Star Plus - The FALLEN Supremacy & How Can They REDEEM Themselves

The position of being numero uno and Star Plus have almost been a synonymous term over all these years, where the first-to-be-launched Hindi GEC (General Entertainment Channel) has been a juggernaut for over 25 long years.

From the Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi to a show like Star Bestsellers, the channel revolutionised entertainment viewing across all ages and in umpteen ways.

However, after an elongated phase of untouched supremacy, the channel has been going through a rough patch lately, which has led the team to start scratching their heads.

And infact, this past week saw the channel's worst fall to the 6th spot in urban ratings, only above Sony Pal, a channel that airs re-runs.

The current line-up of the channel is not the pattern rating-grabber it is expected to be. Apart from the quintessential long runners, it is time they think of the best redemption strategy when it comes to other shows. Here, I analyse the rise, fall and possibilities on how can they come back with a bang.

We continue to attribute Ekta Kapoor with the letter K and the mammoth success stories it produced. And while there cannot be any debate about that, there was another K which became one of the prime reasons for the channel's rise. Before you rack your brain too much, we are talking about Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and Kaun Banega Crorepati. While the former was Ekta Kapoor's brainchild, the latter was Mr. Amitabh Bachchan coming on the small screen for the first time and offering a chance for the common man to be a millionaire. It is not that the dawn of millennium did not see competition for Star Plus, but the unprecedented success of these three shows, in particular, made it the most watched channel of those times.

While these potboiler soap dramas and game shows were ruling the masses, we had content blooming at its best, where Star became one of the first ones to showcase 'bold concepts.' Star Bestsellers had the most amazing stories as an anthology series and while it raised several eyebrows, it was widely applauded too. The channel was doing everything right and catering to both, quality and quantity lovers.

The next thing we know, Star Plus continued to hold its position inspite of a barrage of GECs coming in and trying to topple the leader. The only flicker came in with Colors being launched back in 2008 and since then the up and down battle between both the channels has been a common phenomenon.

Star Plus, as a channel is not really used to be looking at the 3rd or 4th spot, let alone the 6th spot when it comes to rankings of channels every week. But, the same has now become a recurring instance, as the current lot of shows don't fetch the desired numbers apart from a couple of them truly shining. A re-branded channel like Star Bharat has gone on to beat Star Plus multiple times in recent history. Why is that so?

The channel is known to take bold and unconventional steps and it has always worked out for them too. However, in recent times, the same has become frequent thus leading the viewers to resort to other channels for wholesome entertainment. While shows like Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Yeh Hai Mohabbatein continue to have a decent 2+ rating every week, other mega shows like Ishqbaaaz and Naamkarann have lost the plot except one or two instances. And, experiments like Rishton Ka Chakravyuh, Ikyawann or Meri Durga haven't been successful per se. 

One of the biggest reasons for the show's GRP taking a toll has been the failure of the re-introduction of Star Dopahar. It seemed like the idea would work, as it was a roaring success years ago, but nothing went according to the plan. 

The result was 4 shows getting shut and Tu Sooraj Main Saanjh Piyaji managing to escape the curse, where the shift to evening slot worked wonders for the show.

We see Colors having shows like Shakti... Astitva Ke Ehsaas Kii and Udaan working immensely well owing to its rural connect despite having popular actors as protagonists. While, Yeh Rishta.., Yeh Hai Mohabbatein and Ishqbaaaz depict the urban flavour with precision, a raw and rustic show is what the channel might need to re-generate the eyeballs.

One point which I strongly believe in is that the channel is in desperate need of genuinely good reality shows now. A try like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge or a cliche like India's Next Superstars is NOT going to work out for them. Dance Plus franchise has been the channel's only saviour, but the implementation of a sure-shot formula is the need of the day. We have a channel like Sony TV, who is currently pretty much surviving on the success of Super Dancer Chapter 2.

With only two shows constantly making it to the Top 10 list every week, rumours about the channel deciding to pull down the curtains on multiple shows have been doing the rounds. While, Rishton Ka Chakravyuh and Meri Durga have already faced the axe, the fate of others has been a juggle. The satirical comedy, Har Shaakh Par Ullu Baitha Hai may just be the rural connect show that the channel has been lacking so far, but again, it won't be grabbing humongous numbers. On the other hand, there is actor Mohit Malik's comeback show, Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala co-produced by Gul Khan, which seems an interesting prospect to look at.

But, will these shows be the fate turners one would expect them to be? We can only wait to see!

What do you think? Leave in your comments below..