Star power for interactive variety show

Actor Aaron Aziz (pictured) and entertainer Sheikh Haikel will host the B. Halal Bazaar Show. BERITA HARIAN FILE PHOTO
Entertainer Sheikh Haikel (pictured) and actor Aaron Aziz will host the B. Halal Bazaar Show. ST FILE PHOTO

Just like for many others, the Ramadan Bazaar in Geylang Serai holds a special place in the heart of celebrity Sheikh Haikel.

So the news that it had been cancelled this year was a big disappointment to the 44-year-old entertainer.

And, while it would be impossible to replicate the experience of the bazaar online, Sheikh, who manages several food ventures such as FatPapas Burgers and Shakes and Wakuwaku Yakiniku restaurants, told The Straits Times that having the interactive variety show from online commerce platform B. Halal would be the next best thing.

Saying that he grew up with the Geylang bazaar, he added: "It is and will always be a big part of my life. I know the bazaar is so important to so many people. Having just a static online site won't do it justice.

"Through the B. Halal Bazaar Show, people can feel like they're just at the bazaar, interacting with the merchants."

B. Halal charges between $800 and $1,700 for businesses to book a half-hour slot on its live variety shows, which will be streamed twice a week from Saturday to May 22 for more than five hours a day.

The show will be broadcast live on B. Halal's social media pages, as well as the social media accounts of Sheikh and actor Aaron Aziz, who will both host it.

To attract viewership, B. Halal's variety show will also include religious sermons, comedy skits and community outreach programmes for charities such as the Muhammadiyah Association.

Response to the show has been good, with half of the 60 slots made available for businesses to book already taken up.

A spokesman for B. Halal said that after it used focus groups to understand the concerns of businesses affected by the closure of the bazaars, it found that the main issue was not about delivery or sorting out payments, as many businesses were willing to adapt and could make such arrangements.

Rather, the businesses had problems confirming their sales and matching their buyers to their products, which B. Halal hopes to help them with through the variety show.

  • 60

  • Number of half-hour slots available for businesses to book on the interactive B. Halal Bazaar Show. It costs between $800 and $1,700 for a slot. The live variety show will be streamed twice a week from Saturday to May 22 for more than five hours a day.

The people involved in the show also hope that it will be able to bring some festive joy to viewers.

"The main thing we're trying to bring is some semblance of festive cheer in what are challenging times," said Aaron, 44. "The bazaar (show) will hopefully not only recreate the marketplace atmosphere, but also address the spiritual and religious aspects of the holy month of Ramadan."

Hariz Baharudin

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 20, 2020, with the headline Star power for interactive variety show. Subscribe