Balika hits the right chord-Article

Child marriage is an off-beat subject that no channel would have even thought of attempting in the first place. But it is this very story that has become a subject of discussion and surprised everyone with its amazing success. No show in the past has delivered such robust ratings within a few weeks of its launch as Balika Vadhu has done. It opened with 0.9 ratings and three weeks later it made it to the top five shows of general entertainment channels. Since then it is at the number two spot.

What's exceptional about Balika Vadhu is that it's not the usual family drama of Kyunki, Kahani, Bidaai and Saath Phere kind. Also, the show's launch coincided with the channel's launch on July 21. In fact, going by the precedent, like Ramayan which became the channel driver for NDTV Imagine, Jai Shri Krishna was expected to give a head start to Colors. Instead, Balika Vadhu has become Colors' channel driver show while Jai Shri Krishna is the number 2 show with an average of 3.5 TVRs. What's the reason behind its phenomenal success? "The biggest reason is that it's an out of the box story which has never been told on television. The overwhelming response is a result of the new concept. A child protagonist with an issue attached to it has grabbed eyeballs," feels the show's producer Sunjoy Wadhwa.

According to the show's story and scriptwriter Purnendu Shekhar, besides the new concept, Balika Vadhu has been a success because of its innocence. "A child protagonist is questioning the system in an innocent and un-rebellious way," he explains. "Thanks to the wonderful direction, the show captures the issues and problems of a child marriage in a realistic way," adds Purnendu.

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