"By next year end, Colors will be No.1." - Prashant Bhatt

Filling the slot so far occupied by Bigg Boss for the past three months will be a huge task for any new show. However, the two new shows which fill up this time slot on Colors show lots of promise.

The promos of Rangrasiya and Beintehaan which go on air from today on Colors have kept the audience talking about the shows and Prashant Bhatt, Weekday Programming Head - Colors tells us more about Beitehaan and plans for the channel in the coming year.

You have two new shows starting from today; Rangrasiya & Beintehaan and both the shows have been creating quite a buzz.

Yes, while Rangrasiya is a passionate, intense romance as such, with no marriage happening, in Beintehaan the story itself starts with marriage and further goes on to show the implications on the newlyweds.

The promos of Beintehaan are quite intriguing. What is the show all about?

The basic pitch point of Beintehaan is that the story starts with marriage where two like-minded extremely head strong people who under normal circumstances would have never said yes to each other get married. Life, situations, people tie them in a matrimonial bond and their journey begins post marriage when the exploring and discovering each other starts. After marriage while discovering a person there are certain things you like and certain things you don't like while there are certain things you even hate and that is the beauty of a relationship after marriage. After a certain point you discover that you really love the person you married and that is what Beintehaan is all about.

What genre will Beintehaan fall in?

It is not a saas-bahu drama but a social saga or a social drama. We are talking about man-woman relationship out here and the extremities of it when they try getting to know each other. Also it might be that one may not like what one gets to know about the other person. However, after all the discovering and misunderstanding at the end of it you realize that you have to fight all odds to be with the person you really love so love is also not easy to get in life at the end of the day. I would say it is a family drama and a love story set in a social premise.

Any reason making it a Muslim premise? Was Qubool Hai becoming a hit since it was launched last year, the reason behind this?

I was very keen to bring this flavor on the Colors canvas for the past 2 years but I was just not getting the right story. Qubool Hai came on air almost a year back but we too were looking at this background before that. Had it been only because of Qubool Hai we would have jumped the wagon immediately after that show was launched but we didn't want to do it just for the sake of doing it. Just because one Muslim social is a hit we cannot repeat it. We were waiting for the right story that does justice to this milieu and backdrop and that is how Beintehaan came up. Even earlier we have had shows like Heena and Zaara - Pyaar Ki Saugat so the Muslim background has been explored time and again and at the end of the day it is good story telling.

Is it a finite show?

No, as of now both the shows - Rangrasiya & Beintehaan are not finite shows since we see longevity in both the stories. There is immense potential in both the stories but having said that I would also like to add that the day we feel the story is getting over we will stop it. We will not stretch a story just for the sake of stretching a story.

Bigg Boss Saath 7 was quite popular and what happens to these shows when it comes back within some months?

We will see what happens then! It is not necessary that Bigg Boss has to be at the same time slot. If the shows are popular then we may retain this time slot for them and get Bigg Boss at another time. However, nothing is fixed as of now, let's see what happens later!

What do we see next on Colors in 2014 ?

We at Colors plan to get stronger in 2014. As of now Colors has 6 prime time shows and Zee TV has about 8, Star Plus has 11 and if with 6 shows we can be at no.2 then I think with 8 shows (adding Beintehaan & Rangrasiya) we will do better. When we are sitting together next year end, I promise Colors will be no. 1.

Seema Khot Mattoo