Posted:
OK people...since there are so many theories flying around the forum that are directed at analyzing and interpreting the current state of (non) affairs, I thought that I would give it my shot as well. So here are my two cents. It might sound like I am coming from all over the place, but please bear with me and hear me out.
What I am attempting to do is basically take all the facts, rumors and hearsay and try to piece it all together to come up with a theory the would best describe the current sorry state of our favorite show.
Lets start with facts first:
1) TRPs in India has been on a steady decline over the past 2/3 weeks. TRPs do not take into account the international audience that subscribes to Star Plus, such as those living in the USA, UK etc.
2) The show is immensely popular in UK and USA. Noreen Khan's interviews of Barun and Sanaya are proof of the show's international popularity. Many people are trying to get Star Plus only to be able to watch IPK including your's truly.
3) In Noreen's interview she asked Barun if he would be open to making a trip to the UK to do an interview in their studio. Barun was quite taken aback and said he didn't think that he would get the time off from shooting. Noreen even offered to speak to his director/whoever is in charge of making that decision .
4) A week later Noreen interviewed Sanaya and posed the same question to which Sanaya answered that it had come up in discussions with the producers and it seems like a possibility that she and Barun might visit UK. She told Noreen that if she were to put in a word then it would materialize sooner.
5) In June/July the Asian communities in various UK cities hold cultural fairs/melas where Star Plus is their media partner in at least two.
6) We got two dud promos which aired a couple of times and then disappearaed. One was the chammach se ghee wala and the second one was on similar lines where she vows that she would make ASR kick her out.
Ok now moving on to the rumors:
1) Sanaya is going to visit the UK in June/July because her boyfriend will be shooting some epiosdes of his new show there and she will visit him.
2) Sanaya and Barun are going to visit UK in June/July to participate in Leistershire Mela.
3) The Cvees don' t seem to care about the falling TRPs. Why are they doling out crap and keep giving us pointless tracks of no consequence to the story line?
4) Barun is quitting the show to join movies.
Ok now that we have all the facts and rumors lined up, here is what I make of it all. Basically I am trying to add 2 +2 and saying that it will be most probably 4.
Ok so The PH probably had a year long contract with Star Plus. First 4/6 months after were TRP maaf meaning no matter how fared on the TRP charts, they would still get aired for that period of time. the channels probably do this for all new shows. However the latter part of the year long term would be subject to TRP standings, meaning they would have to maintain a certain score and/or rank in order to stay on air.
IPK's TRPs rose steadily towards the end of January and were highest in Feb during the MU and shotgun marriage and then dropped a bit yet maintained in the top 4 through March.
Mid March was when Barun's BBC interview happened and everyone including Barun and I am also guessing the PH and Star Plus went ...whoa...this is much bigger than we thought...this is a hen that is laying golden eggs and we had no idea that we had this hen in the UK and probably USA in addition to in India.
So Star Plus calls a meeting with the PH and says...scarp the old contract. We want to have a new agreement with you, under which you get one more year, not subject to TRP. Because TRP is only a reflection of Indian audiences and does not take into account the worldwide audience. So Star Plus gives the PH another year and probably offers Barun and Sanaya juicy raises.
Now the PH is in a fix, because it has a story line that they could show for about one year, give or take a couple of months but they do not have material to show for another whole year.
So what is their recourse? They start dragging the tracks. The current track actually ties in well with the scrapped promos. They probably had the whole track scripted and ready to go when they axed it for Heer Ranhja and now they are just using it as a way to buy time while they can develop more material to show for the extended tenure.
Because given Barun and Sanaya's intenational appeal, which is evident from the BBC interviews and the Star Parivaar awards, it would be suicidal on the part of both the PH and Star Plus to give the show the boot . Especially now that Star Plus knows that their murgi is laying sone ka anda and earning them Pounds and Dollars they are certianly not going to let her go.
Also if Star Plus gives the PH the right kind of incentives then they would be fools to let the show go down the drain.
Therefore friends, the point that I am trying to make is that the currently going on naansense is probably the PH's way of buying some time while they regroup and come up with interesting material that can be shown over the extended contract period. They have probably been given TRP amnesty and therefore they won't worry even if it sinks to 2 in the next couple of weeks. Right around the time IPL ends we can expect to see some movement in the tracks and MU.
One thing is for sure...if what I am postulating is infact true then we will get to see a lot of Barun (amd Sanaya) in every epi...just like we are right now...yayyy!
And it might very well turn out to be true that Barun and Sanaya end up showing up at the Star Plus sponsored UK melas as a PR activity and if we are really lucky they might make them mix work with pleasure and shoot a track or two...maybe honeymoon (finally) while there.
And I have no doubt that Barun will get movie offers as soon as the show ends, but that may not be happening for another year because Barun's deal with SP probably just got sweeter.
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
