Is Ekta losing her touch? Star Plus think

Wisdom seems to have prevailed upon Star Plus. The channel bosses have seen the prudence of trusting the old guards of television to take on new programmes, and break away from the saas-bahu imbroglio. Take Star Plus' primetime 9 pm slot. The preceding show Kasauti Zindaagi seems to go on forever and viewers are tuning out, seeking for fresh stuff.

When the 9 pm slot was waiting to be filled by a new show, instead of scheduling a different show, as it had done earlier, Star Plus went with a daily and reverted to three old hands of television — Raman Kumar and Vinta Nanda with Dheeraj Kumar. Milee, which has been on air for a few months, now is more watchable than the washed up saas-bahu sagas. This story of a young orphan girl started with shades of the perennial hit The Sound Of Music but the similarity ends in the first few episodes.

Raman Kumar and Vinta Nanda gave Indian television the first contemporary look at the single woman in the metro with Tara, prime time soap on Zee TV. Vinta Nanda's powerful script and Raman Kumar's deft direction made Tara a household name. Dheeraj Kumar too has revolutionised TV watching with mythological serials.

With these three at the helm, very little can go wrong with Milee, and yes, it is something of a first that individual producers have come together as single unit to produce a show. Insiders at Star TV say Balaji Telefilms is showing signs of wear, "They couldn't cope with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi going into a five day week. So the bosses have had to look elsewhere."

The TRPs may not be showing a slump, but viewer fatigue was something that was worrying the channel, and they have set in place an internal check, an ombudsman activity, who pull up producers for wayward storylines. Is this a warning signal for Balaji Telefilms to buckle down to some sharp narrative?