Mashal

The Brief

DD National commissioned a long-form drama serial requiring consistent weekly delivery to a national broadcast schedule. The full post-production pipeline — from rushes ingest to final broadcast master — was to be managed in-house at A Plus Edits. The project required dedicated resource allocation across editing, colour, and audio with no interruption across the full series run.

The Challenge

Multi-camera footage from weekly shoots meant daily rushes volumes of 6–8 hours of raw material per episode. The tight broadcast schedule allowed only five working days between shoot wrap and final delivery — a non-negotiable constraint set by Doordarshan's transmission schedule. Colour consistency across 52+ episodes on a live, ongoing production required a disciplined workflow and strong internal version control. Any delay would result in a broadcast gap — unacceptable for a prime-time national slot.

Our Approach

We assigned a dedicated edit suite to Mashal for the full production run. A senior editor and assistant were embedded in the project full-time. We built a structured delivery pipeline: daily rushes ingest was completed by 10 AM each morning; a rough cut was delivered to the production's supervising editor within 24 hours; fine-cut feedback was incorporated on day three; colour and sound finishing were completed in parallel on day four; final broadcast master was delivered to DD National on the fifth day.

A colour bible was established in the first episode and maintained across the series using DaVinci Resolve's grade management system, with the base grade locked and only episode-specific adjustments applied per week. Audio stems were structured for easy re-versioning if broadcast required format changes.

The Outcome

Zero missed delivery deadlines across the full series run. The show aired on schedule throughout its broadcast window without any gap episodes. The colour quality was consistently praised during DD National's internal reviews. The production company returned to A Plus Edits for two subsequent productions following the success of Mashal.