ''III'' and ''IV'' were TV-movies, and similarly, the ''Midnight Run'' sequels have all been TV movies despite the first having a strong run in the cinema.

TV movie musicals have become popular among all ages. One prime example is the ''High School Musical'' series which aired on the Disney Channel. The first TV movie was so successful that it came out with a sequel ''High School Musical 2'' in 2007 which has since become the highest viewed cable broadcast and in 2008 its second sequel ''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'' was released in theaters instead of on Disney Channel. It became one of the highest grossing movie musicals.

TV movies traditionally were often broadcast by the major networks during sweeps season. Such offerings now are very rare; as Ken Tucker noted while reviewing the Jesse Stone CBS TV movies, "broadcast networks aren’t investing in made-for-TV movies anymore". The slack has been taken up by cable networks such as Hallmark Channel, Syfy, Lifetime, and HBO with productions such as You Don't Know Jack and Cinema Verite often utilizing top creative talent.

Production and quality

A ''New York Times'' critic wrote in 1991 that "few artifacts of popular culture invite more condescension than the made-for-television movie". Network-made TV movies in the USA have tended to be inexpensively-produced and low quality; stylistically, they often resemble single episodes of dramatic television series. Often they are made to "cash in" on the interest centering on stories currently prominent in the news, as the Amy Fisher films were. The stories are written to reach periodic semi-cliffhangers coinciding with the network-scheduled times for the insertion of commercials; they are further managed to fill, but not exceed, the fixed running times allotted by the network to each movie "series". The movies tend to rely on small casts and a limited range of settings and camera setups. Even Spielberg's ''Duel'', while a well-crafted film, features a very small cast (apart from Weaver, all other acting roles are bit-parts) and mostly outdoors shooting locations in the desert. The movies are typically made by smaller crews, and they rarely feature expensive special effects. While it would have been less expensive to film on the new media form of video, as the movies were contracted by TV studios it was required that they be turned in on 35mm film. Various techniques are often employed to "pad" TV movies with low budgets and underdeveloped scripts, such as music video-style montages, flashbacks, or repeated footage, and extended periods of dramatic slow motion footage (sometimes taken to ridiculous extremes as in the USA Network thriller ''Wheels of Terror''). However, the digital 24p video format has made some improvements on the TV movie market.

Movie-length episodes of TV shows

Occasionally, a long-running television series is used as the basis for TV movies that air during the show's run (as opposed to the above-mentioned "reunion specials"). Typically, such movies employ a filmed single-camera setup even if the TV series is videotaped using a multiple-camera setup, but are written to be easily broken up into individual thirty- or sixty-minute episodes for syndication. Many such movies relocate the cast of the show to an exotic overseas setting. However, although they may be advertised as movies, they are really simply extended episodes of TV shows, such as the pilot and the finale of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Most of these are made and shown during sweeps period in order to attract a large TV audience and boost television ratings for a show.

See also

Direct-to-video

Soap opera

Miniseries

Television pilot

Television special

Telenovela

Téléroman

List of Movie Umbrella Titles in North America

List of television films produced for American Broadcasting Company

References

Category:Films by type Category:Television terminology

ca:Telefilm de:Fernsehfilm es:Telefilme fa:تله‌فیلم fr:Téléfilm id:Film televisi it:Fiction televisiva#Non seriale he:סרט טלוויזיה nl:Televisiefilm nds-nl:Tillevisiefilm ja:テレビ映画 pt:Telefilme ru:Телефильм sh:TV-film fi:Televisioelokuva sv:TV-film uk:Телефільм ur:ٹیلی فلم vi:Phim truyền hình zh:電視電影

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Sandhya Mridul
birth name	Sandhya Mridul
birth date	March 28, 1975
birth place	Mumbai, India
occupation	Actress
yearsactive	1993–present
spouse	None
imdb	1269584 }}

Sandhya Mridul (born 28 March 1975) is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films and television, most known for her roles in films like, movies like ''Saathiya'' (2002) and ''Page 3'' (2005), and was first runners up in reality dance show, ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (Season 2)'' (2007).

Personal life and education

Mridul, also called 'Sandy', was born in Mumbai to Advocate P. R. Mridul and his wife. Later, the family moved to New Delhi. At age Ten, she left home to attend school at Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ Public School in Jaipur. At age 14, her father, a lawyer by profession and later a judge of the high court, died and she was brought up by her elder brother Justice Siddharth Mridul who is a sitting judge of Delhi High Court. She also has another elder brother named Pankaj.

She graduated in Mathematics, did her post graduation in marketing and went on to do a corporate job with KLM in Mumbai.

Career

She first arrived back in Mumbai to be a marketing executive. Mridul first started her career with the popular TV serial ''Swabhimaan''. After that, additional roles followed in serials like ''Banegi Apni Baat'', ''Koshis''h and ''Hu Ba Hu''.

She made her breakthrough in films with Yash Raj Films, in ''Saathiya'' in 2002. The film was critically and commercially successful and critics appreciated her performance. Her character Dina was an important supporting role that got her noticed.

She also appeared in Extraa Innings, the programme during the Cricket World Cup 2003.

In 2004, she acted in Pratap Sharma's "Zen Katha", a play based on the life of Buddha in Mumbai opposite Rajeev Gopalkrishnan.

Her show, Koshish Ek Asha in which she played the role of the female protagonist has been dubbed in Chinese and in the year 2005, it was telecast in China. Through this show, Sandhya became a household name in China by 2005.

She decided to walk away from Television soap Operas because the roles felt repetitive. Of her decision to quit TV, she remarked, "If you want to play the protagonist these days, you have to be the bahu. I’m not ready to do that again. I can’t be wearing heavy saris with dark pink lipstick all my life."

In 2005 she starred in ''Page 3'' with Konkona Sen Sharma and Tara Sharma. She played an air hostess in the film. Her performance was again praised by the critics and the film was a hit at the box office.

Since 2006, she has focused exclusively on film roles. She played Maya, a restless soul who keeps on moving in and out of things in an off-beat film called Strings. She also acted ''13th Floor'' which is an interesting story of two people stuck in the 13th floor of a lift. As a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, Sandhya's desire to show her dancing skills is also being fulfilled in the film ''Chowki''. In ''Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.'', she plays a wife stuck in a marriage with a gay man. In the thriller ''Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante'' by Tanvir Khan, she acts with Irfan Khan. In ''The Great Indian Butterfly'', she shows her talent again in this movie ,how a young Indian couple climbing the ladder of the corporate rate race in a nation.

Her versatility and her penchant for taking non-conformist roles have made her a darling of cross-over films. She proved her talent again in another off-beat film called ''Via Darjeeling'' in which she plays an alcoholic. "I would like to step into the shoes that Smita Patil left behind", says Mridul about where she sees herself in the Bollywood acting space.

She has also been judged the runners-up at the popular dance show ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (Season 2)''. This decision did court some controversy since one of the judges, Urmila Matondkar declared that Mridul should have won. There were also allegations of rigging and interference on the decision to declare Prachi the winner of the show. Mridul said of the decision, "Don't tell me that I lost. Like I have said before, you lose only when you lose heart, and I haven't. I may have only lost out on a trophy and cash but I have won many hearts."

In 2008, she served as a member of the jury in the 14th Television Festival held in Shanghai. She was youngest and lone Indian in the festival.

Filmography

''Swabhimaan'' (1995) TV Series - Shivani

''Banegi Apni Baat '' (1994) TV Series - Sakshi

''Aashirwad'' (TV series) (1998)- Geeta

''Koshish'' (TV series) (2001) - Kaajal

''Hubahu'' (2002) TV Series - Aditi and Ananya

''Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin''(2004) TV Series -Yana

''Saathiya'' (2002) ... Dina Sharma

''Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II'' (2003) - Inspector Agni Sinha

''Uuf Kya Jaadoo Mohabbat Hai'' (2004) - Sangeeta Chaudhry

''Page 3'' (2005) ... Pearl Sequiera

''Socha Na Tha'' (2005)

''Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye'' (2005)

''13th Floor (2006)...Naina

''Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante (2006) ... Roohi K. Vaidya

''Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.'' (2007) ... Madhu

''Say Salaam India'' (2007)

''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (Season 2)'' ... Reality Show- India's Dancing with the Stars

''Mr. White Mr. Black'' (2008)

''Via Darjeeling'' (2008) ... Mallika Tiwari

''Ustaadon Ka Ustaad (2008) - Reality Dance series

''Quick Gun Murugun'' (2009) - Masala News Reporter

''The Great Indian Butterfly'' (2009) Unreleased

''BBD'' (2009) ... TV Host Unreleased

''Chowky'' (2009) Unreleased

Awards

! Year !! Award !! Category !! Film !! Result
2006	BFJA Awards	Best Actress In a Supporting Role	''Page 3''
2006	Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award	''Page 3''

References

External links

Unconventionally yours, Sandhya Mridul The Times of India

Category:Indian actors Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian television actors Category:Living people Category:Hindi film actors Category:Indian Hindus Category:People from Delhi Category:Indian television personalities Category:1975 births

de:Sandhya Mridul mr:संध्या मृदुल