"We'll make sure that the essence of the show Madhubala doesn't go away!" - Abhinav Shukla

Even as they are busy with the shooting of their first film under Nautanki Films banner, producers Saurabh Tewari and Abhinav A Shukla are very much in touch with what is happening to their TV shows on air. With Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon very much in the news these days, we got co-producer Abhinav Shukla talking about the leap in Madhubala and how it is going to affect the show in a positive way.

Madhubala was an intense love story with the chemistry of RK and Madhu keeping the viewers interested in the show and a leap was not expected.

Every daily show has its own life and Television is purely based on ratings and as long as the show is generating numbers and people are watching the episodes the show is supposed to be doing good. Madhubala too was doing great and we even introduced different tracks and characters like Sultan and KRK to keep the interest level high but we realized that only the RK - Madhubala magic worked.

However, now that they are shown to be married and their love story has been juiced out we needed to give the show a fresh twist which meant that a leap was inevitable. Even we had thought that the leap should happen one year later but then things were not working out well.

So you think that a leap will help increase the ratings?

Yes, we think that the leap will add freshness to the whole story otherwise it will continue to be yet another run of the mill show. The show Madhubala has become a brand now so we need to do justice to the brand too. Whether it will work or not, only time will tell.

The show Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon as well as the lead actors - Vivian Dsena and Drashti Dhami had a huge fan following who will now be disappointed with their favorite actor not being a part of the show anymore.

I know we have loyal fans watching the show and every move that we make but only that is not sufficient for the show to work well since we have other benchmarks. However, we are currently working on making the show more interesting by adding new characters which will add edginess to the drama of the love story so that we don't lose the DNA of the show. We will make sure that the essence of the show does not go away.

Talking about Vivian, let me tell you that he is a very good friend and we had a good working relationship too. We at Nautanki Films are looking forward to working with him again, maybe in another show or in a film. Vivian is a star and characters may come and go but a star never dies. Vivian clearly told us that post the leap he cannot play a father and we were not really ready to show RK and Madhu staying separately which even the fans would not have liked so we decided to part ways mutually on good terms.

In many Indian Television shows we see the character coming back from dead. Any probability of that happening with Vivian Dsena?

As I said earlier every show's survival depends on the ratings and how the show is rated on the time meter. Fans also play an important role and if they want him back then we will get him back. There is always an answer to every question and the channel and us together will find a solution.

How does Drashti Dhami fit in the show post the leap?

We are planning a leap with some drama to show as to how everyone will disappear which will be real high drama. Drashti will fit in as RK and Madhu's young daughter who will be shown as a young girl post the 20 year leap.

And any further news on who will play the male main lead post the leap?

For the male main lead post the leap we are looking at a known face with a good fan following. It will definitely not be a new face at all. As of now we have not gone ahead and shortlisted anyone but we should soon be making an announcement.

Seema Khot Mattoo