KZK2 Issues and the problem of rebooting an Iconic pairing

While I will state that I never watched even a single episode of the original show, enough comparisons were made early on to know there would be BIG TROUBLE ahead.

The existing fandoms were split, with both sides wanting their characters' stories told. 

It was a recipe for guaranteed chaos and drama - if not on screen then between fandoms.

I consider myself lucky for having joined late and not having a framework to compare it to - yet I still think it was poorly executed.   

The problem with rebooting iconic characters (and this is the same issue Gul had with IPKKND) is that fans have set parings, which they ship, and upsetting the apple cart can be either a boon or a bust. More often it's a bust. 

Ekta was right on one thing though: matters that were relevant ten years ago are still relevant today, only the way in which they are presented and addressed have changed. 

Society is more tolerant of single mothers, it does not mean they are treated any better. Men are still viewed as superior and are rarely taken to task on their actions/decisions. A Woman who's perceived to have loose morals is tarnished and ridiculed by society, while a man's status is elevated... (never could understand that.) Just look at the Harvey Winesteen cases and what those women went through - need I say more...

Putting aside the social issues (which add depth) and just looking at the story of star crossed lovers... 

A creative person -Ekta included- knows that there is a colossal risk in dusting off and rebooting characters (unless you pick up a story line a few years later). One can alienate the audience, stray from the characters, but most often - and that happened here, creatives are playing to please fans and fandoms. 

This leads to sloppy (unfocused) storylines (because writers feel restricted by existing storylines), fans' expectations and speculations (especially during the age of the Internet)... But mostly by the creator's own perspective of what the characters are or how they should be and should be portrayed.

Ekta's biggest mistake was rebooting two characters she feels some emotional connection to, because in an attempt to "fix things" she tried to control (read manipulate) them and situations. Any creative knows that when you put characters in a situation, the object is to see what they do with the situation - given their personality traits... 

Manipulating unbelievable responses/reactions (first Bajaj tract - and his action of simply stepping aside for Anurag) discredits both characters and storyline. Had Anurag truly fought for Prerna and Bajaj remained adamant, it would have strengthened all characters.  

But by being nostalgic, Ekta manipulated human nature and made a joke of her reboot. 

So what went wrong? THE WHITEWASH (and copious amounts of it was used)

I could accept the mistakes made, could even have validated them had I been interested. I would even have been open to believing mitigating circumstances, only I was never given reason to. Because the actions were senseless, and the whitewash overwhelming. 

Without a doubt, Erika will always be Prerna for me and Paath will always be Anurag. The two of them have a chemistry which is beautiful to watch. (If anything, it was that that kept me here.)  

Ekta could have gotten away with it all... 

IF....

She had settled on a good (believable) storyline, and allowed the characters sufficient space to properly process events and not rush from one kausautii to the next.

Neither of the tracks were fully developed, because Actors had scheduling conflicts and mainly the anti ones. Scriptwriters just kept on adding salt to balance the sweet and butter to manage the sourness, They had to have a villain create havoc in Anupre's life. In my opinion they never gave them a fair chance to show how they could work as a couple instead of struggling to fight to be together on and on and on and on. Audience would have been maybe equally happy if Anupre Romance was shown instead of Jumping from awkwardness to teen romance to consummation and multiple daana marriages then One villain has to be there or a girl or guy chasing the leads and sacrificial lamb arcs. When did they actually stayed together and lived happily even for a month never!

More than focusing on the Reboot of Iconic Pairing which was not even iconic on the first hand until BT popularized it to be 17 yrs later , they were trying to make the villains and SL iconic here tbh, and  that made a mess. 

Originally posted by: Minharp167

Neither of the tracks were fully developed, because Actors had scheduling conflicts and mainly the anti ones. Scriptwriters just kept on adding salt to balance the sweet and butter to manage the sourness, They had to have a villain create havoc in Anupre's life. In my opinion they never gave them a fair chance to show how they could work as a couple instead of struggling to fight to be together on and on and on and on. Audience would have been maybe equally happy if Anupre Romance was shown instead of Jumping from awkwardness to teen romance to consummation and multiple daana marriages then One villain has to be there or a girl or guy chasing the leads and sacrificial lamb arcs. When did they actually stayed together and lived happily even for a month never!

More than focusing on the Reboot of Iconic Pairing which was not even iconic on the first hand until BT popularized it to be 17 yrs later , they were trying to make the villains and SL iconic here tbh, and  that made a mess. 

Bold: May they never take up cooking for they will surely kill someone that way....

Rest: I agree, there were times as a viewer that  I just wanted to shout "Time out now! Give them some space!"

 I don't think so much the pairing was iconic but the series was. Anything that survives nine years on TV had to be relevant. 

Originally posted by: K-Shandra

While I will state that I never watched even a single episode of the original show, enough comparisons were made early on to know there would be BIG TROUBLE ahead.

The existing fandoms were split, with both sides wanting their characters' stories told. 

It was a recipe for guaranteed chaos and drama - if not on screen then between fandoms. Picking actors with a strong fan base behind them especially online-only further contributed to this. This was possibly done to maintain the hype on social media but was a conscious choice by the makers. 

I consider myself lucky for having joined late and not having a framework to compare it to - yet I still think it was poorly executed.   

The problem with rebooting iconic characters (and this is the same issue Gul had with IPKKND) is that fans have set parings, which they ship, and upsetting the apple cart can be either a boon or a bust. More often it's a bust. 

Ekta was right on one thing though: matters that were relevant ten years ago are still relevant today, only the way in which they are presented and addressed have changed.Agreed totally, the same set of stories are being recycled in atleast EK shows. The ones with real TRP today are either remakes of regional shows or evoke some semblance of connect in the audience. 

Society is more tolerant of single mothers, it does not mean they are treated any better. Men are still viewed as superior and are rarely taken to task on their actions/decisions. A Woman who's perceived to have loose morals is tarnished and ridiculed by society, while a man's status is elevated... (never could understand that.) Just look at the Harvey Winesteen cases and what those women went through - need I say more... Totally agree with this. The burden of the consequences of their actions lies heavily on the women on TV and real life. 

Putting aside the social issues (which add depth) and just looking at the story of star crossed lovers... 

A creative person -Ekta included- knows that there is a colossal risk in dusting off and rebooting characters (unless you pick up a story line a few years later). One can alienate the audience, stray from the characters, but most often - and that happened here, creatives are playing to please fans and fandoms. 👏Catering to all fans is essentially catering to none. No fans or actors will be pleased with this constant dilly-dallying of characters. No one is written consistently over the course of a TV show, but not learning from mistakes and the core traits of a character meddled with is surely the recipe for disaster. 

This leads to sloppy (unfocused) storylines (because writers feel restricted by existing storylines), fans' expectations and speculations (especially during the age of the Internet)... But mostly by the creator's own perspective of what the characters are or how they should be and should be portrayed.

Ekta's biggest mistake was rebooting two characters she feels some emotional connection to, because in an attempt to "fix things" she tried to control (read manipulate) them and situations. Any creative knows that when you put characters in a situation, the object is to see what they do with the situation - given their personality traits... Did she believe issues like career challenges, drifting apart due to long-distance, parents or a presumed dead child would serve as unworthy Kasautis? Wonder why this call of having to marry someone is the only test the characters face repeatedly and fail!

Manipulating unbelievable responses/reactions (first Bajaj tract - and his action of simply stepping aside for Anurag) discredits both characters and storyline. Had Anurag truly fought for Prerna and Bajaj remained adamant, it would have strengthened all characters.  If only, Prerna was not treated like a flower-pot with no agency of her own in this ridiculous last track. 

But by being nostalgic, Ekta manipulated human nature and made a joke of her reboot. 

So what went wrong? THE WHITEWASH (and copious amounts of it was used)

I could accept the mistakes made, could even have validated them had I been interested. I would even have been open to believing mitigating circumstances, only I was never given reason to. Because the actions were senseless, and the whitewash overwhelming. 

Without a doubt, Erika will always be Prerna for me and Paath will always be Anurag. The two of them have a chemistry which is beautiful to watch. (If anything, it was that that kept me here.)  

Will be nice to see them doing hopefully better sketched characters. 

Ekta could have gotten away with it all... 

IF....

She had settled on a good (believable) storyline, and allowed the characters sufficient space to properly process events and not rush from one kausautii to the next. Wonder if the show would have taken a different trajectory then, now all remains is what-ifs? 

Writing was shabby, execution was like 80s, lot of mistakes from technical team, no consistancy, it was like everyday new story.

But keeping aside all these, we got to see super hot parica chemistry as anupre.  I definitely carry forward as beautiful memory of silly anupre. 

Well they claim to make dramas for masses and they think the masses are dumb. Every person has a basic sense of right and wrong . "Kuch bhi" bana ke thy expect the audience to lap it out. There is a limit to it , specially when it's a rinse and repeat story. 

The fl and the producer always took pride in showing a woman centric story , n they showed the opposite. Thankfully parth never defended his character n made a joke out of it. They take pride in telling a "love story" and showed exactly what should not be done in love. Rail.patri bolke dumpyard mein mila diya 🤣 So when they advertise something and the product isnt upto the expectation, aisa hi hota hai.

Originally posted by: _charu_

Well they claim to make dramas for masses and they think the masses are dumb. Every person has a basic sense of right and wrong . "Kuch bhi" bana ke thy expect the audience to lap it out. There is a limit to it , specially when it's a rinse and repeat story. 

The fl and the producer always took pride in showing a woman centric story , n they showed the opposite. Thankfully parth never defended his character n made a joke out of it. They take pride in telling a "love story" and showed exactly what should not be done in love. Rail.patri bolke dumpyard mein mila diya 🤣 So when they advertise something and the product isnt upto the expectation, aisa hi hota hai.

PURPLE: Let's put aside the masses issue for now. Let's just look at the actual function of entertainment and stories: Stories -the truly good ones- allow you to experience situations and view how others would handle certain situations, without oneself making life changing or crippling mistakes. It allows even a dunce the opportunity to learn something. 

How characters handle situations determines the target market for a show/story. which comes back to a class thing, a doctor would react differently to someone who lives in the slums and whose very livelihood may depend on that decision. That is when grey becomes black and white turns grey.  

Kausatii taught us nothing.

Not the consequences of illegal actions, not the consequences of bad decisions and not the consequences of taking one's love for granted.

Here I tar the writers: Underestimating your fanbase will sink a show.

RED: had this been a woman centric show more concern would have been shown for feelings, family and children.  A woman and daughter bears the brunt of societies issues, thus these will govern actions and decisions. Family and children first. Ego, achievement, status and material goods are predominantly male traits. 

BLUE:  I think someone on the creative side needs to go back and learn what love actually is. Once the infatuation wears off, love is hard. The decisions you take/make are hard. Some of them are wrong - but they cannot all be wrong - even if done for the right reason.  

"So when they advertise something and the product isnt upto the expectation, aisa hi hota hai." 👍🏼

I was a child when kasauti 1 was airing. I don't remember much of the show. But I really don't think the show had an awesome plot from what I remember. It was almost the same plot as every other EK show. Love, seperation, marriages, plastic surgery and of course memory loss. The show had a good lead pair and people loved it. Over 20 years later most shows still seem to have the same tracks 🤣. Parth and Erica are beautiful as AnuPre but the show completely lacked a storyline. I mean all that happened here is Prerna and Anurag marrying people under blackmail - Naveen, Bajaj, Komolika , Viraj. The storyline was inconsistent throughout. Parth and Erica are awesome actors as seen in their previous shows but Anurag and Prerna charaters were never fully developed and allowed to grow. As the show progressed the story and characters were too superficial. So according to me the lack of storyline is the major problem.