'People will identify with Jai Maa Vaishno Devi' - Dheeraj Kumar

Dheeraj Kumar's Creative Eye which has successful daily soaps like Maayka and Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan ruling the TRP charts and has recently offered the viewers with a drama on Sony, Waqt has now come up with a mythological venture for 9X, Jai Maa Vaishno Devi.

Here is the man talking about his new show and his career in television..

In the trend of reality shows and daily soaps, why a devotional program like Jai Maa Vaishno Devi?
Well, I believe that mythological serials have their own identity. The tradition and the culture they have leaves an impression on our soul. We have made around 4,500 hours of programming out of which we have made 700 hours of programming only on mythological serials and we have our name in Limca Book of World records. Nevertheless, apart from mythological serials, we have also made daily soaps like Maayka, Ghar Ki Laxmi Betiyaan.

What is the kind of research you have done to get close to facts for this show?
Vikas Kapoor has headed the research; he is also the Creative Director of the show. We studied all the four yugs and studied how the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi came into being. I will not say the research is based entirely on Upanishads and Vedas, but rather the serial is inspired from them. The research is practical.

What according to you is the USP of this show?
For the first time a show is made on Maa Vaishno Devi, people will be able to connect to the characters of the serial. Even if some one has not been a devotee of Maa Vaishno Devi, surely due to the identification factor people they will start to believe in Vaishno Devi. We are going to be using a lot of animation, which is normally not seen on television. So people will see animation of international standards.

Tell us something about your journey from an actor to a producer?
I have a long history. I have done 43 films of which 19 films are Punjabi; and I was the main lead. In December 1969, my first film-Ratton ka Raja came up and after that there were many more like Roti Kapda Makan, Kraanti, Aatish .So I can say that from 1969-1986, I have worked as an actor, but wanted to do something more. I thought of getting into television and finally in 1986, I came up with my first serial -Kahaan Gaye Woh Log. I worked with many Bollywood celebrities like Manoj Kumar, Hema Malini and many others on television. Finally, the journey of Creative Eye, which started from 1986, continues today. Over the years, I have played the role of an actor, producer and director, and have enjoyed each of the roles immensely.

Your future plans.
We are planning to come up with 12 animation films and the first one will take more than one year. As far as Hindi feature films go, we are still working on that front.

Author and Reporter: Binita Ramchandani

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