KAA Articles -- NO COMMENTS

With their reach restricted to cable and satellite homes in metros and big cities and watched by people with higher purchasing power, satellite channels' programming was and still is targeted at the affluent upper middle class, middle and lower middle class urban viewers. But now there is a subtle change happening in their programming content. With the number of cable and satellite homes increasing from 40 million two years ago to nearly 65 million now, satellite channels have started revisiting their programming so as to target viewers in middle-level cities and towns.

After capturing eyeballs in the Hindi heartland with Saath Phere, Kasamh Se and, to a certain extent, Jab Love Hua Zee's new show Banoo Main Tei Dulhan deals with the life of an illiterate girl from Benaras who has a fairytale wedding. As the story moves to Delhi after marriage Vidya realises that her dream of a happy and loving married life is shattered, thanks to her in-laws and husband who ill treat her because she is unlettered.

On the other hand, Star Plus's forthcoming show Karam Apna Apna is the story of Gauri who hails from a small hamlet of West Bengal. She is a simple and semi-educated girl without any ambition who puts the interest of her family before herself and dedicates her life to make her father and her sister happy. Her dream of marrying her fianc Shashank gets shattered when she is compelled to work as a servant in a rich household because of an old unpaid loan that her father owes to the owner of the haveli.

A year or two earlier, these subjects would not have even been given a thought, leave alone giving them prime time space. But market reality has changed considerably in the last three years and channels can ignore it at their own peril. The high level of competition and consumption saturation in metros and big cities has forced business houses, especially fast moving consumer goods manufacturers (they also happen to be the big advertisers on TV), to target consumers in smaller cities, towns and semi-urban areas where household incomes have shown impressive growth.

As television business in India is largely driven by ad revenue and less on subscription income, general entertainment pay channels have no option but to act in tandem with the changing economic reality.
Ashish Kaul, Zee's senior vice-president, corporate brand development, doesn't disagree with the broader changes in economic and business scenario. But he says Zee's primary focus has always been the Hindi heartland. "For us the metros and big cities are secondary unlike Star and Sony which take pride in being upmarket channels," he points out.

"The essence of our programming is determined by the elements and values of the heartland because in any case the upper middle class families don't watch these shows. The audience for serials primarily comes from C and D classes (middle, lower middle and labour classes) though majority of consumers for FMCG and durable goods come from B (upper middle class) and C classes. The D class watches TV because it aspires for economic mobility."

Shailja Kejriwal, senior creative director, Star India says the B class also watches general entertainment channel but she admits that the real eyeballs comes from C and D classes. However, in keeping with the changing market reality Shailja says Star Plus is also focusing on small cities and towns. "Having captured the lead position in metros we are increasing the weightage for viewers of smaller places in our programming.

While the primary viewer of a mass channel is always the housewife, the spread of programming mix must keep pace with economic reality. One can't ignore the urban market but one also can't ignore the emerging middle and small town markets as well," she elaborates. Nina Jaipuria, Sony's vice-president, marketing and communications, denies that Sony caters to only upmarket audience. "Our programming revolves around middle class families and values and our target audience has always been the aspirational viewer who identifies with heartland value system," she clarifies.

After the much publicised promos, Balaji's most awaited baby Karam Apna Apna, is all set to be delivered. This prime time show, which is slotted for Star Plus, will be telecast from 29 August at 9.30 pm.

Karam... boasts not only of a strong and well sketched story line, but also an interesting line up of seasoned actors of television juxtaposed with fresh talent. The cast comprises of Apara Mehta, Roopa Ganguly, Salil Ankola, Iqbal Khan, Geetanjli Tikekar, Sumeet Sachdev, real life couple Rajev and Delnaaz Paul, Achint Kaur, Jaya Bhattacharya, Karan Patel and new face, Pallavi Subhash who plays the protagonist.

The story revolves around a middle class, non-ambitious Kolkatta girl, Gauri. It's about the trials and tribulations faced by her when she comes in contact with three families, the Chatterjee's - her paternal home, the Kapoor's - her future in-laws and the Tandon's - friend of the Kapoor's.

Keeping up with the trend of introducing new faces, Balaji introduces the young and talented actor Pallavi Subhash, (earlier seen as Preeto's sister in Zee TV's Tumhari Disha). She is been touted as the next big thing and is most likely to attain the iconic status gained by her forerunners. Pallavi states, "It's too early to be even compared with Tulsi, Parvati… I have just taken my baby steps and there is a long way to go, lots more to learn from them. The best aspect of this serial is that I get to play a character which is very much like me. Like Gauri, I too am a simple girl who wears simple attires. The only difference between us is that she has no ambitions, while I do have some small dreams and I look forward to achieve them."

Post the death of her character, Savita Virani in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Apara Mehta will stage her comeback with Balaji Telefilms in Karam..."It's more like homecoming for me. I share an excellent relation with Ekta Kapoor, in fact she welcomed me with open arms. Since it's a new show I have kept aside all my other projects. From my past experience of ten years in this field, I have realized that launching a new serial is like giving birth to a child. It requires patience and focus to make it a success," says Apara. She continues "In this serial I play a very vibrant and loud character, Krishna Kapoor who is lovingly called dadi. Her USP is that she bitches and bad mouthes about anyone on their face, while behind their backs she will be all praises about them. In fact my onscreen husband (played by Amarnath Kapoor) often mentions that my behaviour is very weird. People generally do the vice-versa, while I am the just opposite."

For cricketer turned actor Salil Ankola it's a maiden experience with Balaji Telefilms. Also the fact that he will be portraying a father seems to be interesting. He says, "I play Mahen Kapoor, the eldest son of the family, who is very self centered. His sole aim is to earn fame, for which he can go to any length and use anyone as pawn. He does not value any relationship; fame, money and position is all that matters to him, " He continues, "It 's a challenge to potray an elderly role.TV is a medium where the audience relates with the character and not the actor. So when I play this character, people will be associating me with Mahen and not Salil. It's like this, 'Television makes characters whereas films make stars'. So if such a role was offered to me for a film, I would have rejected it."

Geetanjali Tikekar aka Apoorna of Kasauti...., who went on to kill her own husband, will once again enact a bitchy and selfish character, Maya in Karam..... But for a change she will have shades of grey and will not be outright vampish. "Maya is very flamboyant and self centred. In addition to this she is the only girl of the Kapoor family, hence is pampered which is evident from her snobbish behaviour. Inspite of her uptight behaviour, nobody hates her. There is some funny element to this personality - her perpetual smile and sarcastic sense of humour, " states the beautiful Geetanjali.

Rajev Paul's association with Balaji goes quite long back. He says, "I gained recoginiton with a negative character in Balaji's Kahanii...... However in Karam....I play a positive role who loves his family and wife dearly. This is the first time where I will be working with my wife Delnaaz for a same serial. So it's going to be all the more interesting." Coming to the ever lively and vibrant Delnaaz, it's been like a dream come true for her for three reasons. She discloses, "a) this is the first daily soap of my career, b) for the first time I will be working, and also be paired opposite my hubby Rajev and c) I get the opportunity to work with one of the best production house of the television industry, Balaji Telefilms."

Owing forever allegiance to the Balaji camp is Sumeet Sachdev (Gautam of Kyunki....) who will essay the character of Sashank, an accountant with Mahen Kapoor (Salil Ankola). Mahen offers Sashank to get married to Gauri (Pallavi). "Though I have been getting offers from other production houses, I choose to work only with Balaji. With Karam....I got the chance to visit Kolkatta and understand the Bengali culture," says the elated Sumeet.

Actor Karan Patel's entire career graph is based on Balaji. "This is my seventh serial with them. I play a very intense character, Vivan Kapoor. He is close only to his mother (Jaya Bhattacharya) and sister. He hates his father (Vinay Jain) and agrees to join the family business just for the sake of his mother. Vivaan doesn't like any third person interfering between him and his mother," discloses Karan.

Besides Pallavi, a few other fresh faces too will be launced with Karam....Rahul Jagtiani (runner up of Gladrags model hunt) is zeroed in to play son to Salil Ankola. Similarly Shriya Bisht (a newcomer from the corporate world) and Karan Kapoor (who has some films to his credit) will play daughter and son of Roopa Ganguly respectively.

Phew...quite an interesting plot and star cast! Karam...seems quite promising and with a daily dose of added masala to it, this show will definitely rank among the topnotchers from the Balaji camp.

Amit Dua aka Sameer of Star's Kyunki who was supposed to play second lead in Kasturi now tltled as Karam apna apna has opted out of the show.

Karam apna apna would have actually been this Delhite's big break in tellydom. But owing to certain last minute changes in his character Amit decided not to go ahead with it.

"Initially, I was very excited about this show as it offered me a very well defined character. I was to play Ayush, the youngest son of the main family in the show. He is the family's brat and also has shades of grey. The contract that I had signed with Balaji two months back too had stated this very clearly. But now the creative team has informed me that I would no longer play Ayush; instead they want me to play another character called Sumit," says a much depressed Amit.

He further continues, "I found the character of Sumit to have no substantial significance in the serial. After a point of time, this character goes a bit off track and a little haywire. So, though it's a difficult decision, I've decided to opt out of the show.".

Recently, Amit has also entered the track of Kasauti... as the cousin brother of Anurag Basu. Amit was also approached for playing a significant part in Sab TV's Left Right Left and Zee TV's Mamta, but rejected them stating that he is here to work only with Balaji. Meanwhile, the role of Ayush has been bagged by Karan Patel (Kasamh se's Rohit Chopra).