http://www.screenindia.com/news/zee-banks-on-fiction-content-innovation/697662/
Zee banks on fiction, content innovation
A lot has changed in the general entertainment space over the last two years in the way entertainment is consumed. While some of the top channels have been experimenting with three to 13-week non-fiction formats on weekday prime time, which is traditionally reserved for fiction, Zee has stuck to tradition by reinforcing its faith in fiction. It hasn't done badly. On the contrary, it has done quite well by creating shows like Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo, Pavitra Rishta, Jhansi Ki Rani and Chhoti Bahu, which gave stiff competition to rival shows. In fact, Zee developed the non-fertile 7.30 pm slot with star performer Chhoti Bahu before Sasural Genda Phool came and stole the limelight. Now Zee is trying to attempt the same - give competition to Saathiya'Saath Nibhana, a star performer lately at 7 pm, with its new daily Dil Se Diya...Vachan to be aired from October 25.
While Saathiya'is high on melodrama of kitchen politics and in-laws afflicting torture on a docile bahu, Dil Se Diya'Vachan promises to break from the formula as it will dwell on the premise of a beautiful bond shared between a mother-in-law and her young bahu. The show is set in Pune which prides itself in its educated, higher caste and better-off Maratha/Marathi culture and middle-class life and deal with an ideal in-law relationship. Says Nitin Vaidya, Zee's business head and COO ZEEL, "We are hoping to set a new benchmark with yet another endearing concept. It will have the saas accepting the bahu as her daughter and standing by her through thick and thin."
(Mistis comment.....I thought that he has chucked his job last week.🤔 )
Apparently, the show is based on a true story. But television entertainment, particularly of the addictive kind that comes through dailies, survives on the spice and dynamite of complex relationships. So what's in store for viewers in Dil Se Diya'Vachan? It's the protagonist's past. While it is love at first sight for Prem and Nandini too falls for him a few episodes later, and finds an ideal mother-in-law in Dr.Kalyani, Nandini's past will give a new dimension to the story. "It is a middle- class story. But there is a big twist and big drama though Kalyani will stand by her daughter-in-law," says Neena Gupta, who plays Dr. Kalyani.
Pintoo Guha, the show's producer, refuses to dwell on the story but says that the main plot opens with marriage in the second week. However, he says Dil Se Diya'Vachan is less about conventional melodramatic elements of daily soaps and high on content. "Actually, this show is inspired by fiction from regional channels, which is low on gimmicks and better on storytelling because of budget constraints. I am not saying that we will do away completely with gimmicks, but our emphasis will be more on content," he promises, adding, "Dailies of regional channels are shot in bungalows. We are shooting on a set, but it has the look of a bungalow."
From the setting, story and characterisation, it's quite evident that after the huge success of Pavitra Rishta, which is set in a lower middle-class Mumbai family, Zee is once again attempting to strike a chord with Maharashtrian viewers with a show that's set in the backdrop of the state's cultural capital that thrives on its higher caste and upper middle-class bungalow morality.
How far it will succeed remains to be seen. After all, television entertainment is always caught between the pulls and pressures of creativity and business. Pintoo admits that often business rules over creativity. "But we will try to keep a balance," he promises. However, lately it's been quite a tough task for Zee to do just that. While other channels are launching big-ticket shows to score every GRP point, Zee has been banking on low-cost fiction to fight competition. Till six months ago, its fiction line-up was delivering robust ratings. In fact, in January this year, Zee had scaled to 300-plus GRPs but between March and September, it's been going down and up between 210 and 275 GRPs, while its weekday prime-time GRPs have fluctuated between 140 and 110. According to latest TAM data for week 40 (September 26 to October 2), Zee is at the fourth place with 195 GRPs. What's quite evident from tthat Zee's over-reliance on fiction, which earlier was its sound ground, is showing signs of tiredness.
Udne Ki Aasha
Kumkum Bhagya
