The original intent may not have been to have 'Bairi Piya' as a romance. The character of the Thakur pursuing the girl was to be played by senior actor Mohan Joshi. A superb actor with a versatile repertoire and a distinguished appearance. But if he had been playing the man lusting for Amoli, the female audience would have been far from cheering for the Thakur.
It's fact that Amar Upadhyay was offered the role paired with the heroine but refused. No idea whether that role was as lead opposite the heroine with the Thakur (played by Mohan Joshi) as the villain, or whether Amar was offered the role of the Thakur after the character was changed from old to young.
Wonder if Ekta was trying to get a small-screen Raam to play BP's Raavan until he would be transformed into Raam.
Amar Upadhyay has done a plethora of forgettable roles after leaving the role of 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi''s 'Mihir Virani' (a role which was masterfully taken over by Ronit Roy),
and Sharad Kelkar's 'Nahar Singh' in 'Saat Phere' was so perfectly the dream husband, brother, son, brother-in-law, son-in-law et al that he became considered the personification of Raam, albeit non-Balaji Telefilms.
Also, as a lead, Sharad has at least so far proven to be a very safe bet. He attracted female fans in every role he has played, *and* he's a superb actor. 'Rudra Raizada' (went from grey-shaded to absolutely positive) and 'Nahar Singh' (a paragon who never got boring) were extremely popular (in the mainstream way) roles of his, pre-BP.
Ekta admitted somewhere that it was because they feared the old-man-brazenly-lusting-for-the-girl scenario would be unpopular that they chose a capable actor who also happened to be young and handsome.
The original storyline may have been Amoli-Radhe (with a charismatic lead playing Radhe, and probably with a different name), being pursued by and fighting off the evil Thakur.
But with Sharad in the role, they brought in a capable non-lead from KMH to play 'Radhe'.
If the Thakur's diabolical behaviour had had the audience turning against him, a lead would have probably been brought in to play Radhe.
Also, Supriya Kumari, a superb actress with a laughing charm that could light up a room, was stuck in a role that required she play down if not completely abjure her most appealing traits. Her charm is her chirpiness and her laughter, both of which were rarely required in the Amoli role.
So, the draw ended up being, to a large extent, Sharad. The fans wanted DV-Amoli, but while there were DVians, there was just a miniscule number who were only Amoli's fans or Amoli-Radhe 'shippers.
When it comes to the 8.30pm shows, they have all invariably been controversial, though in varying degrees. But the screen-presence of not just the leads but the parallel leads and other important cast members was unexceptionable.
But in BP, some of the actors lacked either in acting capability or charisma or both.
Considering how out of the common way BP's storyline was going to be, Balaji should perhaps have opted for tried and tested supporting cast (Balaji's roster rarely features incompetent actors) instead of taking a risk with faces untried in at least this format.
Among the shows at 8.30pm have been 'Kahiin Kissi Roz', 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay', 'Kis Desh Mein Hai Mera Dil' (Balaji serials all).
They and every other at this slot were off the beaten track, either at the get-go or as the story progressed, but the leads all had such superb screen-presence that no one of them had to alone be the show's draw.
Yash Tonk and Mouli Ganguly (Kunal and Shaina Sikand) in 'Kahiin Kissi Roz'.
Shweta Tiwari, Cezanne Khan and Ronit Roy (Prerna Sharma Basu Bajaj, Anurag Basu and Rishabh Bajaj) in 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay'.
Harshad Chopra and Aditi Gupta (Prem Juneja and Heer Maan Juneja) in 'Kis Des Mein Hai Mera Dil'.
And each of these three serials had not just one but at least two or three characters who became equally as if not more famous than the leads. 'Ramola Sikand' of 'Kahiin Kissi Roz' comes to mind.
BP lacked that.
The actor who played 'Puneet' should have been given a grey role and paired off much earlier. He had charisma, superb acting capability and definite screen presence. I wouldn't watch a series just for him, but I'd watch several scenes in any episode even if they had him and none of the leads.
Any strong secondary pairing with a well-written track would have kept the series from becoming one-track, even though that one track did have the most fabulous variations.
BP was too dependent on DV, which meant that the one grace option other serials had - that varying sections of the audience were drawn in by different characters - was the one thing BP lacked.
There was no other pairing among the supporting characters with the potential to draw in those whom DV couldn't.
That's merely one of the points 'Pavitra Rishta' - probably Balaji's most successful current series - got right.
Archana's three siblings and Manav's two siblings got strong tracks and pairings, and built up enough of a fanbase that they are recognized. All good actors, with screen presence.
Who was there besides DV that the audience rooted for in substantial numbers? No one. Not even Amoli. And by that, I mean if DV stood against anyone, we wanted him to win. If Amoli stood against someone, we would consider whether her winning or losing would be better for DV.
The viewers generally watched BP for DV, whether to see him or have the other characters speak of him or do something that was going to affect him.
As a DVian, I loved this. But as a BPian, I have to acknowledge that if I hadn't liked DV, there was no other pairing in the show that would compel me to watch it.
For BP2, we need - among other things - strong secondary pairings to ensure a wider fanbase.
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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
